The beginning of our trip

We had planned for a while that we would travel back to Nova Scotia for vacation this summer. The boys had not been there for 2 years, and although many family members had travelled up in this time, we had not seen Rob's parents, Rob's sisters family or my brother's family in that time. We had a nephew that I had never met, and it was time. School here in Ile a la Crosse ended on the 30th of June, and because of some great seat sales with Westjet we booked to fly out that day. June 30th was also the day of the high school graduation, and that is a BIG thing here in town. Many of the grads had asked me to do their photos that day, but one in particular had booked me for that day LONG before we ever considered vacationing in Halifax. (Think booking in January here). So I couldn't dissapoint her, so we made plans for her to have her pictures done at 11 and then I would leave right after that (our flights were not until 8). As the day drew nearer, I was contacted by another grad who wanted me to do their pictures also. I explained that I was leaving the day of grad and she wanted to get dressed up the night before and do the pictures then, as she really wanted ME to do them. How could I say no? Also, I had 2 other grads contact me for cap and gown pictures that week, so I spent the week taking pictures. I managed to get one session edited and back to them before I left, but the rest knew that they would have to wait until I got back. How could I say no to this?

Thursday the 30th arrived, and I raced around getting that photo session done. Rob and the boys had the truck all packed, and we were on the road by 12. We had to make a detour into Prince Albert for Northern related stuff, and then made it to the airport by about 6:30. The boys were so excited, and Joey had to put his luggage on the weigh in thingie.

All was going great until that dreaded "D" word was mentioned..... delayed. Yep, our flight was delayed and there was a chance we would not make our connection (we were flying to Calgary to get the red eye to Halifax). We watched anxiously as the time ticked away, and our flight was not there. Our flight which was suppose to leave at 8:45 did not leave until almost 9:15. We were suppose to make a connection in Calgary at 10:00. Luckily we were not the only ones that were catching that flight. We boarded the plane, and I noticed that "nervous Colby" was coming out. I honestly assumed that any air sickness would be from Joey, but it was Colby. He was REALLY nervous about flying, and was really upset when we took off. We ended up giving him a Gravol to settle his stomach, but that first part of the flight was quite rough on him. He did manage to keep his cool, and we landed in Calgary. We knew we had NO time to waste making this connection, but walking to the gate we saw a small convenience place and thought it would be a good idea to grab some Gingerale for Colby. While Rob did this I quickly took Joe to the bathroom (which again, right on the way). As soon as I came out of the bathroom (maybe 2 minutes) we hear "Schwartz Party of 4 please go to your gate IMMEDIATELY" so we RAN to the gate. We just made it! Of course everyone else at this point is waiting for us, so we sheeplishly made our way to our seats. I sat next to a woman who smiled at me and said "So, where were you that you made us all wait?"..... to be continued.

Colby is trying to be brave, but his belly got the best of him shortly after this picture was taken. Prince Naveen...... the next post will have his story also....