My Travel Kits

Well, I did it! I made my first travel kits. They were a hit when I delivered them, but I'm waiting for an after trip report. The kits were made for my good friends and their three grandchildren who headed out yesterday from Michigan to Georgia with their daughter-in-law. It is a special trip to watch their son graduate from something in relation to the National Guard. He started out in the Air Force and is currently working on becoming something to do with Border Patrol...I do believe.

This is a long trip; 20 plus hours with rest-stop breaks and such. The children are in the age range of three to eight, so it's really going to be a long trip. I kept their ages in mind and took the advice to provide similar gifts to children in this age range to prevent issues. You know how kids are. They always want what the other guy has.

Anyway, here are the pictures:

Here are the gift items grouped for each child along with an adult and snack grouping. I labeled the glow bracelets to open after dark. Each child got the same thing just a different color, title, etc. The adult bag included a crossword search, calming aromatherapy, snacks and toys for sharing. (finger puppets, pencils, sharpener, and pinball game)

I used different style wrapping for each child and the adults. Just in case I labeled each gift with their first initial. I did wrap some snacks individually to include in their bag. (slim jims and cracker sandwiches) The grands requested no sugar!

Here are the finished bags. I accidentally purchased two the same, so I just made sure that each child had a different color and gave the matching one to the adults.

Stressing Out

Well, our five days of freedom may as well have been a lifetime ago for the way we are feeling now. Due to unforeseen insanity, my husband and I are sleep deprived, hungry, irritable, and just plain frustrated. I am thankful that I have a relationship with God and good girlfriends, or I would surely be one miserable lass.

Despite my prayer life, I just feel drained. You wouldn't believe what has happened over the course of less than 24 hours. First, our youngest daughter, Amie, who is a very young 18 years old, got stuck almost helpless in Georgia. Okay folks. Remember, we live in Michigan. This was her first trip on an airplane. This was her graduation gift. This was a trip to visit her favorite person in the world, her cousin. This was a nightmare.

The original ticket was purchased roundtrip through Orbitz on Northwest Airlines for about $249 with her returning on Thursday, July 10th in the afternoon. We hadn't heard from her in a while. Since she had broken her cell phone almost right after she got there, and I assumed she was having fun, I didn't worry too much about not getting an email in a while.

The first alarm was a phone call from her boyfriend at 8:00 in the morning. Do you know any 17 year olds that are up at that hour? That was alarming enough in itself. Then, he proceeded to tell me how he was worried about Amie and hadn't talked to her in four days. Okay, now she didn't contact the boyfriend either. Something is not good. There's more. Her cousin's new husband was deliberately trying to scare her, was blatantly mean to her, was forbidding her to use the phone or computer, was telling viscous lies about her, and on and on. We were alarmed.

We did manage to speak with Amie that morning. They answered the phone for me, but had been ignoring the boyfriend's calls without Amie's knowledge. I talked to Amie about what was going on, and some of it was news to her, but she was very sad and frustrated and just plain out having a very miserable time due to the cousin's husband. (Who is a serviceman in the Army by the way. Protect and Serve, buddy!)

It became the husband's objective to cut Amie off from all contact and put her on the street. Nice guy, eh? Well, we spent five hours on the phone ironing out this mess last night. It took me three hours on the phone with Orbitz to get her a new ticket, not to mention the loss of the previous ticket that would have cost over $800 to change and the purchase of a new ticket on some airline that I've never heard of, Airtran, at the cost of $300. They called the cops and had her taken out of the house and to a hotel via taxi, which they paid for. Great family, eh? Remember folks, she is very much 18 and on her own with $20 in her pocket, no transportation, and in an unfamiliar area. Just a little plug, the Hinesville PD was wonderful. They were very kind and helpful.

Currently, Amie is sitting in an airport in Savannah where she has been all day waiting for her plane to depart at 6:40PM. She has to switch planes in Atlanta, and then she will arrive in Detroit around 10:30PM. Talk about a few long days. I feel so sad for her. What a terrible experience this has been for us. I cannot imagine being in her shoes. She lost her best friend ever. She was treated like dirt, and tossed to the curb in a land that she is unfamiliar with. (Amie can get lost in her own neighborhood, folks!) Poor kid! What a great memory...

$250 on plane ticket to visit sister like cousin in Georgia

$200 spending money in your pocket

Free trip to the ocean

Being treated like dirt by your sister like cousin in Georgia and her new husband

$300 return one way ticket home to loving family

$1000 uncomfortable life experience

Arriving safe at DTW, priceless...

In the Air

Today was the day that we sent our youngest daughter out on her first 'far-from-home' adventure. Amie Lynn left this morning for Georgia. This is her first trip on her own. This is her first experience with airplane travel. This is her first time out of the Midwest. Right at this very moment as I am typing this post she should be in the air.

I remember the very first time I flew. It was when I was 12 years old. I flew from Texas to Florida for a six-week visit with my grandparents. No, I didn't live in Texas. I had driven there with a family for a two-week visit there before heading to Florida. What an experience that was. I was uncomfortable then, and I am still uncomfortable with air travel to this day. Fortunately, God always places someone interesting in the seat next to me. Having a kind person to talk with really does a lot to pass the time and distract attention from fear.

Have you ever flown? Do you remember looking out the window and being above cloud-cover? Is that not one of the most beautiful things you have ever seen? I swear, it looks like you can just step right out of the plane and walk across the blanket of clouds. It's absolutely breath taking, and I really hope that she gets to experience the view for herself. She did choose a window seat, and she is flying in the daylight.

Oh, what an experience it must be for her. A young lady traveling alone across the country to visit her favorite person in the whole world, her "sister". Well, Becca really isn't her sister, but there are plenty of people who they have convinced otherwise. Becca is Amie's cousin by marriage, and they couldn't be closer. Becca just got married in April and moved to Georgia to be with her husband, Kevin, who serves in the Armed Forces. Kevin will be deploying to Iraq in a few weeks. Amie's trip to visit is our graduation gift to her. What is better than an adventure?