Weekend of Miracles

Yet another tradition that I am trying to keep alive (as long as I can fly for free at least) is to take my kids to New York City each Christmas to see the REAL santa. That's right. All the other ones (in the malls and such) are his helpers but where does the one and only real santa go to visit kids? Well after the Thanksgiving day parade, naturally, he would have to go to Macy's in New York City, the center of the universe, of course!












Last Monday I saw the perfect opportunity to not only go see Santa, but to go spend the day with my sister in law in Boston. So I packed our bags and the kids and I flew out on the "red eye" on Thursday night. Just me and the kids. We got to Boston on Friday morning early and spent the entire day there.


We didn't do much, which is exactly what I wanted
to do. We rested, ate, did a little shopping and the kids did LOTS of playing.
It is so fun to see Shayden with his cousin, Bri, they have so much fun together and Jasmine is starting to have a playmate in little Ellie which is 2 now. Cousins are awesome!








Then that night we went to Barnes and Noble to see Bob from Sesame Street perform. It was fun and Bri even got to get up and sing with him. And later that night, I finally got to see my brother. We stayed up late just talking and I gave them the official picture tour of my Guatemala trip and they not only stayed awake, but they seemed genuinely interested, much to my delight!



Then the next day we left for New York bright and early at 5:15am. We were only there for 4 hours and only a crazy person like me would haul two kids around nyc for only 4 hours. I am aware of this. But it was so fun and the kids did amazing, I was worried about Shayden complaining the whole time about walking but he was a real trooper, they both did great in fact.
We went to the main event first, and luckily the line went by quickly and it is so entertaining because they weave you through all these awesome sculptures and trainsets, talking trees and moving bears, plus pictures of old Thanksgiving day parades. Finally it was our turn and the kids got to tell the big man what they wanted this year. They give the children a gift each year and this year it was a little coloring book and crayons. The kids loved it.

Then we walked around Times Square, did some shopping, devoured some NY pizza, and went to Toys R Us before heading back to the airport.

That day Saturday was definately a day of adventure and CLOSE calls. But it was really a day of miracles. Let's begin with the fact that I forgot to set my alarm the night before and didn't wake up until my brother came downstairs 15 min before I was supposed to be at the shuttle bus! We raced to get to the stop and the bus was almost leaving. I literally ran to the door and begged the man (who was yelling at me!) to let us get on. He reluctantly agreed. Then when I got the Boston airport the line was so long and when I got to the ticket counter the nice agent decided to check my bag all the way through to Salt Lake for me so that I didn't have to go pay and store it somewhere, further limiting our time in New York. That was a huge relief. But because he didn't really know how to do it and it took him a really long time, I got to the LONG security line about 15 min before my flight was about to leave! I decided to try my luck in the VIP line since I work for the airline (I have never used this line before because it is technically for inflight crew like pilots, etc) but miraculously enough, the guy let me through, however reluctant. Keep in mind that even though had I missed this flight I would have gotten on the next, my time was SUPER scrunched for that day and every second counted. So we barely made it on that flight.

Okay so after New York City, I didn't want any more close calls so we arrived at the airport with what I thought was plenty of time. I decided to let my kids pick out a donut or ice cream, but just as we got through security, they called the final boarding call for our flight! Ahhh! Now what to do, I was facing a major mommy crossroad here, with an impending tantrum from Jasmine when she realized she wasn't going to get her ice cream. So I played one of those crisis cards that moms have to do when they have to fix a bad situation fast, at (almost) any cost. Thinking quickly, I glanced over to the nearest magazine stand and told them they could pick any candy bar they wanted. The bright colors taunted them and it worked! They forgot about the other treat and we ran onboard.

Then came the craziest part of all and I have to write about this so that I won't forget later. Our flight was scheduled to arrive in California with a 1/2 hour window between flights and therefore I knew it would be close. But Jetblue arrives early most of the time. Not this time. We got in 15 (there's that pesky #15 again) late and we were on the very last row!!!! Sometimes they deplane from the rear at Long Beach, but not this time, so we were stuck. It's not like I can say "Excuse me, can you guys all step aside while we run off the plane even though you paid for your ticket and we didn't?" At least I didn't have the guts too. Instead I just stood waiting our turn, sweating, my heart racing, praying, in fight or flight mode. Oh and imagining my fate if we weren't able to get on this flight. Sleeping, all night in that tiny little pocket sized version of an airport. If was tired by now, my two kids were pretty much at their wits end, and I feared that telling them that we would be sleeping on the floor of the airport tonight would just about send the three of us over the edge.

I kept thinking, if we make in on that flight it will be a miracle. If we make it on that flight it will be a miracle.

So the second I could, I literally raced, carrying Jasmine, leaving my stroller, I didn't care, to the gate. A man shouted at me "Miss, did you leave a stroller?" and I shouted back "It's okay!" I don't know what he must have thought but crazy lady must have been in there somewhere. We got to the gate. The plane was still there! It didn't leave us! The lady must have sensed my panic because she told me to stop and breathe. I am usually the one telling people to breathe. I couldn't believe we made it. When I finally sat down in my seat, my whole body was shaking, my lip quivering, I was so stressed out my nose even started to bleed. All I could do is give thanks the whole way home. And that is why it was a weekend of miracles.
I'm so glad I can laugh about this now.

oh p.s. Saturday night New York got hit with a huge snow storm. We barely missed it!