A crazy adventure-

The military has this awesome program called Space A or Space Available. It basically means that when they have flights going out with cargo they allow passengers aboard if there is space available. Hence the name. Well, I have been WAY TOO CHICKEN to even try it before. I credit that to a lot of scary stories from friends that have been "stuck" and not made it where they planned. They have spent just as much money on hotels and rental cars than flights would have been. Sometimes they still end up buying flights so it can be rather expensive!

Well, with Rhett being gone I got the urge to get off the island. I have been dying to see my family. I haven't seen them in almost 2 years. The process was a little intimidating. I started by calling a close friend and she and her husband helped me with starting the paperwork. I then had to run over and have Rhett's boss sign some paperwork. After that, over to the AMC terminal to turn it all in. There were a couple flights heading to the states over the next several days and I was hoping to be able to catch one of them. I went over to Carter's school and withdrew him for the last couple weeks. We then went home and packed. It was a pretty crazy day.

The next day, we woke up bright and early and headed to the airport. I had 2 large suitcases, 2 carry ons, and a couple backpacks. Oh, and I had my four little boys. Can't forget them. They were so excited. The waiting process was hard and a little discouraging. We sat through 4 roll calls and didn't make any flights. We did make some new friends though. We met two beautiful families that had flown over to Kadena from Yokota. They thought it might be easier to get a flight from there. Unfortunately, they had been stuck in Kadena for 7 days. They were in the process of trying to get a hotel, which is nearly impossible during PSC season. The wife of one of the families was in tears and I felt the urge to invite them home with us for the night. We were both heading back to the airport at 6:00 a.m. and it broke my heart to see her stress. She and her husband accepted and were so thankful for our generosity. They also had 2 adorable little boys with them. A four month old and a three year old. We were in the airport from 9:00 a.m. to 8:45 p.m.

The next morning, I shuttled both families back to the airport and got all checked in. The boys were a little sleepy as it was 5:30 in the morning. We sat through another roll call that we missed, but the boys were still real troopers. The hardest part was loading all of our luggage back out to the car. We went and grabbed a bite to eat and hit a close park for about an hour. Then, back to the airport we went. We waited for the next 2 roll calls which we again made no flights. We are a pretty low category and there were a lot of people there. Without Rhett I am a category 4. They start from 1 and go down the list. Category 2 is flying with your spouse on leave. I wished for a second I had made the flight a few weeks earlier with Rhett. It definitely would have made my chances greater for getting aboard. We hugged our new friends and were excited for them to get a spot on the Alaska flight. 

We waited some more. There was one last roll call that day. I looked around and debated even staying for it. There were so many people trying for the same flight. I asked the airmen where we were at on the list and he stated that we were 85. That meant that 35 people had to no show for us to make it on the flight to Hawaii. I kissed Carter and told him that we could keep trying for a few more days if we didn't make it, but our chances were not real great. As they were calling names, every time someone no showed the guy would smile at me and make a hand motion of how many more I needed to not show up. It was entertaining. As they were doing the roll call they had a slight malfunction and the computer went down. I knew there were only a few seats left and I had no clue where I was at on the list. They called someone named Paloma and she checked in with her baby. I held my breath and my name was called. I didn't know what to do. I felt like jumping over the counter and kissing the poor airmen. That may have been slightly awkward, but I was so excited. It really is bittersweet. You can't even yell Yay or anything because you are surrounded by people who did not make the flight. I felt like everyone had a story and wanted to make the flight for some reason. I grabbed my bags and waited in the long line to check in.

After I had checked in the baggage and we were getting ready to board the plane they announced that the plane was having problems. It would not be going out that day and to meet at 6:00 the next morning for the flight. It was disappointing, but we had done the hard part. We were manifested to get on that plane so we knew we had a seat. No more waiting and not knowing.... We were at the airport from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

To be continued...

They have something called a family room and it was my saving grace. They have a few couches, some toys, and a tv. They also have doors that you can shut so not everyone in the airport wants to kill your children. We spent many hours in the the family room on Kadena. The kids did a great job. I was so proud of each one of them. Carter was adorable. He kept asking the status and if we had made the plane. He knew what was going on and was such a good helper with his brothers.

Here are a few pictures of the twins playing the the family room. Oh, and please ignore all the typos. I am not on Utah time and it's really late, but Rhett begged me to blog so he can see his boys and hear about our crazy, spontaneous adventure.