Summer 2016 Adventures - The Big Round Up

Here we are in October and the memories of summer are starting to fade just slightly. Honestly it was a blur.  Since our family flies on Ashley's employee benefits, we only get a seat when there is an extra one.  Once school ended we settled into summer break with a general schedule in mind about where we were going and when.  This year I would be accompanying the kids to visit each of the grandparent's houses.  My first trip back to the States in about two years.  That caused me anxiety enough let alone flying "stand-by" for each of 8 flights we would have to take.  In other words, we could get stuck anywhere for any reason.  The passed two summers the kids have been successful with their summer airline travels so I could only keep my fingers crossed again this year that luck would be with us.

(My apologies for the formatting)

The first stop would be St. Augustine, Florida.  About 5 days before our "scheduled" departure from Mexico we looked at the flights leaving Puerto Vallarta to Atlanta and our adrenalin started to build.  It was clear that if we didn't get out of Mexico the very next day we might not get out at all until some future date. If this happened it would totally screw up the only leg of the trip that really had specific dates attached since my father and step-mother, aka Gram-O and Gramp-O, were headed out to British Columbia for a previously scheduled trip.  Fortunately we were able to get out of Mexico, meet up with Ashley for a night in Atlanta and the grandparent's schedule was loose enough to welcome us 4 days early.

Trace's twin is found at Ripley's Believe It Or Not

This was my first visit to their house since they moved to Florida so it was good to see where they have called home these many years after leaving Vermont. They endured another round of playing tour guide around historic St. Augustine and we ventured as far north as Jacksonville to see some fun things as well as the Kennedy Space Center and some time for golf (of course). Each pair of the kid's grandparents has a particular style. My parents in St. Augustine love to dine out so where to eat along the day's adventure was considered in advance. That is what they do and it's fun to go places that don't necessarily do tacos. Since I was the one not doing the cooking the kids were super psyched to read a menu and order what they wanted for each meal.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis - Amazing!

After five years in Mexico I go through "sticker shock" when in the States or paying for anything in US dollars.  What?  A $30 dollar bill for ice cream at Ben and Jerry's?  You have to be kidding!  At the exchange rate right now $30 is about $570 pesos.  Our grocery bill for the week is not much more than this when Ashley is up north.  Ashley always laughs and shakes her head when I don't want to spend a few extra pesos since as far as she is concerned almost everything(with a few exceptions) we buy down here is a bargain.

Old Town St. Austine with it's very own Ben and Jerry's.  So "Colonial Spanish".

Since our visit Hurricane Mathew came through and up the east coast and put many of the places in these photos of downtown St. Augustine under water and destroyed some of the places we had meals at.  The grandparents skipped town for a few days to avoid the storm and for the most part their place a little farther inland received only minor roof damage.

A stroll through Historic St. Augustine

Our next stop was up in Columbia, South Carolina to visit Ashley's parents. As with most of the trip, we arrived a day or two earlier than expected. We had just a little difficulty flying into Columbia and had to take a different flight from Atlanta up to Charlotte which is only about an hour or so north. Ashley's dad, "Grampy", came up to get us and the kids and I were grateful we didn't get stuck in Atlanta for the night or longer. Fortunately, Ashley was available behind the scenes looking at flights to get us on a flight that had seats. I also learned a good lesson flying "stand-by. You NEVER give up on a flight until the doors close to the jetway. If you are waiting for a seat there still may be a chance until the gate agent closes that door. 

As always "Grammy and Grampy" were and always are exceptional hosts. The AC was on, the pool was refreshing, the refrigerator was full and "Grampy" made sure my vodka tonic was delivered each day at 5pm and remained full until it was time to go to bed. Ashley joined us two days after our arrival so we were able to take care of a lot of things like shopping for the kids and hang out as a family for a bit. We were also able to attend an organized mini high school reunion of many of her closest friends. We had a blast with them and it was great to put faces to names from the stories I have heard. I have to admit, I was a bit of a curiosity to many of them and everyone came over to chat it up for a bit. "What kind of guy would marry Ashley"? A really good time was had by all and it felt good to be brought into the fold for a few hours. I hope I passed inspection.

