Montreal Day 9 Second Sunday

Yesterday at the Botanic Gardens I got a text form a name I had never heard asking if I would teach primary the next day. The person apologized for the late notice and said they had been actively trying to get someone else all week. I said yes of course. Then I told husband that since there was no guarantee that Beckett wouldn't need to be nursed during said class that it would probably be best if he came with me. Then on second thought I am really out of practice teaching primary and he's really good at it and fresh since it's been his calling for almost two years now and maybe HE should teach the class and I should be there for moral support with Beckett :)
See what I did there? It worked.

Next day we wake up and G is in a grumpy mood. On the way to church I find out that it's because he is fasting. He is always super grumpy when fasting. He also ran two stop signs and a red light. SCARY!! I'm now positive he shouldn't be driving when fasting. Later we are sitting in opening exercises and a guy from the ward asks me about teaching I tell him who asked me to teach and he says-"Oh, hmmm, I don't know who that is. Who?". Because let's face it in a ward this size everyone knows everyone. I look at the text again and show him the name. He shakes his head no. I look at the number and it's a...oooooops...it's from our "other" ward. Well this primary was supper stoked to have someone show up, and with a lesson no less, so we taught anyway but somewhere in a country not so far away, there was a primary class without a teacher...crickets...

Good news was that G laughed so hard his mood improved for the rest of the day.

After church there was a potluck and the kids tried new foods and made new friends. Some they liked some they didn't(food that is). G was fasting and I have a thing about eating at things like this so we just visited.

Poo(To be read with a healthy dose of sarcasm).

So last night we were watching a few YouTube travel videos so we can get an idea of how we want to spend our upcoming time in Quebec City. I stepped out to use the restroom for a minute and when I got in there I was so grossed out. There was poop in the garbage can. Yucky strange looking poop. I wanted to throw up and scream at my children at the same time. It was so strange there was no toilet paper in there. How did it get there? My mind was thinking about possible scenarios and I just couldn't figure out who would do this and HOW?? There was a diaper in there with the poop on it. Could someone have used that to wipe with? REALLY? I felt depressed, sick, and disappointed that, despite my very best efforts, I am raising heathens. REAL, LIVE, HEATHENS. I knew from my own growing up that there isn't anything worse for a mother to raise than heathens. Just ask my mom.

I came back to the living room and solemnly asked my children which one of them left such a yucky thing. The answer was a strong and definite "NOT ME!! YUCK!!"
My pain deepened. Not only was I raising heathens but liars too. How could they. I've set such a good example and taught them where liars will spend their eternity(also thanks to my mother).
So, like any good mother I refused to start the travel video until the guilty party confessed all.

All children were SHOCKED, Shocked I say, that I would even THINK they could have done such a thing. Then, a light bulb came on. E3 comes and whispers to G and I, "Um you know those chocolate things you gave me?" Oh you mean the $17/lb dairy free, soy free, gluten free, GMO free, rich in antioxidant chocolate covered cocoa bean chocolate thingy s??? E3 "Yes." Me, Uh huh. E3"well I didn't like them and I chewed them up and spit them in the trash in there.

Another light bulb goes on-this time it's mine. I laugh, she laughs, they all laugh. I laugh because I'm happy that maybe I'm not raising heathens and liars anymore, she laughs because she's glad she isn't in trouble for wasting my expensive healthy chocolate, they laugh because their just dang glad order is restored to the universe again-and we all laugh because, that chocolate looks an awful lot like poo.

Being a Girl by: E3

E3, BEING A GIRL IS SO HARD.

Me, why do you say that?

E3, Because when you grow up you have to have contractions and you have to get your hair blow dried :( That's the hardest thing ever.

E3, I wish I could be a baby forever. They don't have to get their hair blow dried.

