Our Trip to Hunstville

Lily and I got back on Friday and whew...were we tired! We had quite an adventure getting there. We had a great flight to Atlanta. Lily was in a good mood, slept part of the time, I played inter-active trivia on the TV screen on the back of the seat. It was so nice. The plane wasn't full so they let me take her car seat on the flight with me so she got her own seat at no charge!
Then we got to Atlanta. Our hour and thirty minute layover turned into five hours and forty-five minutes because of delays! The terminal was under construction and the A/C was on the fritz. Some areas were freezing and some were hot. The waterfountains were all broken and there was only one ladies room for 20 gates! Lily is very good as long as there is motion, so I got plenty of exercise walking up and down the terminal for hours on end. She was an angel and I met so many nice folks who wanted to talk to her while I was walking. We finally board the plane at 6:45PM. This plane is one of those super-small ones. Two seats on one side, an aisle, and one seat on the other side. The plane was full so I had to hold Lily. I was releived to be getting on the plane because I only had 5 ounces of formula left and one nappy. The flight to Huntsville is only one hour. Well, at 7:55PM we were still sitting on the tarmac in Atlanta and they announce over the PA that our pilot has been delayed and will be arriving in 20 minutes (duh...late? we had already been on the plane over an hour!) Lily was still (thankfully) an angel, but I was a nervous wreck because she had now finished what little formula I had. We finally take off at 8:30 only to land in Birmingham at 10:00. Yes, I did say BIRMINGHAM....not HUNTSVILLE where we were supposed to go! They announce over the PA that the weather is too bad in Huntsville and we stopped in Birmingham to re-fuel and then we would be returning to Atlanta. Well, me, and about 75% of the plane, jumped up at this point demanding to get off the plane there. Lily was still behaving like an angel.
I got off the plane and sprinted to the car rental counter to rent a car. I had had enough airports for the day and didn't care what it cost me because Huntsville is only an hour and a half drive from Birmingham. Well, this really great couple who I had been talking to all day at the airport offered for Lily and I to ride with them. We took them up on it and arrived in Huntsville just before midnight! WHEW!
Sunday we went to the Hospital to see Aunt Kathey. She wasn't very coherient, but she reached for Lily so I know that she knew that we were there. I held Lily on her lap for awhile and she had her hand on her leg. I feel good that she got a chance to meet her so that now she can tell my mom how beautiful she is. After leaving the hospital we went to my grandma's so that she could meet Lily. I took advantage of the babysitters and went to meet my Aunt Charlotte at a sports-bar and got my first opportunity this season to watch the Bucs play.
The next morning we get the call that Aunt Kathey has passed away. We re-arranged our return trip to be able to stay for the funeral. No one wants to have a death in their family, but in this case it was a bit of a relief. Aunt Kathey was suffering so much and now she is with her sister up in heaven. We also got to see many more of our family too. Lily got to meet her uncle Richard for the first time, and many many many cousins. Richard kept calling her "it". So we decided that we are going to have to come up with a really mean name to call him when Lily starts to talk.
Our flight back was a dream compared to the trip there. There was extra room on both planes so that Lily got to have her car seat and her own seat both times. The layover in Atlanta was in another terminal that wasn't under construction and it had a Krystal (my favorite junk food that we don't have here) and the flight wasn't delayed. It actually arrived about 15 minutes early. Again...Lily was an angel. I am so glad!