Christmas in Alabama...day 1

Friday,  December 20th.  

Kerry and I left Tucson at 5:30am, destination...the Phoenix airport. It rained heavily for most of the trip. Once we hit Phoenix, the sun came up behind a heavily clouded sky. We reserved a long term parking spot at a Quality Inn, a few miles from the airport. Even with GPS we ended up having to drive around a bit, looking for the hotel. Once we did, we parked, went inside and waited for the shuttle to the departure gate.

By the time we checked our one piece of luggage (a keyboard with stand for Jared), cleared security and arrived at our departure gate, we noticed it was only 8:00am. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 10:00am. For two hours we enjoyed iPad games and extreme people watching.

Most of you know I don't really like cramped tight spaces. As we took our assigned seats (Kerry by the window and me in the middle) I pondered how I was going to handle the flight on this rather new 737.  American Airlines had introduced a new fleet of these 737's and they were beautiful, although cramped in a classy fresh-off-of-the-assembly-line sort of way.

I had planned ahead for this sort of thing by downloading a couple of movies onto my iPad, just to use for a distraction. I was pleased to see that this plane was outfitted with video screens that popped down when a program was about to start. Kerry and I enjoyed a sitcom called Parks and Recreation. I also got to watch the pilot for the TV drama series Blacklist. The flight to Dallas was quick and stress free.

 

From Dallas to Birmingham was only 1 hour and 15 minutes long. This American Super 80 had 3 seats on one side and 2 on the other. Kerry and I enjoyed sitting in the 24th row on the 2 seat side...nap time.

After landing in Birmingham and getting our keyboard from the luggage carousel we headed out to greet Nick and his clan, once they cleared some heavy traffic congestion. I got to sit by Karis all the way home (almost 2 hours)...she was open about her feelings of having me sit next to her in the van versus her mom. "Stranger Danger"... There will be no napping ...

On the way home we stopped at Chic-Filet for a bite. The boys dove right into the play center while waiting for the food to arrive. Once home we chatted for an hour or so before finally hitting the pillows. It was dark out when we hit the road and dark out when we landed. For a long day, it sure went by quickly.

Lights out...for now...NIghty Nite...

Humility is seeing ourselves and our own falseness in the light of God's holiness...