The start of the trip.. in a nutshell

So we wake the kids up at 5:45 a.m. because our flight was at 8:35 a.m. I have never seen Tayler so excited and so awake that early in the morning. She jumped out of bed, got dressed, and was ready to go. We got ready, finished all the last minute things that needed to be done and were out the door by 6:15.


We made it to the airport with no problem and decided to Sky Cap all of our luggage and then have Sean go and park the car in long term parking.

Well this is where it all begins!!?!


The gentleman at the Sky Cap says to Sean "oh your Drivers License has expired. Do you have any other government form of ID?" I thought I was going to cry! I never thought to check that and they had just bearly expired on our birthday's just weeks ago. Great timing!! So Sean heads inside to talk to someone and get us on another flight. The only flight they could get us on was at 9:00 P.M.! This time I was really close to tears, and Tayler was in tears! It broke my heart.

Since it was so early and we couldn't go to the DMV we decided to head home. I didn't want to go home. It was such a let down. I didn't want to spend the whole day doing nothing and then head out again.


We stopped for breakfast at McDonald's and then called the DMV and found out that they were open to renew our drivers licenses. We arrived right when they opened. I thought it would be pretty slick until they make me look in the little box and tell me to read line 5. (I was a little nervous because last time I did it I really couldn't see the numbers very well, but made my way through it).. this time-- NOT SO LUCKY!!

I couldn't make out a thing on line 5 so they wouldn't give me a Drivers License. I kept adjusting the box and saying "I don't know what is going on." By this point, I think I did have tears! A whole new problem to deal with! They gave me an ID card until I get my eyes checked and get glasses or contacts, so currently I can not drive!


After that nightmare, we came home and I decided to call Delta to see if we could possibly get on any other flight before 9:00. After searching, the representative said that there was a flight with a stop in Oakland at 11:33 (it was 9:35) but I thought "we can make it" so she re-booked us on that flight.

We grabbed the kids and hurried out the door and back to the airport. We stopped again to Sky Cap only to hear "mam, whoever you spoke with isn't allowed to do that." Seriously, what did you say???

It turns out that that flight was flying express jet from Oakland to LAX so Delta would lose money by putting us on it. OH MY *&%$ are you kidding me. I tried to remain calm. The Sky Cap lady said that she would go inside and see what she could do. Well I thought that we would for sure miss this flight too since time was ticking by. When the lady came back out she said the best they could do was put us on a flight at 4:30 into Long Beach. That would have been fine except that we had a rental car reserved at LAX. We called Hertz and since it was a pre-paid deal we couldn't switch it. Of course not!


It was ridiculous so Sean decided to go inside and talk with the same lady that was there the 1st time. She straightened it all out and ended up giving us confirmations for the 11:33 flight (but told Sean not to miss this flight!). Perfect, except that Sean still had to park the car in long term parking.

The kids and I hurried in and saw the line for security. It was seriously the longest line I have ever seen at the SL airport. We got in line and made it to the front but there was no sign of Sean. I kept thinking "there is no way we are going to make it" since we only had 10 minutes left. I stayed in the front of the line and kept letting people go ahead of me and then saw Sean. I was so happy! We rushed through the line and ran to the gate.


The rest of the flight was uneventful (thank heavens!). The layover in Oakland was long, but we had fun. When we finally made it to LAX we picked up our luggage and discovered that 1 piece was missing. Yep the perfect ending to our day. Luckily, it was just a bag with beach towels and some shoes and other misc. things, but not too big of a deal.

Isn't that a fun way to start a vacation??

I will post pictures tomorrow! The rest of the trip was great!

Peace out!