Montreal Day 6

Well today was another low key day like Tuesday. The kids were tired and VERY grumpy. We were going to go out and explore several times during the day, after summer school, but oh my goodness the whining, the crying over EVERYTHING by E3, and the fighting between E1 and E2 was enough to make me pull out my hair. I finally said-NAP TIME!!! No one wanted a nap, but all needed a nap. E1 and E2 both slept and woke up happier, but E3 just wanted to look at herself in the little round mirrors above her bed. Little princess was more like a dragon the rest of the day as a result. Poor thing. That really isn't a fair assessment. She wasn't mean or yucky like a dragon she was more like a little lost puppy who couldn't find it's way home. She cried or almost cried over everything. When G got home we ate dinner and cleaned up. Then we reluctantly drove all the way back to Walmart again and got there an hour before it closed. We purchased almost all the things on our list and then each child picked out a new toy. One to play with when it's too rainy to go outdoors. Something we really regret was not bringing more toys. We only brought Legos and that just seems to not be enough. Which is strange considering that's pretty much the only toy the kids play with at home anyway. And ironically the toys that the boys picked out WERE LEGOS. They just needed a new set to get them interested again. I also got them a board game to play and Ethne got magic sand. I probably wouldn't have let the boys pick Legos except that most of the lights were turned off in the store and the employees were chasing us out by the time we finished with the necessities on the list. We sneaked from the produce to the toys through the clothing unscathed but a mean employee caught us in the toy section and told us they were closing and we better get to the registers pronto. SO, I said yes to the first toy they fell in love with :)  I hope I don't live to regret that decision.

This was something I thought was really weird. They didn't have gallon size milk-only refills. Where are the gallons that you refill with these? Why would you want to do that? The risk or not getting them clean enough or spilling it from plastic bag to container are just too great. We just buy half gallon cartons now I guess. The ones you see next to those bags of milk are 1/2 gallons. Maybe you buy the bag of milk to refill those??

My awesome find was these good looking babies right here. Our floors are all very hard and my feet end up really hurting from walking on them so I needed some house shoes. This was what they had :) I look SO GOOD. Stop laughing Amber I know you want them. 

Montreal Day 5 Fête de la Saint-Jean-Baptiste

Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day or Fête de la Saint-Jean-Baptiste as it is known in French was Today here in Montreal. We read on-line and heard from the French/Canadian-Dominican Banker woman that there would be all kinds of celebrating going on around us. We saw that two parks by us had great things going on and within walking distance there was a huge 2hr. long parade. We put on our walking shoes and kids go out their scooters and off we went in search of adventures. I wish that I could say that this day turned out better than the last 4 here in Montreal, but unfortunately it didn't :( There now you know the ending and can stop reading right now if you'd like. We started out at the parade and that was looking quite good. Lots of people, lots of good music and floats. Then after about 20 minutes something strange happened. It was the most bizarre parade I've ever attended. The crowd took over the street and part of them dispersed. People were everywhere and just hanging out in the middle of the parade route but it was OK because there was no longer a parade. We could see a float in the distance but about 10 min. away. We just stood there for 10 minutes and the float finally came. It was for an organic food company and they were handing out potatoes, tree seedlings, and big bunches of radishes. People grabbed up the radishes and just chomped them down. That is beyond me people. How do you eat something like that that bites you back, and not in a good way. I only like radishes when they are in something else that keeps me from ripping my face off. My kids grabbed some and after one bite their eyes were watering and they were ready to give them back. They were offered to me and I had to politely refuse to eat them. Yes, I am THAT mother.  Apparently E3 thought they were going to be handing out candy and not radishes and she was sorely disappointed. I had to laugh. After that float people took over the street again and there was another 10min. before another act/float. It got so boring that even the chance that someone somewhere might be handing out candy wasn't enough to keep the kids engaged. We all left. The beginning part that we saw was pretty good though. Some great floats, great costumes, great French-Canadian music. There were some special interest groups in there too though that looked like they rounded up the Montreal homeless and said-hey come hold signs in our parade. Seriously I think that's what they did. Those people all looked like they could really use a shower and clean pair of clothes. All the signs were in French though so I had no idea what they were promoting. 