Ashley's brother also made a trip for a night with his daughter so it was great to keep the cousins connected. Sadly we don't have any photos of our time in South Carolina. I usually take lots of photos to send to Ashely but since she was there with us the camera never came out. Ashley's mom has the most amazing photos all over the house especially in the kitchen where every available space is dedicated to the five grandkids. A shame not to add to her collection from this trip. 

We flew out of Columbia to Atlanta all together and the kids and I left Ashley in Atlanta while we flew north to Philadelphia to meet up with my mother and stepfather. By the time we arrived at "Bee-Bah" and "Grandpa Art's" house I think we were partly delirious. We had been on the road for two weeks, eating and drinking our way up the east coast. My mother had her itinerary ready and we were going to have to be ready to move. My mother is really good that way. She researches and organizes great things for the kids to do while visiting complete with back up plans. Many of the things are also things that her and Grandpa Art would like to see or do as well which makes it fun for everyone.

The area of Pennsylvania my mother lives in is horse country. Lots of rolling hills and open fields. Stunning. We met up with my brother, "Uncle Greg", at a day of Polo matches just a few miles from my parents place. Always good to meet up with my brother but Polo lost it's appeal after a few hours so playing some frisbee with Uncle Greg was much more fun. This led to a return to one of the kid's favorite activities from last year's trip. Disc golf. I had never played before but it was a blast and it was good to talk trash with my brother and head for an ice cream and a micro brew in Kennet Square afterwards.

Hitting the local minor league park was a treat too with seats down on the first base line. Irish Heritage Night was in full swing complete with Irish music playing in-between innings. Oh, and Fat Tire Amber on tap! A day into Philadelphia was also in order for a visit to the Franklin Institute for a day. One of those places that really needs multiple days to get the most out of it but it kept the kids totally stimulated for the day plus we got to enjoy some good old fashioned city traffic on the way home.

One of the big surprises was a night out for the kids with my mother. They went to a dinner theater and were given full permission to sneak out during the intermission if it wasn't all that interesting for them. Whether it was really something they liked or they just didn't want to miss dessert at the end of the show is still a mystery but the kids willingly stayed for the whole show and had a really good time. Loved seeing them all "dressed up" with their grandmother for the evening. With the kids and Bee-Bah out for the evening, Grandpa Art and I went down the road to a popular little pub and had great soup, burgers and thick beers just for the boys. The evening was enjoyed by all and yes, Alex is now officially taller than her grandmother.

During our time in Pennsylvania Delta Airlines had a system wide computer glitch which really screwed up summer travel everywhere. Since 1000s of flights were cancelled while things were being figured out anyone and everyone was scrambling for any airline seats they could find...anywhere. Which meant that anyone flying "stand-by" like us on empty seats was out of luck since those seats were being filled with people who's flights had been cancelled days earlier. Fortunately, we were scheduled to stay in Pennsylvania for a while still so when it came time to leave much of the airline chaos that was created had been cleared up. We picked our day to head back to Atlanta to meet up with Ashley again to head back to Mexico. Our flight looked good as far as getting on it so we said our goodbyes and then we started to stress.  The day of the flight things started to really deteriorate. Once empty seats were bought up and folks like us flying on benefits began to stack up. We had to wait three flights to get out of Phili and when we scored seats and left there were close to 70 "stand-by" people just hoping to get on a flight out. Wow!  We finally met up with Ashley as a family again and we were happy to have First Class seats back to Mexico.

That about sums up our travels from the summer.  I am sure I missed lots of things but I can only write and remember so much.  We are very lucky that our families are so welcoming and generous when it comes to heading to the USA for a visit.  It always stresses me out but the kids are good travelers so Ashley and I don't have to worry about them too much so that we can keep an eye on flights and be sure we get to where we need to be.  Who knows what next summer's travels hold in store for us but this one was fantastic so a big "Gracias" to all the family who took care of us along the way!