2 Lousy Days! 8-9-09 and 8-10-09

The last couple days have been very ODD! We've had a string on things not going so well...

Sunday morning began with us happily getting excited about going to Dan's family's family reunion. Dan decided to take a bike ride all around Naples. I called my parents to tell them about our happy Saturday while Dan was out enjoying his bike ride.

Then, a call came from Tiffany explaining that plans had changed and that the group of skaters she took to Lake Placid were returning to Colorado on Monday and not staying for the extra fun week that had been planned. There had been a very sudden change in plans.

It made sense to me to get Joel and Rebekah to California to join us (why would I want them alone in Colorado while we were in sunny California on vacation?), but to my dismay, there were no flights available on Monday (at the time Tiffany was getting them to the Albany airport that were heading for Los Angeles).

I found out that there was a flight early Tuesday morning though, but I couldn't have my kids alone at the airport without an adult.

My father, who lives in Chicago, made up his mind that he wanted to help. The next thing I knew, he announced that he and my mom were driving from Chicago to Albany to get the kids and to get them on a plane.

Then another call came. Dan's father had fainted and was in the hospital! The reunion was still ON though, but the part where all Dan's brothers and sisters and their children and grandchildren was moved to the hospital!

Somehow, Dan's sister-in-law talked the hospital staff into letting everyone in Dad's hospital room for a group photo! We took more photos outside, but without Dan's dad.




After a good long time at the hospital, we all returned to Dan's parents house for more visitng.

In the meantime, I was worried sick about my parents who were in the middle of driving from Chicago to Albany, New York!

When I woke up on Monday morning, I called my parents' cell phone. They were STILL on the road.

Eventually, the ice dancers and Tiffany left Lake Placid and headed for Albany. My kids were handed to my parents around 1:30 PM. My dad was surviving on no sleep and began driving west with the idea he'd try to get my kids to a plane in Chicago on Tuesday.

I HAD to do something to get my mind off of these hassles, so I took Annabelle ice skating at the Glacial Garden rink in Lakewood. We had a blast! I saw old skating friends and we also made new skating friends. Annabelle was thrilled to get to have her picture taken with Caroline Zhang! I was thrilled to see my longtime coach, Darlene Gilbert!

A couple of hours later I got a call from my dad to change the flight to any airport on the way. There was no way my dad or the kids could endure any more time in the car. The kids will now fly out of Buffalo on Tuesday morning, connect in Baltimore and change planes, then fly on a plane from Baltimore to Los Angeles.

To complicate things, we tried to take Annabelle on my sister's kayak to give her some fun. But...that didn't go so well. The bad stroke of luck that happened was that Dan fell out of a kayak into the ocean. Fortunatelly, he was near the dock and after Annabelle screamed for help, some people in a nearby sailboat pulled Dan back onto the dock to safety. Annabelle pulled the kayak back to the dock somehow and held it until Dan was rescued. Hopefully things will get better!

(Oh...by the way, Marion and Bruce's car was broken into while we were all skating on the beach on Saturday 8-8-09. The front passenger window was bashed in and broken and their GPS was stolen. Fortunatelly, her purse was not touched.)

Dan's father is OUT of the hospital. He came home late Monday afternoon.

Please pray for safe travels for Rebekah and Joel and also my parents.

The photos included in this post is Dan's entire family together at the hospital and also of Dan and his dad, John Farris.