After we left there we walked home to figure out where to go for the park activities we read about online. We walked to one park and there was nothing there so we asked some people where the festivities were and no one knew. So we walked home and got in the car to drive around that park and then drive to another park to see where things were happening. According to the websites we saw there should be music, kids games, food, etc... THERE WAS NOTHING!!! we finally just let the kids play on a playground until it started pouring rain and we all ran to our car and left. 

From there we went to Walmart. We needed to get things like soap, toilet paper, cleaning supplies etc... and we drove across town to go to Walmart because we knew we would be able to park there. When we pulled up B, who had been winding up, lost it and was upset and wanting to be fed. I nursed him in the EMPTY Walmart parking lot. Why was it empty? Oh because it was CLOSED for the holiday. The website said it was OPEN but NOPE it was closed. Shopping stores 3, Fry's 0. The whole day was kind of a waste. We did however enjoy the great weather and walking around until the deluge. 

That was actually a funny story. We were sitting at the park and felt a few drops of water. Super tiny almost like a rain forest mist. Then all the locals started moving like ants after you step on their hill. They were crazy packing up and running to their cars. G says, "wow look at this. Guess we better pack up. When in doubt do as the locals". I was already moving. After watching how the weather works here from our Apt. on Tuesday I knew what was coming. G didn't. I started running with the stroller and E3 and the boys followed. It took about 15 seconds before it hit, and by the time we got to our car we were all soaking wet and laughing. It is such a funny trick the weather plays on you when one minute things are sunny and fine and 15 seconds later it's pouring hard. Many people were on foot and didn't have cars there. They were seeking shelter wherever it could be found. 

Garrett burping B in the empty Walmart Parking lot. 

More Pictures will be added later. 

Montreal Day 4 We Rest

Today is Tuesday. After a day like yesterday we decide we just need to stay home today and relax. Everyone take a nap(except me) and just enjoy being lazy. We stay in our jammies late,eat what sounds good(that we have), and don't stress too much about anything. Kids do math and we all study French together. It's not too hard(YET) and we laugh and have fun. I do research for the holiday tomorrow so we can do fun things. By the time G gets home though we are all ready to go somewhere, but G is very tired and stressed about his day and needs to relax. He says let's get Indian food and watch the rest of Star Wars with the kids. I say-your wish is my command DH. So he finds 4 different Indian restaurants within walking distance and walks to go get some Indian food.
DISASTER. INDIAN FOOD FAIL. That was THE WORST Indian food I have EVER had. G doesn't like it either. Yucky. On top of that he tells me it cost $60. Um, that math doesn't add up I say. Three meals at $12 ea. is $36 plus $6 for naan and that is only $42 +tax. Can't be $60. "Great, they over charged me for this crappy food."-G
That didn't really help him feel better but he really enjoyed watching Star Wars with the kiddos so it turned out alright. I sent him to bed and hung out with Beckett while everyone was sleeping. We blogged, and sang, and played until he was finally ready for bed around 1:30am Silly Beckett sleep is for kids, and parents, and all other living things.

