Dallas Love Craziness

I had to document the bizarre travel event that occurred when we flew out of Dallas Love Field, returning from Texas to Dublin. Thank goodness no one got hurt, and thank goodness Grammy and Cousin Tori were with us.  Can't imagine going through it by myself with the little ones!

To start the day, we had a quick trip to the airport, zero line in security, nice breakfast at the terminal, and boarded the plan without incident.  While boarding, Mother first noticed that some of the passengers were getting on after us looking upset or shocked. The flight attendant started to rush folks on, closed the doors, and we pulled back slightly from the jet bridge. The attendant announced "you are SAFE, we are SAFE" and we knew something was up!

It took a minute for twitter and the news outlets to pick it up, but there was a female shooter in the airport that fired off several rounds before the airport police took her down.  No one was hurt (other than the shooter), but it led to mass chaos as people started running and hiding. Dallas Love is not big, and we heard reports of passengers hearing the shots inside the terminals and even as far as the gates. Of course they ran, not knowing where the shots came from, and the whole airport was on edge.  

For some UNKNOWN REASON (still don't fully get the rationale), TSA made the decision to evacuate everyone in the airport AND on the planes to force everyone back through security.  Our kids were (fortunately) pretty oblivious to everything going on, but Wesley could perceive something was up and started crying about "staying safe on the airplane".  I had to carry him out and through the airport, listening to the stories all around us - and thanking the Lord we had been on the plane and not throwing the kids under a chair.  Can you imagine the trauma, even if it ended just fine?

The line to evacuate quickly became unreal, the security folks tried their best but could not direct us to where to go, congregations of people formed all over the place, and eventually we all made it outside the gates and into parking garages, hallways, office spaces, etc.  I had been texting with a few folks, who were praying for peace and calm, and they sent me this picture from the NY Times!  We made the news!

We passed the time best we could, kept the kiddos sane, and finally started back into the airport after a couple of hours.

Because the crowds were so thick (and it was hard to finagle the kids through the crowds) I made the difficult decision to leave Grammy and Tori in line so I could take the kids through TSA Pre Check.  Pre Check saved the day, and we got through in minutes while Grammy and Tori had over an hour.  BUT THEY MADE IT IN TIME! And we took off 5 hours after our scheduled flight.

After all the excitement, we finally made it home safely to Dublin and - again - just SO THANKFUL that everything turned out okay. As Mother and I said, during a tequila toast upon making it home, "it could have been better, but it could have been A WHOLE LOT WORSE".  :)

Texas Trip!

Just like last year, the kiddos and I took off in July to spend some time in Texas with the Kerr family.  (With so much going on at work, James was not able to join us. Huge bummer but we appreciate him working so hard so we can have some fun.)  

I remember our last July trip we kept talking about the mild temps. Well, this year we went in the WORST HEAT WAVE and had to deal with 107 degrees, each and every day.  Whew, so stinking hot.  Our Georgia kids were not ready (this Texas gal is better conditioned). 

We did the normal stuff:  Mayborn museum, parks (in the morning it hit 100), swam with Aunt Shawntel and Uncle Kelly, fed the donkeys, loved on family, and played with my parents' new puppy, Zoee.  

Gotta brag on the kiddos, who did GREAT on the flight and made life pretty easy.  Maryn got her first (of a few, because, Texas) Dr. Pepper's on the flight. 

Gran Gran takes Zoee to the park each day to walk the track and get her used to the leash (she's still working on that one...) The kids went every day and got in some running and playing under the shade.  At 9AM it was about 90 degrees, which felt downright cool!

We always enjoy the Mayborn museum on Baylor campus, and their traveling exhibits are especially fun. This time they had DC Superheroes and a lot of interactive stations to enjoy.  Of course, we had to go pay tribute to the mammoths and watch the (very sad) video recreation of them dying in the mudslides, and then play upstairs in all the activity rooms. They had a new room filled with "trash" and papers, ribbons, tapes, and other things that could be used to craft - Maryn was in heaven!

The heat sent us running for the pool every day, and Shawntel and Kelly added some other fun activities to keep the kiddos all entertained.  Zoee joined us in the pool several days, that crazy dog. She loves to swim!

We worried the donkeys had forgotten about us when they didn't come around the first couple of days, but finally they realized we were at the fence (with 15lbs of carrots) and ran over...with their longhorn friends!

 

The kids quickly spotted the Urban Air in town (which has been there for several years but they didn't know what it was).  We made a trip one afternoon, and the kiddos had a BLAST.  Maryn found her courage to try the zipline and ropes course!

The Kerrs always make sure that we have lots of good food, each and every meal.  Gulf coast shrimp, fajitas, Poppa Rollos...and crickets?  (Uncle Marcus convinced the boys to try crickets, which JB did successfully but Wesley couldn't stomach it.)

Always a great trip to Texas, making wonderful memories with our wonderful family.  We were lucky enough to bring Grammy and Tori back to Georgia with us to stretch out the fun even longer.