Connor came home for a short visit over the Fourth of July holiday. Shawn went to lunch with Connor and met Grandma and Grandpa at Tijuana Flats. It was a pretty chill weekend for the most part, but Connor did get out and party with some of his high school friends.
For camp this year, we planned for Paige to fly on a Delta flight to Ashville, going through Atlanta. Andrea was away in Kansas City, so it was just Shawn and Paige along with pupper dawg, to get her to the airport on time. Paige was up bright and early, ready and raring to go at 4:15 for her journey to camp. We packed up the car, along with Millie, and set off for the airport. On the way there, I made sure that Paige had the Delta app on her phone, her boarding passes downloaded, and checked in for the flights.
I dropped Paige off at the departures area, and we put her two huge duffel bags on a hand cart, so she could wheel them to the bag check-in area. I parked the car in the hourly parking, turned on "dog mode" for Millie, and then walked to find Paige and give her a hug and kiss goodbye before she went through security. I was surprised to find that Paige was still at the ticketing counter, and her bags were still on the hand cart. I could tell Paige was near tears, and the lady working was not very empathetic and said that Paige would be unable to fly. Her explanation was poor, and at first I thought that it was because Paige was too young to fly alone, but in fact it was because her connecting flight went through Atlanta and it was going to be problematic due to weather issues and delayed flights. The day before, the control tower in Atlanta was struck by lightning and many planes were hit with hail. It was probable that if Paige flew to Atlanta, she would be stuck there indefinitely.
We asked the agent for help and solutions, but she shrugged her shoulders and said that there were no other options to Ashville, and that our best bet was to try again the next day. This was a horrible idea, and Paige was very upset that she would miss the first day of camp. We took her bags to a bench and started working to find better solutions. I found a flight option on American Airlines that would get her to Asheville in the late afternoon, but it wasn't a wonderful solution for a number of reasons. First, it was expensive at over $2000 for the seat available which was first class. Second, the route took Paige through DC and then NY before going to Asheville. We looked for other options, but there was nothing available that day that we could find. We rushed to the American Airlines desk, booked the ticket, and sent Paige through security.
I went back to the Delta desk to cancel Paige's flight and as I was standing there, I got to thinking about the multiple connections and the problems it could create if Paige ended up stranded in DC and NY. I was getting more and more uncomfortable with the plan when I realized I could probably driver her to camp and get her there sooner than the multiple flights would. I went back to the American counter, canceled her flight and had them pull her bags, then I told Paige to come back through security. It would be a long day of driving for me, but it was the safest and surest option to get her to camp.
We set off before the sun had risen, and drove all morning. As we hadn't planned to drive, the car wasn't fully charged, so we had to stop a bit more for charging than we would have if we'd planned for it. We were thankful that we'd brought Millie to the airport with us, because we were able to set off directly from the airport and didn't have to worry about Millie being alone all day, or going back to get her.
Paige drove for an hour during the drive, and I managed to sleep for ten minutes or so. By 1:30pm, we arrived at camp, and I was happy that we made it in time for Paige to join her cabin on their planned hike. I think they held up the departure for Paige, but we were a little rushed trying to dig her swimsuit and towel out of her bag while were dropped everything off. I snapped a quick pic of Paige with Millie, and then got back on the road.
When I was about 15 minutes down the road, Andrea called me to tell me that Paige's phone appeared to still be in the car. Thankfully I wasn't too far along, but going back to drop that off meant that I spent even more time driving on a long day.
I was a little worried about the drive home, especially because I was exhausted already and hadn't slept much the night before. I decided to purchase a one-month subscription for the Tesla Full Self Driving system, and told it to take me home. We hadn't had very good experiences with it previously when we'd tried it out, but I do believe it was a lifesaver for me on my trip home. I kept an eye on its decision making, and had to disengage it a couple of times, but for most of the drive it did a great job changing lanes, taking exits, and driving naturally.
I made it home after 10pm, and it was a long day for me, but I'm thankful we were able to make it work and Paige made it to camp safely.
Andrea visited KC on her own this summer, and made a special trip out to the Current River with her mother. They rented a 2 bedroom cabin at Echo Bluff State Park. Genie loves to go to the river, and although the weather was a little cloudy and cool, they had a nice time together.
Paige got together with some of her friends at Top Golf before she went away for summer camp. We'd planned to just have them dropped off by one of the other parents and then Andrea and I were going to pick them up when they were done. Unfortunately they were too young to be allowed unsupervised, so one of the moms stayed with them for part of the time and Andrea and I went to hang out with them until their time was up.
The girls had fun hanging out, eating snacks, and of course filming Tik Toks.
The BMW X3 that we've had for a few years was finally getting on our nerves and we got rid of it. We had intended to let Connor take it with him to college, but due to some choices that Connor made, we were reconsidering that plan. He'd driven all over Jacksonville recently with friends, although our rules were to stay on the east side of the intracoastal waterway. He also let one of his friends drive the car, which he knows is against the rules. Because of those issues, we weren't really planning to let him take the BMW to school anyways, but we certainly decided against it for sure after the car had more mechanical issues.
The BMW had problems during Connor's senior year of high school and we had to get it towed to RPM when the coolant system was overheating and a severe warning was flashing. We spent a few thousand dollars to replace multiple parts of the coolant system, and especially after buying new tires for the car, we were hoping there wouldn't be any other expenses with it. The check engine light came on and although we took it in twice to be reviewed, and paid to replace the gas cap, it was just on continuously. Finally, when the coolant system was leaking again, we decided we'd had enough.
We sold the BMW to Carvana, which was a surprisingly simple and smooth process. We had been looking for a few different options for a replacement, and although we were trying to avoid another Tesla for various reasons, the Tesla Model Y was such a nice car. We tried to buy a used model from the local Toyota dealer, but they were a nightmare with their hidden charges and mandatory "accessories". We ended up buying one from Carmax that Andrea found online and had shipped from another Carmax in the southeast.
The Carmax dealer was a little slow and inefficient, but after a test drive, we paid for the car and went on our way. So far, we love the Model Y, and hopefully it does a nice job for our family in the years to come.
