end of the adventure? NOT!

It's 5 AM. We are almost back home, another 20 minutes or so and we will be there. We were scheduled to land in Birmingham at 7:40. That didn't happen by a long shot!

We were just a few minutes late for takeoff in Belize, indeed were headed down the runway at a pretty good clip when we felt and heard a large bang. Instead of lifting off, the plane slowed and then stopped. It felt like we'd hit a very large pothole. The captain announced that he had to abort takeoff and we would return to the gate to check out a maintenance issue. We returned to the gate and I heard a tiny boy from farther back in the plane yell, "Look, Daddy, it's a fire truck!". We looked out the window to see two yellow trucks with the words "Airport Crash and Fire Service" emblazoned on their sides. The captain came on the speaker again and announced that one of the engines had failed and the fire trucks were going to look us over. Everything seemed fine, and we deplaned to wait for another plane to arrive from the U.S. to retrieve us. What followed were 7 (more) hours in the tiny Belize airport. Many of the shops were closed for Good Friday. The snack bar bakery ran out of food. We bought 2 $9 bags of Doritos (yes, $9 U.S.), the big bags, and water before all the shops closed at 4:30. The airline provided sandwiches and Cokes for our supper, and the new plane arrived to a thundering round of applause at 7:30. We quickly boarded to head back to the USA.

But, Delta couldn't get us from Atlanta to Birmingham until 9:40 AM. I have to preside over a big egg hung at church at 10:00 AM. So we called on Superdave to pick us up in Atlanta, offering money for gas and some for his trouble, and he drove us the 3 hours back to Birmingham to collect our van from the airport. We are actually driving through our hometown, and I'm hoping for a 2 hour power nap before heading to church.

Imagine 9 hours in a tiny airport with an active 6 year old boy. He was as good as he could be, and we know what a trial it was for him. He fell asleep before the plane took off and gamely woke up for the trip through immigration. He's a seasoned traveler now! He introduced himself to lots of kids this week. Tonight in the airport he started his conversations with "can you believe our plane broke?". He used his phone to film himself making a documentary news report at the airport. What a great kid!