We are in Ohio visiting Chris's family. We left on Wednesday, December 9, 2009.
We checked in the day before (22 hours in advance) and the only seats they had available for us to choose from were 2 middle and 1 aisle all in completely different rows. So we woke up at 2am to get to the airport at 4:30am for our 6:20am flight to try to change our seats. At check in they couldn't fix anything, but told us to go to the gate where they would try to do something. So we go through security. In the line at security Chris tells me that the lady in front of me is someone famous. She looked kinda familiar, but I had no idea who she was. Her lack of travel knowledge (having to go through the metal detector two or three times to remove a bracelet and hair clip, not removing her laptop from the bag) gave us extra time to try to figure out who she was. (Once we got
internet we figured out it was Andie McDowell).
Here's
Ryleigh past security in her cool sit-n-stroll. The wheels fold up into the bottom of the
carseat. Made traveling rather easy.
Got to the gate and they couldn't fix our seats until everyone was boarded. So finally after everyone on, and got all our seats in the same row. We board, go to our row, start to get settled, when the flight attendants come to tell us that we aren't allowed to sit there with a
carseat due to it being in such close proximity to an exit row. Kind of annoying since the gate people knew we had a
carseat! So then they told us to go to the first coach row (bulkhead). We put Ry in her seat and find out her
TSA approved
carseat is too big for the seats with the stationary arm rests! So we try to get the flight attendant's help, to no avail. So the people in the row behind us offer to switch rows with us. We could not have been more thankful! We asked for a seat belt extender and had to explain to both flight attendants why we needed one to justify them getting one for us, which was just beyond annoying by that point.
But finally, we got settled on the plane.
And they had satellite TV, so after a few minutes in the air and a little Nickelodeon,
Ryleigh was out!
The flight was really good, and
Ryleigh did great. She even flirted with the people in front of us (who switched rows with us) when we were
de-planing. We got tons of compliments from other passengers telling us how impressed they were with Ryleigh's travel skills.
When we got to
Cinncinati, it was a freezing 36 degrees out with 50mph winds. So
Ryleigh got bundled up when we went to get the rental car!
Here's some photos of
Cincinnati. Kinda reminded me of my drive from
Indianapolis to Denver, all the random photos of the city from the highway.
City view:
Football stadium
Baseball stadium
Ryleigh enjoyed her first front facing car ride, and seemed to enjoy it.
We had to stop to get Chris's favorite
Donato's Pizza on the way to his parents house. On the way we passed an indoor
waterpark. I had to get a picture, since I'd never seen one before!
And the black cloud snow storm we drove through.
But we finally made it to Van
Wert, cold and all! Forcast for Day 2 of our trip, 17 degrees as a high.
