That was some trip ...

So it is now 7:30 am California time and I am sitting here on the couch with Mitzi, my Dad and Pegs dog, while Aviva is changing Soren. We are exhausted, all of us are a bit sick and Soren is teething .. this is on top of a week where our nanny had to go into the hospital so we were totally discombobulated finding childcare while we drove back from Rosh Hashanah in Cherry Hill - which was great but as usual, quite tiring. On the right  is a picture of Soren and his cousins Eli and Tal in the bath - note how they all have blue eyes - to give you a taste of how much fun we all had.

Anyway, it was a rough week, during which we did not get enough sleep and were both quite stressed. On Thursday, our trip began inauspiciously, at least for me, as I got caught in a typical NY rain storm as I was leaving work to come home. You know the kind, thunder and lightning and then a torrential downpour for 10 - 15 minutes that only occurs when you need to be outside and stops as soon as you get in your car. Yeah, so I got soaked and the sky was clear by the time I got home.

But after that things seemed to go well for a while, Aviva's friend Erin (and her daughter Avery) from her moms group drove us to the airport, and once there the check-in was super simple - never appreciated curbside check-in before now. In the airport, Soren was a little fussy, but nothing too bad and we entertained him mostly with the straw from my Jamba Juice ... although the JetBlue Terminal at JFK is full of other interesting things, like this digital postcard machine ....


So it was 6:15, Soren was fed and happy, the plane was going to board at 6:20 and leave soon after and we were feeling pretty good, we had even gotten moved to an empty row at the back of the plane so that Soren could have his own seat.

... and then life happened. We boarded, got everything set, and waited for take-off so that Aviva could nurse Soren through the pressure change. So she started nursing when the crew was seated, and the plane revved up for take off and then ... nothing. We taxied around JFK for 2 hours waiting out the weather. Soren actually fell asleep for this, which was great, but the delay made our landing time approximately 1230, which was not great as the car rental places at San Jose closed at midnight. We rented a car so that my Dad would not have to pick us up at 10:15 at night, so calling him at 12:45 am due to a delay was not happening.

So I called the car rental agency - Dollar - and they told me that there is a 30 minute grace period for late flights, but after that you are on your own. I asked if other car rental agencies were open later than them, and they said no.

Awesome.

The flight itself was pretty good, Soren slept for 5 hours (so about 3 hours of flight time) and then woke up, and fussed a bit but we showed him the iPad for a while and then Aviva nursed him and he went back to sleep. We watched a movie (Now You See Me - relatively enjoyable) and tried to sleep and generally stressed about Soren and the car. Towards the end of the flight we found out that we were landing at around 12:15 am, so I moved up to the front of the plane to make a break for the car, after making sure Aviva had a lot of help getting off the plane with Soren.

The plane landed and I ran out, and found out that the rental agencies were in the other terminal, aabout a mile away across the airport. And it was 12:16. So I ran out the terminal, found out that the bus to the agencies was only going to leave at 12:30, to I ran and up the street and burst into the rental counter, sweaty and breathless at 12:24.

6 minutes to spare.

Dollar counter was closed - note to self and everyone who reads this blog, never, ever rent from Dollar.

In an unbelievably fortunate turn of events, the Avis counter was open and the agents there offered to give me a better deal than I was getting from Dollar after hearing my story - and profanity laced tired against the Dollar people. I think they were pretty humored.

So eventually we got to my Dad and Peg's house, around 1:30 am, and thanks to my Dad and Peg setting a lot of stuff up ahead of time, we got to sleep by 2 am. Despite getting all kinds of broken sleep, Soren slept until 6:30 am California time ... unbelievable. Once we got up, Aviva fed him and then I got up and hung out with him while he happily and joyfully played with the dog.