April PR trip - Day 1 and 2

Yesterday was travel day and the kids have gotten to be great travelers. They know the routine and love the plane rides cause they get to play their game boys for hours on end! We left our house early Tuesday morning and had a few hour layover in Dallas. Unfortunately the ride from Salt Lake to Dallas was one of the worst rides I’ve ever been on. It was so bumpy and bouncy and we hit a pocket of something they called “clear air turbulence” just as we crossed over the Rockies into Colorado. It was a jolt of turbulence that came on so fast that it took everyone by surprise and knocked all the drinks on the floor and even one of the flight attendance went down before we even knew what hit us! I looked out the window and the plane rocked so hard to one side then back up I saw the mountains one second and then the clouds the next. It was one of the scariest moments I’ve ever had on a plane. The pilot came on later after things were under control and said that was a pocket of air that they just weren’t expecting and apologized for not being able to warn us of it coming. I admit, I had real tears in my eyes for a while after that happened. 

We got to Dallas and after a lunch of chic fil a we all felt a little better and had some time to relax. Then we had another bout of drama as the flight attendants for the next flight got on the speaker and announced that they were going to try and board us as quickly as possible and leave early to beat out a storm that was rolling into Texas. Sure enough we looked up the radar and a surge was headed our way along with tornado warnings and a large hail storm. Quick as we all could we boarded the plane and got settled as the captain and attendants continued to say that we would be barely making it out in time if we actually did. Off we went though about 10 minutes before our original flight time and ended up beating the storm. The flight was much smoother than the first though I expected it not to be with the storm right on our heels. After we landed in San Juan we looked up the Dallas weather and sure enough there were two tornadoes that touched down not too long after we left! So glad we got out of there when we did. Overall a pretty dramatic day for flying!

Today we slept in a bit then hit the stores to get some of our big ticket items off our list. First stop was Home Depot for some drainage pipes then the grocery store for food for the week. Last week there was a island wide blackout for about 4 days so any frozen and cold food we had at the home had gone bad. Time to restock. We checked out some light fixtures and fans and some appliances that we’re realizing we need to get pretty soon. IKEA was next to try and purchase our kitchen cabinets. We went in with a complete list of the items we needed from an order form Josh had made from the IKEA US website. Unfortunately it doesn’t transfer directly to the IKEA PR site without redoing the whole order so we took that in hoping for some luck and someone to help us out. We also realized about a week ago that the cabinets we had chosen were being discontinued and some of the pieces looked like they were out of stock already. Josh had made a new order with a new cabinet face and, though we liked the new look, it was double the price! I kept wishing that we could have ordered those other ones sooner and gotten the ones we really wanted and a lower cost in the end. Oh well. We got there and found someone that referred us to the kitchen center for some help. A wonderful soul named Valerie took over and helped us set up the order on the PR site and seriously made it look so easy that she was done in a flash! She got our whole order set up and ready to go and the total was almost $7000. Much less than some other places we had looked. Josh asked if there was any way to see if the old style that we originally wanted was by chance in stock for the pieces we needed. Valerie whipped her fingers around the keyboard and figured out everything in the other style and would you believe it…everything was in stock and at the low discounted price that we had seen online a few weeks ago! Not only did we get the cabinets we wanted but also at the discontinued price of $2900 and free delivery for our order! It was a miracle come true! Josh and I could not believe our luck that the pieces were all there and ordered and on their way just like that. Cabinets are being delivered next Tuesday right to our door! Amazing!

We rounded off our shopping day at Costco and got home with a van full of groceries only to find that the power was out again. Yikes. We loaded everything into the still cold fridge and freezer and decided to get to work setting up our generator. With all the power instability around here we figured it was time to fire that thing up. We had lots of help and it was not too hard to get it going and run an extension cord to the fridge to keep stuff cold and the microwave to make dinner :) Frozen dumplings from Costco and chips and salsa were on the menu tonight, eaten by headlamp. Mother Nature graced us with a gorgeous sunset as the light faded. We read and played games with headlamps on and as we sat there on the upstairs patio the street lamps suddenly flipped back on! Only 6 hours or so without power this time and I think we managed it pretty well. We’re at least set up somewhat for the next time it happens! 

It’s always an adventure around here and these peeps are just the ones I want to adventure with everyday! 



It's also Easter week and we started our Easter week traditions before we left and are continuing them while we're here.  Here's what we've done so far: