We did not go to Croatia!

 

This is a picture of why we did not make it to Croatia.

We went to the Cleveland airport on Wednesday afternoon to catch our 4:00 flight, which looked like this:

Cleveland -- Chicago -- Frankfurt -- Split

While we were waiting at the gate to board in Cleveland, they made an announcement that there would be a slight delay because a light was out somewhere on the plane. After about an hour, they made another announcement saying the flight would be delayed for a long time because of a mechanical issue, and we might want to look into getting other flights. It turned out they had to change equipment, and that flight was delayed by 5 hours. We did go to the United counter to book another flight, but because we missed our connection to Frankfurt, it got complicated. They wanted us to take a later flight to Chicago, stay overnight, and board a flight to Zurich. Once in Zurich, we had to wait 9 hours for that flight, which would connect to Split. 

We decided to call VBT and get some dinner at Texas Roadhouse.

VBT said to call the travel company they work with to see what they could do. They really couldn't do anything for us. They recommended going to the airport Thursday morning and speaking directly with United.

On Thursday morning, we went to the airport and got booked on this flight:

Cleveland -- Chicago -- Zurich -- Split

We were happy with that and headed to the gate. We already missed the first day of our trip, but we were on our way.

We boarded our flight to Chicago on time (yay!), but not so fast. Before we left the gate, they announced that the flight would be delayed because of weather in Chicago. It would be a while, so we might want to gather our things and deboard the plane, but we were advised not to leave the area.

After an hour and a half, we were finally on our way to Chicago. We thought the connection to Zurich would be close, but we could run after we got off the plane.

As we approached Chicago, we noticed the plane circled the airport - not a good sign. Then, when we landed, the pilot announced that construction at the airport would cause a longer-than-usual approach to the gate. Once we got to the gate, there was another plane in the way. That plane was waiting for clearance to take off. Needless to say, we missed our connection to Zurich.

I don't know why we are smiling. 

This is where we met Derek (the guy in the first photo), who spent three entire hours trying to find a way for us to get to Split. At one point, he found four seats for me, Don, Greg, and Merry on this flight:

Chicago -- Brussels -- Munich -- Split

And he got John and Leslie on this flight:

Chicago -- Zurich -- Split

We were happy with that and were going to go our separate ways and meet up in Split. We missed the first two days of our trip, but we could catch up.

Just then, John got a call from the gate they were supposed to leave from. The gate agent told him, "You are not going to get on this flight - we are already overbooked by 20 people."

Don and I told John and Leslie they could have our seats on the Brussels flight, and we would just go home. They would not do it, so Derek searched some more. He looked for flights through Poland and Iceland and everywhere else. He even looked for flights into Dubrovnik. It turns out it is not easy to get to Split, Croatia. There was nothing available on Friday, and by then we would have been missing four days of our trip. To catch up with the group, we would have had to get to Hvar. 

I still don't know why we are smiling.

The only place to sit for four hours.

This is how we really felt.

We told Derek to get us flights to Cleveland. This took another hour because he had to figure out where our luggage was. Once he told us our luggage would be on the plane, we went to a restaurant in the airport and had dinner.

When we got to the gate, we were not surprised that our flight was delayed. But just for a half hour!

We landed in Cleveland at midnight our time. Our bags did not make it, so we had to file claims at the United baggage claim counter. You can't make this stuff up.

My bag got to our house Saturday morning. Don's arrived here Saturday night. As of now (Sunday afternoon), the other four still don't have their luggage. John has an AirTag in his suitcase, and it says it is in Terminal 5 at the Chicago airport, but no one can seem to find it.

We are pretty sure that even if we were able to get to Croatia, our luggage would not have made it. And I can't think of anything worse than being on a bike trip without my luggage.

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We are going to Croatia!

 

Up until last Thursday, we weren't sure we were going on this trip. Thankfully, Don's neurologist said he didn't see any reason he shouldn't be able to travel thousands of miles by plane and then cycle hundreds of miles, too. Woo Hoo! We leave tomorrow.

The Croatia trip is actually one of VBT's more challenging trips due to elevation changes (1,000 - 2,000 ft. elevation gains). But I don't think it will be much worse than Tuscany or Greece. We ordered e-bikes.

We get a day off in the middle of the trip to spend some time island hopping (from Brač to Hvar) on a private boat. If the water is too choppy, we will have to travel by large car ferries. Bring out the popcorn buckets! I'd better pack some Dramamine.

I will be blogging day by day as usual, so stay posted!

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All the Little Things Part 2

 

Josh & Katherine celebrated 12 years of marriage this year by getting away for a night in this mini cabin in the woods.

It doesn't look like much from the outside, but it was pretty cute on the inside. Can't get more cozy than this!

Pam got the boys a golf cart raft for our pool, but they prefer using it as a comfy couch to watch TV.

We put up temporary gates on our deck this summer so Cooper could run free a little bit outside. He doesn't know it, but Invisible Fence is being installed as I type this. He will soon have access to the entire backyard! He'll be in heaven.

I'm not sure what's going on in this photo, but my guess is that Gavin is imitating Heidi scolding him.

Our boxwood hedges developed a blight and had to all be removed. So sad. We had them in four places.

I purchased a box of six kids' fanny packs - one for each of the grandkids - so they can carry treats around and tell Cooper to "sit" and reward him for not jumping on them. Of course, Roman was not going to be left out of this deal.

Daniel & Heidi got away for their 10th anniversary at Nemacolin Resort in Pennsylvania. I watched Dean & Gavin, and Heidi's mom watched Noah.

I took Dean and Gavin to the Hudson Library. We got there a half hour before the doors opened and had to hang out. 

Their patience was rewarded. We came back home with 19 books to read.

Marina and Ezra spent time in their little pool on the deck.

Reese loves playing with Duplos at our house. One day we made the longest train ever.

The Lebanese Festival at Our Lady of the Cedars of Mount Lebanon Maronite Church (that's a mouthful) is always the first full weekend in August. 

This was my dinner: Kibbee with homemade yogurt and pita, spinach fatayer, vegetarian green beans, and rice. I only get this stuff once a year.

We know Noah has some Lebanese genes. He chowed down on the Chicken & Rice platter.

Then I spent $100 on pastries to take home. It was a fundraiser after all.

I was so impressed that Dean put this Lego boat and raft together without any help from me. It had 188 pieces!

Marina started 1st Grade a few weeks ago! As they all drove her to school drop-off, Katherine and Josh did not know that, in Ezra's mind, he was also going to school. He cried and cried and cried when he found out that he wasn't getting out of the car with Marina.

Fun in the summer sun at Headlands Beach.

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All the Little Things Part 1

I was looking through my camera roll for the summer and realized many little things happened that weren't big enough for a full blog post. So I'm going to combine them into two blog posts.

Don and I took Dean and Gavin to the Rubber Ducks game in downtown Akron. Our gym had a breast cancer fundraiser last fall, and I was the high bidder on four tickets.

Marina finished Kindergarten this year and is starting to read. I'm so excited!

We are letting Cooper sleep outside his crate in our room now. What's funny is he chose the same spot where Riley used to sleep - under the bench at the foot of our bed.

Cheers!

Peter and Kendall took Reese to the Chinese Lantern Festival at the Cleveland Zoo. Looks beautiful!

Cooper met some other Shelties when we went to the vet one day.

I ran into our kids' babysitter from years ago at Barnes & Noble. Tiffany used to live next door to us and was the best babysitter ever. She now has four boys of her own.

Ezra replaced his pacifier with fourteen toys and stuffed animals.

Carolyn's grandson, Duncan, came for a visit from California. He turned one while he was in town. Such a cutie!

Noah is learning to use power tools. First the weed wacker.

Gavin has become so confident in the pool this summer. Go Gavin!

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