Tale of Travel & Cooler Weather

The fireworks on the 4th of July were very nice, but just being with the family makes it better.  We were also experiencing a heat wave of near to above 100 degree temperatures. We got home and watched some TV, lit some sparklers waiting for Mary to come home from Brandon's.  She was invited to watch fireworks from the Cory's pontoon. Spent an hour or so talking before heading to bed. Mary's big trip started on Thursday.

As planned Jeff Mary and I left for the Detroit airport before 8 am so that Mary would not be late. She organized this event and needed to be there on time.  We made good time and had a little breakfast at a Tim Horton's (a first for us).  It was good, nothing fancy.  Greenville has one being built here near Wal-Mart.  The check-in went pretty smoothly and we took some group pictures, gave Mary a hug and waved to her as she left the security area.  Jeff and I got acquainted with the parents of another singer and we prayed together for before we departed.  It was after lunch with Jeff that we started getting texts about flight problems:

 

• Their plane that was to take them to Wash DC was grounded in Ft Wayne and they would be missing their connection in DC.  Directed to new gate to get assigned to a new flight.  
• New plan was to fly to NYC then on to Zurich.  Fly to Johannesburg the following day.  Hey, that might be cool, get to spend  some time in Switzerland!
• Nope.  Not enough seats on the plane to NYC for the group of 15, so they flew to Newark instead and then to Zurich and Johannesburg.
• Never mind. Not enough seats to Zurich. Flew to Washington DC.  Promised accommodations and flight to Johannesburg Friday.  Arrived at Dulles and they would not honor the promise of a hotel, so they had to spend their money on 4 rooms. No  boarding passes to S. Africa yet either.
• Friday started out with news that they were on the flight at 5 in the afternoon. Later, however, S.African airlines said they were only on stand by while United said they were confirmed.  Splitting the group might be the only solution. One group leaves on Friday and one on Saturday, 24 hours later!  Some girls said they would go home instead of wait 24 hours. After all they would be missing at least 1.5 days already, including Group dinner for all participating in the festival and touring Soweto, where Nelson Mandella's home is.  
• Poor Mary, she worked so hard at making this happen and the airlines had everything all messed up!  Travel Agency had a representative at the airport working.  
• Then we got the call from Mary...all the girls got on the plane and they were finally headed to Johannesburg.  Praise the Lord!Wonder if they arrived in time to get to their first concert?
• I followed their flight on line and they arrived safely Saturday afternoon.  Haven't heard anything from Mary, but I take that as a good thing.  Hope they got there in time for their first concert.
• Planned events for Sunday: Church at St Huberts Roman Catholic Church where they will sing a few songs. Concert #2 in the afternoon and workshop, experiencing cultural dances and sing of traditional S. A. tribes.  Group dinner then transfer the Heia Safari Ranch.  Safari Game Park is planned for Monday.

 I started working with Hailey again yesterday. We had a nice day and it was nice to be back with the family.   I will only be working a few days a month.  Sarah texted me and asked if we still wanted to go to the Whitecaps Baseball game even though it was over 100 degrees.  She added that tickets were only one dollar because of the heat.  An extra plus was that Willie Horton would be there for Tiger Friday and sign autographs! I got so excited!  So many memories of going to the Tigers games with my dad and brothers when Willie Horton played Left Field.   Couldn't wait to meet him and get an autograph. We met up with Sarah and had a bite to eat and then on to the ball park. We were a little late, but only 15-20 minutes.  I got in line to get autographs (for Dave and Dan too i f possible) and had crumpled piece of paper Sarah had in her purse. Next thing I know, a whitecaps employee comes up to the line and told us the line ends..here. I was two people too late.  Needless to say I was crushed and even shed some tears over the whole affair.  After I recovered, we had a fun time at the game in the 100+ degree weather and watched the team lose.  It wasn't until till late in the game that the announcer gave us the news that the temperature had gone under 100. After the game we had ice cream and came home and went to bed. So glad we have an AC unit in our room.

Today I finished the laundry, did some work with Jeff on Quicken and answered email.  Took a nap since I am on call tonight.  So far so good...wonder if I will get a call in the middle of the night? The weather has finally cooled off to the 80's and we have our windows open with a little breeze blowing by. A lot more tolerable.

Guess that about does it.   Hoping I can sleep well during the night.

Gracie