whats happening in Cincinnati??? I am so desolate

Pebble, I am so happy to read that Alex will be with you shortly. I admire the fact that you have been able to keep his arrival a surprise especially after all of the snafu's you both have been through. I seriously doubt if I could have done it if I were in your shoes. Have a wonderful holiday season and enjoy your visit together!

any minute now......... cant wait

he is here!!!! both my husband and I are ecstatic and weeping liike babies.
gotta go - lotsa catching up to do!!!

thanks for all your support throughout this ordeal

love and hugs from turkey

"Wheww!" ....

...followed by a big "YEE-HAWWW!"

What an adventure! For all of ya'll involved!

Glad you finally made it, Alex! Bet YOU are glad, too! And Pebble, we all are glad and relieved that you made it, too! You survived a mighty tense time; ya done good!!

Here ya go! Have some eggnog and rum! My treat! And here, here's some cookies my wife and DD baked, too! And lookee here!...cut ya off some hunks of this delicious smoked ham! (Got smoked turkey, too!) And lookit this! It's a present with your name on it! (I wrapped it in my favorite wrapping paper!) And here's one for your Alex, too! Looks to me like it's time to celebrate!

Happy Holidays!

Pebble: What a delightful ending to a wonderful Christmas Story. So glad for you all.

YEAH!!!!!

Don't forget to tell him later, about the six sisters he almost had. LOL

Pebble, Praise the Lord he has arrived! I can now breath a sigh of relief for all of you. When you get two minutes to sit down quietly, give us an itinerary of his trip back and the cities, etc. (I'm close to Louisville airport!) We will have watchdogs ready for him all over the world! Enjoy your time. Alex, drop us a note and give us your take on all of this (in a few days, when it calms down for everyone).

In His Love, Kathy

Merry Christmas dear friend, and to all a GOOD night!!

"eyes"

Oh, wonderful news! I've reported the saga to my family as it unfolded, and everyone's so happy for you guys!

A wonderfull end to a nerve racking trip.
Enjoy a wonderfull Christamas together.

Pebble, I'm so happy for all of you that this turned out well finally. I've been following this thread anxiously and it's just so wonderful to know that you'll all sleep well and happily tonight. Big hugs and a huge "WAY TO GO!" to Alex for getting through all of that on his own!!!!!

-Julie

This has certainly been a Christmas to remember!! I'm so glad that everything finally came together for you! Enjoy this reunion!! Merry Christmas to you!!
Bonnie

Hallelujah!! so very glad to hear he is safe and sound and in your arms - just getting a little misty here for your happiness!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Merry Christmas!

How Wonderful!!! Prayers answered!!!

Judy

Praise the Lord!!! I'm so relieved to hear that he got there safely. I'd been praying for him & you all day. So glad to hear all is well. And like someone said above, let us know his return itinerary & we'll help out as needed. I'm sure this made your Christmas extra special. Enjoy your time with this precious son.
Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Pebble,
I am so happy for you!!! Enjoy your time together!!!

Pebble, The news is that all Delta flights are cancelled at least until monday...seems that their computers which schedule pilot assignments crashed. So there are many things to work out before flights are re-scheduled. Alex was really luck! People are still stranded at the Cincinnati airport as well as others.
Gary/Louisville

I bet some Delta Airlines IT employee is in hot water for not doing backups!

You betcha! This is a financial disaster for Delta, on top of the weather.

They have lost so much luggage and Christmas gifts. I read a story on MSNBC earlier about how Comair had to cancel 1100 flights and it had to do with the computer malfunction in Cincinnati.

USAir has luggage still sitting in Philadelphia, lots of it, because so many people called in sick, they had no baggage people to load the planes. Planes left without the luggage and one lady waited at her destination airport for 3 flights that came in from Philly to see if her luggage was on any of them. She was offered a $50 check to cover her clothes but nothing was open, so she was wearing the same thing she had had on for several days. Also, Delta graciously offered their stranded passengers a toothbrushing kit (toothpaste and a toothbrush) for all their trouble! One lady interviewed said Delta should not be allowed to fly passengers anymore, that the whole thing was a disgrace and a mess!

Remind to never fly around a major holiday........jeepers!

I saw that on the news too - the 1100 flights cancelled because of computer crash. Now they're flying planes with only luggage to get some of it back to the owners.

My sister called tonight - her DH's nephew and family, from WY, are staying with them for a visit with family. They're best flight back home was Christmas eve so they left for Milwaukee about 1 pm and were back at my sister's by 5 pm. Their flight was Delta and routed through Cinncy so it was cancelled. Now they're scheduled for a Tues. flight home. What a mess!

Good plan, MM, never fly around the holidays!!!!

oh gees....you mean we may not see his luggage for awhile? oh well, all I can say is that I am happy alex is here....for all I care his luggage can stay there...(I'm sure he doesnt feel that way, and all the presents are there too, including the cheddar cheese...)