Montreal Day 3 Part 2 COSTCO

Ok Now that you have read our last shopping experience you are prepared to hear about Costco. As I said in Part 1 of this day we decided to go to Costco after a long and rather rough day. We were pretty much spent but it needed to be done and Costco always cheers me up :)
When we got there it was about 6:30-6:45 and everyone was starving so we decided to just eat there. G went to get food and I went shopping. I found some fun things we don't have at our normal Costco in the states. I was enjoying myself immensely, but also trying not to spend/buy too much since our flat is very tiny. After everyone was fed G took the kids to go check out cell phone plans and I continued shopping for food. I thought he might be done fast so I rushed through the rest of Costco and came to meet him. He wasn't done. By this point Beckett was very hungry and crying and G realized that he needed some things from the car to get phones. I went out to the car to get his stuff and by the time I got back Beckett was a mess. I took all the kids to the car and nursed him with the expectation that G would finish up and meet us out there. Well Beckett ate and fell asleep and we waited but he never came so we unloaded the stroller and car seat and went in search of G. He was STILL at the phone place. Oh man. Beckett woke back up so I took baby in stroller, other 3 kids and all groceries to check out. They don't take our Costco AMEX card here at the Montreal Costco, so I went to the ATM. It wouldn't let me take money out. It said I had exceeded the withdrawal amount for the day when I actually hadn't used that card in months. GREAT. I went to tell G and he tried his card but same thing. NO MONEY. So once again we had a cart full of food, part of which was quickly melting, and no way to pay for it without calling the bank. I was ready to abandon ship and take everyone home to bed. Costco was shutting off their lights and ready to close. I paid for the phone cards with the cash I had on hand while G called the bank AGAIN. He's such a trouper. He said he wasn't about to abandon ship after all the effort it took to get this far. (Love that man) They said it was because we were trying to take out more than the daily limit. WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU FREAKING SAY SO. Seriously. And honestly what ATM card has a daily withdrawal limit of $300(you can tell how often I've used my debit card). They fixed that and made it much higher so "in future it shouldn't be a problem". Yeah, Thanks Wells Fargo I'll believe it when I see it. This move has made me realize that it might just be time to change banks. In the end though, as usual, we triumphed over hard things. GO TEAM FRY!!!!

Montreal Day 2 Part Two- The Grocery Store Experience

After church on Sunday G tells me that the landlord is coming over at 4 pm to meet with us and have us sign some paperwork. I was far less than thrilled with this information because we had just gotten in last night and our luggage threw up everywhere Sunday morning when we were trying to rush to get ready for church. AND we still had no food. So we had to go shopping before even going home. I had so desperately wanted a nap but it wasn't in the cards. We go to the grocery store by our house which means it's an inner city store and VERY EXPENSIVE. We buy a cart full of necessities like bread, milk, cheese, butter, chicken, rice, E2's dairy free equivalents, lots veggies and fruit and tortillas...you get the idea. At the check out they don't take AMEX. OK, no problem we give them Visa. No bueno. It won't go through. We are tired. We are hungry. We are frustrated from dealing with kids bouncing off the wall in the grocery store. E1 knocked over a tall tower of toilet paper, E3 broke open a package of fruit in syrup all over the floor. E2 was all over the place but somehow managed to not hurt himself or others. He was, however extremely irritating and loud. G gets on the phone with our bank to explain we are traveling in Canada and it really is us trying to use our card and could they please make it work. For some reason they can't. He has a bad connection and gets cut off several times and has to start all over again each time. It's restless in the jungle and the daddy on the phone has blood pressure that continues to go up, so when he asks the tired mama to remove the children to the car she moves quickly. AT the car we wait for what feels like forever. Daddy comes back empty handed and says he almost had it all taken care of and his phone died. He takes my phone and leaves again. Finally after everyone has just about lost it in the car he comes back very grumpy but with a cart of groceries :) Success! I don't know how he did it, but he did :)

We get home and have and snack and work like mad unpacking to have everything ready for the landlord. a few minutes before he is supposed to arrive we have one bag left to unpack and he texts and says 4 isn't going to work for him anymore. He will be her at 8pm. Hmmm, after all that I don't know whether to be thankful or mad so I decide when in doubt, go with thankful :)

I make a very nice Italian style pasta dinner that calms all menfolk in the house and order is restored. They are at peace with the universe once more having their bellies full of comfort food their wiggles out. Kids are put to bed for the night happy and healthy and strong :)

