Two Countries, 6 States and Over 7250 miles- Jon and Tara...

...you are no where near ready for the Amazing Race! From the second we got in the car to begin our vacation, we pretended we were running the Amazing Race. We weren't more than a couple blocks from home when Jon said, "Jon and Tara, you're team number one!" We've always thought we would make the prime candidants for the race. We met in a foreign country, Jon speaks three languages, I'm terrified of flying and would use the opportunity of the race to overcome that and we both claim to have a very keen sense of direction. Sounds good so far, right? Add to that that we consider ourselves a good team, we work well together. But our vacation showed us that we aren't as ready as we thought.

We walked in circles several times in Boston--even with a map in hand, we missed the turn to Niagara Falls and most devastating, missed our connecting flight to the finish line! (That wasn't our fault, just our bad luck, but luck plays a big part when you're running the Amazing Race!) Jon says if we were really running the race, he would ask for directions more but since there was no million dollar prize in our case, why sacrifice your pride? We need to brush up on those map skills but we really are a good team and it was an "Amazing" vacation! I truly left every care at home and enjoyed every minute!

We flew home out of Philidelphia and were scheduled to have a lay-over in SLC. A young boy traveling alone got ill just as we made our way to the tarmac for take-off. All medically trained passengers were called to the front of the plane to determine if he was well enough to fly or if he should deplane. They took a very long time to decide that he needed to be let off the plane. That meant that we had to taxi back to the gate to let him off. This whole process took such a long time that the plane needed to be refueled before we could leave again. We finally got cleared to leave and then the runways experienced a very high volume of traffic so we were stuck in a line of planes waiting to take-off. In the end, we arrived in Salt Lake just 5 minutes after our connecting flight had left. Delta put us up in a hotel and gave us meal vouchers. The up-side to all of this was that we got to see Sarah and Maureen, Jon's sisters. They live close to the airport and even though it was 10:30 at night, they still wanted to meet for a late dinner. It was fun to see them!


There's only one thing left to do before bringing this whole "travel log" thing to an end. That is, to pay tribute to the Wonder Woman who made it all possible. Grandma did all the basics like feeding, clothing and transporting my children but she also managed to keep up the housework, play games, pass off scout requirements, help with homework, stay on top of Caleb's three medications (he was quite ill when we left) and even complete a few projects around the house! The kids were not only well taken care of, they had a fabulous time with Grandma! The words "Thank you" cannot sum up the gratitude we feel for the opportunity you gave us to be together and escape life as we know it. Thanks so much, Mom!