Seeing family and prepaing for the longest travel day EVER!

You know, the 10 hour flight from England didn't seem that bad. It actually turned into a 12 hour flight because we had to divert into Cheyenne for fuel due to the thunderstorms over DIA. That was a first for me. I thought this poor woman with two kids, one of which had puked all over the place about half way through the flight, was going to lose her mind when she heard the news. That just made me more relaxed. As long as someone is about to lose it, then I don't have to. But someone should always be on the edge of flipping out. It's like a position on a sports team. Some has to be there. We eventually made it to Phoenix and Amy and I were able to enjoy the company of my Dad and step-mom and eventually my brother and his family. It was an exhausting leg, but well worth all of it. From there we headed off to Gainesville to visit my better half's family. It's weird for me to have spent 5 years living in Gainesville only to not really know anyone that lives there anymore. I guess that is the joy of the college town. Out with the old and in with the new. We were rained out of almost everything except shopping. And shop we did. Amy's mom was a little frustrated that I could tear through a Ross Dress for Less in 5 minutes and determine that there was nothing there for me. I guess I'm a common size, and since I don't wear South Pole or FuBu there just wasn't that much selection. From there up to the Panhandle where we stayed at the finest hotel in Crestview. Sorry mom, I just can't take the smoke anymore. It was nice to see the people of the south again and be glad that I'm not still hanging around there anymore. Don't get me wrong, they're nice people, but whoa....WHOA. Scary. We made our escape after a nice dinner with some old friends at McGuires in Destin during the eye of Tropical Storm Fay which was not really more than a breezy rain shower. Now we're just relaxing in Phoenix again until Wednesday when we start the long journey to the Far East (which is actually west of here). FLY birdy FLY!