Sun, Fun and the Persuit of a FREAKING AIRPLANE!

I am in recovery. It's been 3 days since we returned from our vacation in Mexico and I am just not quite 'there' yet. Now, we had this thing setup perfectly....fly out of Cancun at 1pm Sunday and land in Philly around 6pm local time. We should clear customs and walk in the house by around 8pm Sunday, leaving some time to unwind, put the kids to bed and get ready for the return to work in the coming week. Sounds like a plan?

Did you know that the Cancun airport is like a big warehouse with a few doors on it? Much like airports here in the states, it is under construction. There are 7 snack bar /restaurants, 3 news shops, 5 duty free shops, 11 bathrooms (with 25 total stalls), 16 of the lightbulbs are OUT in the ceiling and 196 tiles missing from one of the concourse walkways. I know this because I counted. I had THAT MUCH TIME.

We got to the glorious Cancun airport on time for our 1pm flight. By 11:30am we were running around waiting for the announcement to board our plane to Philly. It was the four of us along with Deb's sister Melissa's family (husband Brian and 3 kids), and Deb's parents. 6 adults and 5 kids.

1:00pm - the announcement. There will be a slight delay due to a mechanical problem with the plane (coming in from Orlando). OK, no big deal - there are delays all the time. More running around.

2:00pm - scratching our heads...another announcement...our plane has not yet left Orlando. It would be at least 3 hours until we board our flight home. THREE HOURS! OK...break out the carry-ons and take the toys out for the kids.

Hmmm...now our gate is being used for OTHER flights...it's approaching 4pm...UPDATE PLEASE!!!

OK - people we are going to give you $15 for food in the airport restaurant. That's great considering we were walking back to our seats having just ate at BURGER KING.

More toys. A little complaining from the kiddies. Manageable but annoying as hell.

6:00pm...Announcement...the flight will be ARRIVING in Mexico by NINE and we should be taking off for Philly by 10pm.

Gulp. Panic. The 6 adults and 5 kids I mentioned earlier? Nope. Now it's 11 kids. Crying and complaining and yelling at eachother. We were a sitcom. I was waiting for Ashton Kutcher to walk out from the missing tiles and announce that we had been Punk'd.

THANK GOODNESS - a nice little girl from our flight pulls out a portable DVD player. Ahhhh....BLISS. That took up a few hours. I wanted to hug her mother but she was butt ugly.

10:00pm...announcement..."The plane is here!"...applause...I saw Herve Velechez saying to Ricardo Montalban, "De PLANE...De PLANE!!!" I didn't care at that point, I just wanted to get the hell off of Fantasy Island.

So right as we are about to board..."Daddy - I have to go POTTY." No you don't. Hold it in for 4 hours.

We touched down in Philly around 2:30am. Our limo drove through a snowstorm and we walked in to our house just after 4am.

I decided that from that day forward I would wish a different fate on ALL my enemies. No longer would I wish their testicles be boiled. No longer would I dream that their nipples be connected to an Amtrak train travelling at 100 MPH. Nope. No more. From now on, I wish on my worst enemies that they travel through customs with 4 kids under the age of 5 at 3:00 in the morning in a snowstorm in -142 degree weather with no jacket. Now THAT is SUFFERING!

It's taken until now to recover. The kids are still a little behind but we will be OK. We survived.

Mexico was FANTASTIC, however. The weather was wonderful, the Carribean was perfect and the shopping was great. Amy's wedding was romantic and beautiful and I got some great pics and video. It was a great vacation until that last day.

I will post some pics up at the Goodies Site in the next few days.

Congrats to Aaron and Robin Greenberg who had their second baby yesterday!

Until next time...