July 12, 2006

We have arrived in Fort McMurray. What a journey. I'm pretty sure I'll be here until Art goes back in September because there is no way I'm making that trip with two children by myself again! It began early Tuesday morning round about 5:10 am. In retrospect, I realize it should have begun around 4:00 am. We spent the night at mom and dad's because I thought it would be such a big help in getting the kids ready in the morning. And it was but you just can't rush a one and a 5 year old. We hadn't even left for the airport and I knew we had missed our flight. Needless to say, I began my journey on the high end of my stress scale. I called ahead during the drive to the airport and the bitchy Air Canada customer service rep confirmed that they would never let me on the flight but for the low low cost of $300 per person I could make the next flight. That wasn't the worst part, since I'd missed the direct flight I would have to change planes in Toronto, Calgary, and then touch down in Edmonton arriving in Fort McMurray 12 hours later. Or I could take my chances and rebook when I got to the airport for $150 each, a risk at best. I'll do what I have to do I said, BYE! Perhaps she's working on commission. We parked and loaded a cart or two, I can't even remember now, and after a short trip to the Chapel (don't ask) we made it to the Air Canada desk. I explained my plight to the nice AC agent. I was ready to spend copious amounts of money for a new ticket, as well as lose my sanity on a 12 hour trip west. Choking back tears of frustration and feeling very defensive I had to explain to the nice man that no, I had not mistaken the boarding time for the airport arrival time, I'm travelling with 2 small children. The agent, being a man, wearing no ring and most likely gay didn't seem to be very empathetic did remain nice as I'm certain he heard the edge in my voice. He pecked furiously away at his keyboard and managed to save me at least half of my sanity. "You're leaving on the next flight," he told me, "you'll make the connection in Toronto and you won't even know you missed your flight. That will get you into 'The Fort', (as he affectionately referred to it and as I can't help but refer to it from now on) right on time. "How much?", I choked. "No extra cost." I figure it's due to my good karma. Art never even had to know if I didn't want to tell him!

I had zero minutes to get to my gate so there was only time for a quick good-bye. I was pushing Josiah in the stroller, carrying my sling plus 2 carry on bags for me and 2 for Hannah (the toys and our food) as well as her cup of apple juice. They made me give up the juice (I don't know) and I handed dad the case for my stroller. I didn't have enough hands for all I was carrying and was getting worried about them making me leave something behind. We got to our gate with just enough time for a quick bathroom run. I scrambled to get ID and boarding passes out while shifting bags all over the place. I had to leave the stroller at the gate so then I had to shift bags to Hannah in order to handle Josiah. A few minutes later a strange man came up to me and handed me my wallet. OMG, just get me to Toronto I thought!

Josiah pooped 3 times, twice on the flight from Halifax to Toronto. Along with affecting the air quality he disturbed the peace for a very long 10 minutes until he finally fell off to sleep. My stop in Toronto was short, 36 minutes. Josiah made the short trip between gates in his stroller, rested and excited for the next airplane ride. Another poopy diaper and peek a boo with the guy across the aisle and we were settled in for the long flight, 3 1/2 hours, not so bad I thought. As he was well rested from the first flight he was up for a long time and pretty active. Hannah watched a movie while I kept him busy with everything I could think of. He dumped a bottle of water down his shirt so I stripped that off and hung it up to dry for the rest of the flight. After exhausting himself and me he finally fell off to sleep again.

It was overcast and raining when we arrived in Fort McMurray so we couldn't see much when we were landing. Lots of trees, that's about it. Hannah was so excited to see Daddy. It's a small airport so we saw him right away. Josiah was in the stroller, one sandal on and one off, shirtless (Hannah spilled a cup of water on his shirt again after it had dried) and with the biggest grin when he saw his father.