Montreal Day 3 Part ONEThis day has been very stressful

It's Monday and Garrett's first day at work. We've been here a mere 36 hours and most of that was overnight or church. I am afraid to get my feet wet. I am scared to just jump in the car alone with four kids and go exploring. I don't have my normal things and space. I don't have an outside to send the kids too so we are cooped up. Baby is super sleepy and I'm not motivated to wake him up to be brave and go explore. I'm fighting back my exhaustion and my feelings of being alone-very alone. Everything looks dark when you haven't hardly slept, but add that to everything being new and in French and husband at work and unreachable and it's possibly going to be a very bad day. So, I give myself pep talks. Walk myself through how I just need sleep and food and things will be more clear. I feel the need to write to get all the craziness in my head out on digital paper. The need grows until I can't ignore it anymore. Luckily baby is still in his sleepy mood and I pull out the computer and just type. I type and get it all out. Kids need something to do and have finished math so I call them in for writing time. I tell them that every day this summer we will be spending 20min. writing in our journals so that we have a record of what we have done. In the end I edit it as much as I have time for and put it all in order and perspective. In turn it puts my thoughts in perspective and I-without food or sleep-am able to see clearly. Thank goodness for the written word and the healing it can bring. A friend texts me about wanting to come visit, a sister-in-law does too. I feel less alone.

Then Garrett texts and it's decided. We no longer are walking to meet him at a bank. He will come here and we will drive. I put on my brave face and make a decision that I am going to do all the driving today so that I can get over my fear of driving here and get out and do things with the kids. I drive and it's bad. These people are the worst drivers I have ever encountered. They are cutting you off from the right and the left and driving in lanes that don't exist and they are bobbing and weaving in and out and all around me. I don't know where I am going but I do know that I have to find a parking spot when I get there and that isn't going to be easy. But G finds it on the GPS finnally and we have an easier time. We get there and guess what? There are several open parking spots along the street. I pull into one. we pay. we get out and walk and soon we encounter a very yucky building on a bright and happy and family friendly looking street. It's a male strip club to the left. I divert their eyes to the right and G says no not over here uhhhhh looook over...there's no where to look. Very unsavory pictures are on the right and on the left and so we turn and we walk back to check our address again. G leaves us in a safe spot and goes to find out where the bank is. We soon realize we didn't put East into the GPS and so it took us West. We walk the other way with only 30min. left until our apt. at the bank, because here you have to have an apt. to open a bank account, we rush back to the car and I drive again. We get more and more to the city center full of shopping and high rises and more and more crazy pedestrians running in and around the car on busy streets. How do they not die I wonder as I try not to get hit by crazy drivers. We find the bank for real this time and it is right at the time of our apt. 4:30. I drop G off and I look for parking which I find. But after we all unload, baby, stroller and all, I realize I have no Canadian money and no way to pay for the parking. Plus I am suspicious of my good luck finding so much parking on the street today. I realize that I am probably about to have to give a sob story to a stranger and ask for a Canadian dollar. I think to myself that I must really have lost it if I am about to do that. I text G and tell him I have no Canadian money. I pop into a shop and ask if she speaks English-she does- I ask for info about the parking and how it works. She tells me. I am right about my good luck. I am actually not allowed to park there. G comes running up to me with money for the meter. I tell him I am parked illegally and I must drive around for another spot. He takes all kids running back to bank and I face the crazy drivers alone. I get lucky and find ANOTHER spot. This time legal. I look and there is no meter on that block. I ask a lady peddling jewelry where it is and she points. It's on the other block. I run. I put in money and numbers ad run back to place the ticket in my window. Then I run to the bank and almost pass it. I come in and can't find my family but follow the sound of a screaming Beckett. They French-Canadian/Dominican banker lady yells to me to "bring the boob and come". "Baby is hungry". I think I must be dreaming and hope that I will wake up and it will all be over but no. We cram all 6 of us into her little office and she and G chat while I sweat and nurse baby and try to relax. I find a lull in the conversation and ask G to get me a cup of water. I drink it down and ask for another. Finally I can start to relax. She asks what I do at home in the states and I get the cold shoulder for not "doing" anything. Later when she tells me how great Canada is because mothers get a whole year to stay home with their babies I point out how lucky I am that I NEVER have to leave my babies and she changes her tune and shows a little respect.
When it's all over G only has 15 min. before his work day is over. There is no point in my driving him to work since we wouldn't get there by 6pm anyway so we drive home. But we are happy. We have a Canadian bank account. It's empty, but it's there. We can worry about filling it tomorrow. This day has been very stressful for both G and Myself and we need to relax, SO, we decide to go to COSTCO :) That was an adventure best saved for another post.

