Coast to Coast Part 1

April was a busy month for me. First Shane had a conference in Orlando, so I went with him for a week...it was so relaxing, just what I needed (for some reason).
Have you ever had a premonition? Well while waiting for our flight out to Orlando, we were sitting at the gate waiting, there was a family sitting behind us with 6 kids, but the kids were running around wild...the mom was sitting there putting on her make-up while the baby screamed, and the other little ones just ran around. There was one teenage daughter and the other 5 kids were probably 9 and under. The dad was standing clear over by another gate, probably pretending he didn't know the family. Anyway...this family...we referred to them as the "Bumpus" family, were out of control. Shane turns to me and says..."Just watch they will be sitting right behind me." I just laughed. I figured maybe they were on some other flight as there were other gates close by. But they were on our flight and they boarded shortly before we did, as we were walking down the aisle, we were getting closer and closer to them and Shane was actually right, but they were not only behind him they were also right next to him. I had the aisle seat across from him. The mom, who was rather large (the seatbelt didn't go around her) was right by Shane in the middle and her teenage daughter was by the window, behind them were 2 boys about 9 and 7, behind them were dad holding baby,and a little girl about 3 and then in the middle seat behind him was the other little girl about 5 (yes in the middle of 2 complete strangers). When we got down by our seats they had the aisle blocked as they tried to figure out where there seats were, the jerky husband starts yelling and swearing at his wife...finally they all sit down, but musical chairs were played many times throughout the flight...except of course dad bumpus stayed right where he was the whole time. So every time a kid needed to go to the bathroom mom would get up and have to take them...which meant Shane had to get up also. He put on his noise reduction headphones and tried to watch the movie, but mom kept poking him to ask questions like if she had to pay for the sodas? is there any free snacks? She did bring snacks from home..it was beef sticks and pepper-jack cheese sticks which the whole plane could smell.The baby was screaming so Dad yelled at the baby to "Shut Up" finally he passed the baby up to mom (over the seats) this happened several times as each trip to the bathroom she gave the baby back to Dad Bumpus, finally the baby fell asleep on moms tummy there was probably 3 inches between his head and the seat in front of her. When the baby awoke, she stood him on her lap and he started pulling the hair of the man in front of her. At some point she poked Shane and explained that this was the first family vacation they had ever taken, (surprise), she and her teenage daughter were terrified to fly, the 2 boys behind them were both ADHD, and she has a psycho ex husband living in Missouri. Shane wanted to say that everyone on the plane had already figured out the little boys problems,WHY NO MEDS???. I was so proud of him, he was so patient with all of it. Everyone behind and about 5 rows in front of us kept snickering and giving him sympathetic looks. I was having a hard time controling my laughter, and the funny expressions Shane kept making! As we landed one of the boys asked if they could go swimming tonight, Mom Bumpus replied that they would have to see, cuz mommy and daddy had to go to a presentation for a few hours that evening...YES they were the guests of some lucky timeshare group! Mom told Shane that they were flying home the next Wednesday....guess what? So were we!

So all week long we joked about the Bumpus family with some of Shane's co-workers. They laughed, but they weren't on our plane going out so they really didn't get it, however they were on the same plane coming home so we told them that the Bumpus family was also going home that day and maybe they could see for themselves.

We sat at the Orlando airport waiting for our flight,visiting with Shane's co-workers and wouldn't you know it along came the Bumpus family, yep, they were all there noone had gotten lost in Disney World. We were just dying...Shane turned to me and said, "If the flight is oversold, I'm staying and going on the next one!" As everyone was waiting, the kids started running around and 2 of them were screaming, Dad Bumpus was his usual unhelpful self, and mom bumpus looked like a tornado had hit her, she just sat there. Everyone at the gate just kept looking at them probably wondering if either one would do anything about their children. Shane's coworkers now were getting nervous. The Delta employee stood up to the microphone and announced that the flight was oversold and they needed 2 people to stay overnight and go on tomorrows flight, I jumped up immediately and started for the counter, but 2 other people ran and beat me to it. I told the girls with us that I thought they would be the lucky ones this time to sit among the Bumpus family, and low and behold....I was right! Shane and I had a good trip home, away from the Bumpus family, but laughing at our friends who sat among them!

The trip was a great one, we spent time at Sea World, and the "Happy Place" of Disney World. I spent time reading and relaxing. Life is good! And to anyone reading this...Yes, I do know what it is like to travel with little children and have them act up...I guess I just wouldn't take my family on a 4 1/2 hour flight, with nothing to do to keep them occupied, for our 1st family vacation.....it would have been the last vacation they ever took!

Stay tuned for part 2 of Coast to Coast