Ava goes to Durham

On Saturday, April 12, we set out on our first family vacation. We started with with a flight from John Wayne to Dallas and then on to Raleigh/Durham. Although we had to give Ava her pacifier (aka dummy) more often than we normally do on the flight, Ava did quite well on both flights, and especially enjoyed sitting next to the window on the second flight. It's always nice getting compliments on how well behaved she is, even if we're always worried that she's being too loud.

Due to a delay in Dallas, we arrived in Raleigh/Durham a little later than we expected, but that was pretty minor. Unfortunately, we then had to deal with getting our rental car. We were using Alamo because it was by far the cheapest car rental outfit, and we soon found out why. Although there were only a few people in front of us in line, there was effectively only one person who could serve us because the other employee spent the entire time helping a couple who apparently had made last minute online reservations, but had no acceptable form of payment, and the self-service computer wasn't really self-service at all as even after you typed in all your information you still needed to see a customer service person. After finally getting through to the front of the line, the manager encountered a computer glitch prompting him to ask for my address not once, not twice, not even three times, but four separate times. I got the keys to our car (a Pontiac Grand Prix, which worked out quite well for us), and then had to do my good deed for the day.

The group in front of us (three teachers and a baby) needed my help because they had ordered a car seat, and the Alamo folks either couldn't or wouldn't install it for them. I tried to install the flimsy, dirty thing Alamo called a car seat without any instructions, and that just wouldn't do. Even if it did have instructions, it would hardly be safe enough to carry a bag of groceries. Finally, the ladies were able to convince Alamo to give them a new seat. After a few minutes of struggling with the seat belts (and an hour of being at Alamo), I was able to get the seat into place, and we parted ways, and headed to our hotel.

After the struggle that was Alamo, it was great to be greeted by the friendly folks at the Four Points Sheraton, and to be upgraded to a junior suite. With a free flight and free hotel room it looked like things would be going smoothly from here on out (unfortunately Starwood failed us down the road). For the time being, everything was splendid, and we were able to give Ava a bath in the bathroom sink. The first time in a long time that she's bathed in a sink rather than in the mini-bath that sits in the tub or on the counter.