Montreal Day 2 Part 1 (June 21st) This is a day the Lord has made

Today came way too soon. We crashed into bed at about 2am, and we were so exhausted from traveling that we weren't ready to greet the sun. The boys had been in the car for three days and were stir crazy and Ethne was stir crazy from one long day of sitting on a plane and sitting in airports. They were bouncing off the walls. Garrett and I were emotionally as well as physically exhausted. And poor little Beckett just wanted to be put down. He isn't a fan of being held all the time. He desires to be put down in bed to sleep so he was SO HAPPY to be in his own bed again.
I had very little sleep because I had to feed baby in the night so I was still sleeping when Garrett was up getting ready for the day. When I got up to feed baby again he said church starts in an hour are we going? How do you feel? Truthfully I felt tired, hungry and SUPER GRUMPY. I didn't at all feel like church. I wanted to sleep and sleep and sleep. I thought about praying and asking Heavenly Father if it was OK for me to stay home this one time even though no one was sick(that and a new baby are the only reasons we miss church). But there was a problem. My heart was so full of gratitude for the blessings my HF had given me the day before that I just didn't have the heart to ask. I was so grateful for all His love and help that I wanted to do hard things for Him to show Him my gratitude. I had the feeling that He knew what we'd been through the day before and He would probably say it's OK not to go, but I felt such love and a desire to show that love that I didn't want to even ask.
So, I told Garrett I felt too blessed to stay home and he said "That's funny because it's exactly how I feel".
So, we went to church. We stopped at a grocery store to get bagels and bananas(something we never do on Sunday) so we could eat breakfast on the way. We had tried so hard the day before to make it to a grocery store, but nothing was open that late at night. We had nothing to eat and we were already late for church so G just ran in and ran out.  While he was in there we had a strange old lady bending over and staring at our license plate. It gave us all a creepy feeling how long she was there and how odd she was acting. I rolled down the window as she walked by and said Can I help you? She answered in a Haggard old lady Disney voice "no, I was just trying to figure out where you were from but I couldn't read it". I told her we were from Utah and she said "Well, Welcome to Montreal. How long will you be here?" I said 3 months and she looked shocked and said "OH! well welcome to Montreal". We all laughed as she tottered off.
We got to church late and all seats in Sacrament meeting were full so we brought some in from a classroom and sat in the back. The speakers were a new couple in the ward who looked like senior missionaries but were not. They were from Baltimore and brought here by the spirit. Everyone in the room was so interesting looking that I just couldn't focus. I just had a strong desire to talk to everyone and find out where they were from and what their story was. This repeated in Sunday school. We were late to that meeting because we went to help the children all find their classes. The primary here is VERY small. Most of the branch is made up of elderly people it seems. There are almost no youth or children. There is one class for Junior primary where Ethne made the third child and one class for senior primary where Enoch and Ezra were two of five children. They nearly doubled the size of senior primary. :)
I nursed Beckett after sunday school so I was late for R.S. and what a bummer. They had just set up a French branch and an English branch so people have all been moved around and don't know each other. Everyone was standing up and telling who they were, where they were from, and a little of their story and I MISSED most of it. I had just spent the last  hour and a half wishing to know these people and it was going on while I was in the mother's room. I did at least get to hear probably 1/3 of them though so that was nice. There was a woman from Costa Rica, Several from South America(they didn't say were specifically), one from the British isles, some Canadians, a few from the states, a few from Mexico(I think), Some native French Canadians and Some English Canadians, it was quite a mix and unfortunately I missed most of it. I felt so excited to see so many people with different stories to share. One lady who only spoke Spanish was visiting with the missionaries. She was so old and feeble she wasn't able to get out of her chair without two sisters helping her up. She was leaving the meeting early but what impressed me was her spirit. She couldn't understand a word and yet she was feeling the spirit so strongly and radiating it back to others. She passed by me and she grabbed my hand and squeezed it and just looked me in the eyes with such love and sincerity I nearly cried. What a sweet sweet sister. That experience alone was worth the effort it took to get to church that morning.
I learned a lot from this experience. I learned that the more thankful we are the more strength we find to obey and do hard things. I learned that spiritual upliftment can feed the soul even when the brain is too tired to listen and to think. And I learned about the spirit that can be felt when sisters from all over the world meet, with all their differences, not even able to speak the same languages and it was a beautiful thing. God bless the members of the Montreal Stake.

