The next three days of our visit trip were spent relaxing at our hotel and getting to know Holly. We took walks in the hotel while pushing the girls in their strollers and enjoyed some fun time in the pool. Hannah enjoyed her roll as big sister immensely. She helped feed and burp Holly. She was always wanting to hold her and didn’t like it too much when Holly cried. Holly was a really good baby during the day but she didn’t sleep very well during the night for us. Many of the clothes and shoes I brought for her were too big. She fit in the 3-6 months clothes the best and was able to wear a size one in shoes. We weighed her in the workout room at the hotel. She weighed around thirteen pounds.
One of the best memories of this visit trip for Tracy was getting to spend Father’s Day with both of his daughters. We were very sad to say the least when it was time for Holly to go back with her foster mother. I think that was one of the hardest things we have ever had to do! We sent lots of diapers, formula, clothes, shoes and toys home with Esther never dreaming so many months would go by before we would be returning to bring our baby home.
The last morning we headed for the airport to travel home. Since we had some time to spare we did a little last minute shopping at the airport before we boarded our plane. We arrived on time in Houston and breezed through immigration. We boarded our plane for Tulsa and were buckled in ready for takeoff. Houston we have a problem! The captain announced that because of some bad storms moving in we would have to wait for clearance to take off. Talk about an air traffic jam!! We waited for over an hour in our seats, still buckled up for take off. It was very hot in the cabin since the pilot had to turn the engines down on the plane while we were stalled. Finally, it was our turn for take off and we were in the air. The storm was a pretty bad one and I hope that I never have to fly during one of those again. It was time for our flight to land in Tulsa when the captain announced that we were circling Tulsa airport until it was safe to land. When it was time to land we found out we were actually landing in Littlerock, Arkansas to fuel the plane. The captain asked for permission to let the passengers come inside a secured area in the terminal while the plane was refueling. Then they announced that due to the storms our plane would be grounded overnight. The airport staff were not prepared for this dilemma and had to contact their superiors to find out what to do for us. We were given the choice to set in the terminal all night or they would issue us hotel vouchers. Our flight was scheduled to leave the following morning at 8 a.m. We had to pick up all of our luggage from the baggage terminal and then would have to recheck it the next morning. We finally were issued our voucher and actually checked in our hotel room at 1:30 a.m. We slept for a few hours (it was such a relief to stretch out and clothes our eyes) and then rode the shuttle back to the airport. We arrived in plenty of time especially since our flight didn’t take off on time because the pilot was late. We were glad to finally land safely in Tulsa, albeit a day late. We were very thankful that all of our luggage arrived with us this time. Tracy went to retrieve our van from the airport parking lot and discovered we had a dead battery. After getting a jump start we were finally able to drive home to Springfield. Even though we had some very frustrating flight experiences we will never forget the precious time we were able to spend with our sweet baby Holly.
