Friday, May 19, 2017

Tornados

Hello from cold, rainy Minnesota! 

 My usual good luck with flying ran out on my way north.  

This is what the sky looked like in Minneapolis when I finally arrived.

I say 'finally' because ... 
we left  the Carolinas headed north.  

After three hours, when we were supposed to be landing in Minneapolis, we were circling, tossed around by significant turbulence, 900 miles off our route, nearly out of fuel, and headed to St Louis, MO.  We bounced into the St Louis airport to refuel, thrown from side to side by crosswinds. 
We also needed a new flight crew.  Ours had been flying a long time and needed to rest.  Long story short, the crew wanted to get to Minneapolis and got permission to fly the extra hours, and after another hour of sitting on the plane we took off again.  There were still tornado warnings out for Minneapolis but we were able to fly in from the west 20 minutes before the storms hit again from the east.  

I could have flown to London in the time it took to get from SC to MN!  

✈️ ✈️ ✈️ 
But here I am, staying with my daughter, son-in-law, and four grandboys and tonight my sister arrives for the weekend.  And the temperature, 90 when I left SC, has been in the low 40s.
Brrrr!
 

The older boys are in school but this guy and I had the day together yesterday.  

Here he is showing me 'tricks' with his fidget spinner.  

You don't know what a fidget spinner is?  Just the latest craze with elementary and middle schoolers!
 



Called "the original stress reliever," I should have had one on the flight north! (I can't spin it on my nose yet, but I have mastered balancing it on my thumb.)

 





Aren't second grade baseball players
 the cutest thing ever?

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

 



 

Notice the clever spectator on the far right, prepared with a shelter from wind and cold with a clear plastic viewing area, also known for its use by ice fishermen!
                                                              🏏🏏🏏🏏🏏
I have to go now.  
The second graders are giving a poetry reading this afternoon, my guys have all written poems, and I'm going to hear them!


 

17 comments:

  1. Have a great visit with family. My oldest daughter and family arrive here on the 1st and will stay till the 6th. that's a long time for them. The whole family will gather on the 2nd and 3rd for family time. That hasn't happened since October. New granddaughter since then and now another one (younger daughter's first) is on the way for July. Never heard of those spinners but then I'm not teaching school and having to take them away from students. Remember those days?

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  2. Have heard of the spinners. They've already been banned in a number of schools. Your grandson looks so like you apart from the baseball kit. After that horrendous journey you deserve a great holiday with the family.

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  3. Welcome back to MN! Yikes! You had a long day of flight travel! Glad it all turned out okay...except for the low temps here. Now you know why I was thrilled to find wool at the thrift shop! I just bought GN a spinner for the fun of it. Sounds like a fun visit for you...baseball, poetry, spinners, family. Enjoy.

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  4. Tornados! - must be terrifying - not something I've experienced. Stay safe - and enjoy the poetry!

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  5. Air travel has been getting a bad rap lately. Flying through starms is scary. I landed in Minneapolis on a wing and a prayer one time.

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  6. Good grief women, so glad you are ok - what a flight!
    The grandchildren are lovely and those spin things are about here too!
    Enjoy as I'm sure you are with your family.

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  7. OMG, what a flight that was! You have to suffer a lot to reach your family. Glad you made it finally safe. The kids look adorable, have a lot of joy with all of them there.

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  8. Oh I would have been scared to death!! Glad you finally got there safe. The boys are adorable. Bet they were glad to see you. I've been hearing something on TV about those fidget spinners. They look like fun. Enjoy your visit!

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  9. What a flight you had and know how glad you were to have landed. It's been hot in New England too last week. We left NH to go to VT for a few days and it was also in the ops in both places.

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  10. ugh!! this fidget spinner is killing me... my son had been pursuing us buying one.. I heard it helps to concentrate... I yet to see any change in him..
    Hope you are fine and everything is ok..

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  11. I saw where someone got the shiny part stuck in their throat. I saw a little girl spinning one of these at Graduation last night. Welcome to dreary cool Minnesota, we got rain today which we needed! Enjoy your grands and your stay! :)

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  12. Good to know that you finally got to MSP.
    Storms are terrible to fly through......have you ever hit
    a C.A.T. ???? Now that is bloody scary.
    I was on a plane just outside Singapore when we hit a C.A.T - they
    don't show up on radar............the interior of the plane was
    a scene of chaos. Luckily I had my seat belt on but I had quite a
    large rash as a result of it holding me to the seat.
    Some people when we eventually landed were taken off to hospitals.
    Broken parts of them (ribs and arms predominately)...ah it was hellish.
    Colin

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  13. Aw, sweet Grandsons, worth the terrible flight. We have those spinner things here in NZ too - be here today, junk tomorrow I reckon.

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  14. Dear Cynthia, what a trip that must have been. I hope the staff gave you food to eat, but they probably hadn't planned for the delays. I lived in Minnesota for 38 years and sorely miss the state and my friends there. I lived in Stillwater by the St. Croix river and so saw lots of ice fishers.

    The gold at the end of the trip was, of course, being with your family. Grandchildren are a treasure and a joy. Peace.

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  15. Hope the poetry recitals went well! I was hit by a flying fidget spinner the other day I had no idea what hit me - literally!!! Now I know. Your flight sounds not much fun, touch wood recently I've been fine as we are doing a lot of travel :)
    Wren x

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  16. Hate flying in weather like tha, we had rough weather flying back on Sunday. Looks like you had a good trip though.

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