the Big "D" Trip: Part Four

Has it really been almost two weeks since we got back? A busy life plus a nasty bout of mastitis and a sinus infection really kicked my rear-end right most of the week. But I suppose I should finish the story anyway.

After the party, my Dad actually managed to find a closer parking place. He waited as MeMe let the birthday girl pick out a present. The kid had the entire American Girl Store at her feet and she went with a pet carrier for Honey the dog (if you look at the pictures from the last post, he's in a few of them). That was really all she wanted. MeMe lucked out big time. Of course, MeMe bought almost every one of the dolls the girls are holding in the pictures, so she was due for a break. Once the shopping was done, my cell phone rang. Dave was STILL in the parking garage we had managed to find earlier, had been in the exit line for 30 minutes, and was going nowhere. Alexis was screaming in the background because she was hungry. Tristan was having a fit because the car hadn't moved and Dave wanted me to walk back through to mall to the car to feed the baby. The rest of the girls could fit safely into my Dad's car, so Mom took them one way and I went the other. I have never seen SO MANY PEOPLE in the Galleria in my life. I'm sure it was NBA All Star-related, but I still don't know what it was. The people I talked to on the escalator and the security guard near the parking garage were all stunned at the crowds too, and they live and work in Dallas.

I got to the garage, but Dave wasn't on the floor where he said to meet him. Can I tell you how much I loved standing in the empty parking garage waiting for him?! I actually felt pretty safe though, everyone in Dallas seemed to be inside the Mall and my friend Michele called while I was waiting, so at least she knew where I was. Dave was there within 5 minutes, it just seemed a lot longer because parking garages are cold, dark, and scary. Once I got in the car, I fed the baby and he took Tristan back inside to find a bathroom because we knew we were going to be there awhile, and we were. It took 30 minutes to get out of the parking garage itself and another 15 minutes to weave our way through police blockades (hit and run accident right outside the garage), Mall traffic, and then the traffic a small parking lot carnival had generated. I was never so glad to see the inside of a hotel in my life.

We went upstairs to rescue my parents from 5 of their granddaughters in one small room with them (though they seemed to like it) and settled everyone down in hall in a pair of adjoining rooms. In the meantime, my grandmother had gotten bored waiting for us to get back from the Mall, and had taken a hotel shuttle over there. And now, thanks to the traffic, the accident, and the carnival; SHE was stuck at The Galleria. In the meantime, I was calling back and forth with my friend Michele who lived in Ft. Worth and found out traffic there was backed up too. A quick look at the news revealed that a potential terrorist threat was behind that traffic jam. And you know, if you were looking to hit a big crowd, the DFW area was the place to do it that weekend. Obviously, nothing happened except a lot of hassle and slow-moving cars, but it just seemed to make sense that our 'vacation' would include a terrorist threat since we had already covered a huge sporting event, a hit and run accident, and a local carnival. At least Caroline loved her party, right?

A few hours later, the kids got hungry again-as kids are prone to do. Dave didn't want to pay for hotel food, so he decided to drive over to a nearby Jack in the Box. He went to the hotel parking garage and discovered a flat tire. So my dad drove instead. They left me with the food and the kids and took the fix-a-flat downstairs to the parking garage. Somewhere in the feeding frenzy of 7 kids and Jack in the Box, Dave called to let me know that the tire was shredded and useless. Dave has always irritated me with his insistence at carrying a real spare tire instead of the small ones that come with your car. Needless to say, we were all grateful for that insistence that night. He decided to change the tire in the morning and help me put 7 kids to bed. After such a crazy day, it wasn't that hard. And it wasn't too hard for us to fall asleep either-the Westin isn't kidding, those are Heavenly Beds.