Montreal Day One

Just like the Von Trapp family sings, the Fry family travels. To some it seems exciting, adventurous, and romantic and to others it seems Crazy and psychotic.
The truth is, it's all of the above. Really! It just depends on the day.
Saturday we left home and traveled to the airport where we were super blessed and everything went very smoothly. The sky cap guy took my bag and my money and went inside and checked us in so that I wouldn't have to wait in line and do it myself. It took all of five minutes. THANK YOU SKY CAP MAN. YOU ARE MY HERO!!!
Next we went through security mid day in terminal two which was practically dead. I had a nice guy offer to help me and I actually let him (after promising myself that morning that I would let well meaning people serve ME today). Thank you well meaning man who had the brawn to lift the stroller off the conveyor belt, but not the brains to unfold it. Don't worry it took me five minutes the first time I did it :) Next we had the breast milk put into a machine to test it because you never know when something that looks like breast-milk, smells like breast-milk and tastes like breast-milk could turn out to be something more dangerous and sinister-like-FORMULA. AHHHH!
When the Delta employees came to our gate I went up and told the lady that I was traveling with an infant and a 5 year old by myself and that I only had a 30 min. layover in Detroit, and that I was very nervous about not making that connection. I asked if she could look up the gate I was flying into and the gate I was flying out of so I had an idea how far apart they were. I also told her I was sitting in the back of the plane and would have to get off last and asked if there was any way she could move me forward. She was almost non-responsive and not very friendly, I thought about checking for a pulse, but her little fingers went a tap tapping on those keys and she came through in the end. She didn't tell me what she was doing she just did it, and 8 minutes later she handed me new boarding passes for this flight and the boarding passes for my next flight to save me the time of stopping to get them in Detroit. She moved me from row 25 to row 12 which just happened to be the upgraded seats right behind first class. They give you SNACKS, and you have OH SO MUCH leg room. It was AWESOME. LONG LIVE THE RICH AND POWERFUL WHO ALWAYS GET THOSE SEATS. Your world is large and exciting, and made the next 4 hours a lot more comfortable with a baby on my lap. OK, switching gears here. On a more serious note the next 6.5-7 hours were rough, but I completely felt the Holy Spirit lifting me up. He gave me comfort and peace during hard times, and helped me to handle everything that came. I am so thankful for the help and understanding of a Great God who hears and answers prayers.
OK, back to the light-hearted. Can I just say that changing diapers on a hard flat surface that folds down over a toilet on a plane is NOT my idea of fun. Beckett wasn't really happy about it either. I do however list it among my accomplishments, because, it is really quite a talent I have developed along with changing poopy diapers on my lap during landing :) The stewardess said I made her LIFE by letting her hold Beckett while I went to the little girls room. I wonder if that was before or after he spit up all over her?
When we got into Montreal I made the LIFE of another woman while I unpacked the stroller and car seat and put everything together. Her husband also thanked me for making his wife's day. Go Beckett for being so sweet and making peoples "LIFE" and not just their day. I was the VERY LAST person in line for Immigration. this man says to me "Do you realize you are the VERY LAST person?" We both laughed. It was 10:45pm by the time we made it through immigration, and baggage, and customs. The elevator was broken and we had a security guard take us through the private channels to the baggage area. Garrett picked us up and said we had 15 minutes to find a grocery store because they all closed at 11pm. Well since the GPS couldn't tell the difference between a grocery store and a laundry mat we missed the deadline. The only place we could find to get food after that was, of all things, a McDonald's. YUCK! We survived. made it home and finally got to crash at 2am. Goodnight world.