Up, Up, and Away

We flew out of Guatemala City last Thursday morning for a vacation trip to the States.  We had arranged for a taxi to pick us up at our mission house at 5:30 a.m.  The boys had been so excited about our trip until we had to wake them up to leave.  Cruz told me "maybe going to the airport is not so fun after all".  ha 

me and the boys before getting in our taxi 

After getting checked in and past security we stopped by McDonald's for a quick breakfast.  

 The boys admiring the planes while eating breakfast in the airport

eager to board the plane 

Once on board the boys were invited to say hello to the pilots.  Cruz jumped at the chance and was very excited about it.  Ben, not so much.

Cruz meeting the pilots 

We were all ready and eager to take off when the pilot came over the intercom and announced that we had a mechanical problem and would be delayed.  Needless to say we sat on the plane one hour and 45 minutes before leaving.  That was not fun, not fun at all!  We knew we only had a 2 hour layover in Dallas and there was most likely no way we would make our connection flight.  We didn't.

David and Ben excited when our plane finally left Guatemala City

me and Cruz on our way to the States

Both of my boys love to sit by the window and look out.  

Here is a video of Cruz as we took off from Guatemala City.  It shows a little of his excitement.

Cruz snapped this photo of the clouds.

Riding "the train" in Dallas.  

 Riding "the train" in Dallas

My mom's favorite color is yellow.  Ben was excited when he saw this yellow plane and said "Mimi would love to ride on that!"

We did miss our connection flight which meant another four hours of waiting before we could get on another flight.  I was just a little bit upset about it.  Who am I kidding?  I was a lot upset but knew there was nothing I could do about it.  We ended up grabbing a bite to eat (at McDonald's, again) and then walked over to the Dunkin Donuts for a sweet treat.  Donuts always make me feel better!

Donuts in Dallas.  This place had Dunkin Donuts on one side and Baskin Robbins ice cream on the other.  What a heavenly combination!

donut break in the Dallas airport

We had flown through Dallas before and one of the things we loved most about it was the Junior Flyer's Club play area for children.   What a blessing that is to traveling parents.  Especially when you have unexpected delays.

My boys burned a lot of energy there.

And what did we do while they were burning all of that energy?  We sat back and enjoyed a great cup of coffee.

Finally at 6:30 p.m. we left Dallas.  We were all rejoicing.

Arriving home in Jackson at 8:00.  What surprised us most was that it was still daylight.  We still cannot get over the fact that it doesn't get dark until late here.  In Guatemala it is dark by 6:00 each night.  These extra evening daylight hours are great!

We made it home and were greeted by family.  They had a big BBQ meal waiting for us at David's grandmother's house.  We ate and then traveled on to the house where we are staying.  We were all so tired by the time we arrived.  We have barely stopped since our feet hit the ground.  There is so much we are wanting to squeeze into our visit and I am afraid if I stop I might miss something.  It has only been a few days but so far our time here has been wonderful.  We are so thankful for time to reconnect with family and friends.