Thanks everyone for following this fiasco with me. I am a very happy mom today, I have both my kids here. life is good.

I hope everyone else had a happy happy Chirstmas!!!

Good to see you posting pebble. Hope I got you 'down pat' on the other thread. Correct me if I'm wrong!! (p.s.cheese gets better with age... lol)

LOL Kooger, its just amazing the friends we make on here.... you were correct in everything you said...
yes, the cheese will be fine....aged cheddar is a delicacy isnt it???
By the way, I bought some blue cheese when I was in kos, along with a whole bunch of others that I put out yesterday, boy..it was gone in a couple of hours. luckily I didnt put the blue out.....

It's a beautiful day here, the sun is shining so brightly.....

How soon does Alex go back? Is it thru Cinncy again? Take the advice mentioned above - make sure those OH folks know his itinerary!!

He doesnt leave here till the 7th, I dont know his return itinerary yet..Havent looked at his ticket.
My dh just got a call that his suitcases are in Istanbul, but we wont get them till wednesday, I havent told alex that they wont be here till then, just told him that they have arrived in Istanbul....
He's not going to be happy...he doesnt have any winter clothes here. I guess we'll be going shopping today!

The first time we flew to Louisiana to visit Lisa, we bought some andouille sausage to take back home with us. She froze it and wrapped it in lots of newspaper and foil to keep it cold for the short transit time it would have with us. Our plane was a bit delayed and as a result we missed our connecting flight in Memphis. We spent the night at a hotel, courtesy NWA, but our suitcase (and our sausage) spent the night somewhere at the airport, where our andouille thawed.

What is the weather like there, Pebble?

its a gorgeous sunny day....

was your suausage ruined?

Oh, yeah. Sure was. It might have been okay, but it had thawed and we didn't trust it for five or six more hours' transit.

Pebbles So glad to hear Alex made it to Turkey and that you have been able to do some celebrating despite the worry!

---but sorry to hear other passengers are still hung up in transit, though. My DH flew out of CVG (Cincy) using Delta on Christmas Day and escaped any delay or trouble--I guess the computers were back up, the pilots showed up for work, the de-icer arrived and the snow was cleared by then! (Sounds like a distorted 'twelve days of Christmas song!) What a mess this past week!

Looked out the window just now, though, and see snow coming down...Oh, no!!

If Alex has a lay over in Cincy on his return, please look us up. We have room for him at our place and can go get him at CVG.

Have a Happy New Year everyone and have a safe trip back! t.

thanks tabasco, thants very kind of you to offer. I'll keep you all posted regarding his return trip.
glad your husband made it home.

What a relief to read all this - I'm very happy for you and your family Pebble!

Thank you Cheryl, what a saga.....

Alex is feeling a bit under the weather, throwing up all day - hasnt had a thing to eat, just about 4 cups of water to drink. DH gave some meds to settle the tummy, now he is running a temp of 102. dh IS bringing some antibiotics home.....
We wont be going to the mayors ball, we need to rest up and get alex feeling better.

Oh no - poor thing after all he's just been through! Hopefully it's just all the stress of his travelling. I'll pray for your Alex to feel better by morning.

OK, I have read this entire saga and am more relieved than ever that I saw the other thread first that he had arrived safe and sound. But one thing really stood up and grabbed my attention on this thread "My TURKEY is in the oven" You got a Turkey? That is amazing! How did you pull that one off?

they sell turkeys for new years eve, we (foreigners) have to special order ours so that we get first crack at them when the first lot come in. amazing huh? wonder if I bought one now could i freeze it till next thanksgiving? lol...

alex is still feverish, his temp is 103 this morning.....
we are going to have a lazy day today just the two of us, dad is at the pharmacy and michelle is in school, so we will hav the whole day with each other.

Well, that is a fine thing! Why on earth don't they sell them in time for Thanksgiving! LOL I bet it tasted great though.

Sorry to hear Alex's temperature is still up. But a nice quiet day together sounds good. I know he is 16 and in school but what grade?

He is in the 11th grade.
MIchelle is in the 8th, she lost a year last year because she didnt speak turkish, oh well....

So one more year of High School for him. What are his plans after that? University or?

Sorry Michelle lost a year but learning a new language and adjusting to a whole new culture was an education not measurable in grades. What strength of character she has shown in facing the new life there and Alex must indeed be a strong and competent young man to have made it there in spite of obsticales.

You must be very proud of them and justifiably so!

Zany, thank you. I am very proud of them both! they are turning into incredible people.

Alex plans on going to university in the US, he wants to major in Business, and minor in languages, he is learning spanish and french...and was dissapointed that he didnt have the opportunity to use his french in paris. His orinal flight had a layovver in paris.

Michelle will probably do her senior year in the US and then go to college there. I think I may end up coming home for her senior year. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.