Questions and answers for my first flight alone with three kids!

1. How long was the actaul layover in Denver after the flight was delayed for a second time?
Only 3 plus hours! It was originally supposed to leave around 7:55 but was changed to 8:55 and then delayed until 10:10. I was not a happy camper when I found this out. So I tried to get stand by on an earlier flight to SL. I trucked it all the way across the airport and made it to the terminal with 10 minutes before boarding and waited. You should have seen some of the looks I got. Sheer surprise and some people just looking sorry for me. I waited for the 8:05 plane to board and then they did their final boarding call. I didn't bug the agent and waited. She said, "If you don't board the plane in the next 2 minutes your seat will be taken." I waited the 2 minutes but she never called the stand by people to come forward. I continued to wait and then 2 people run up and catch their flight. Then a few minutes later 4 people run up and catch it too. Then another few people catch it as well. All the while there I am 10 feet away with all my kids and she doesn't say a word. We were starving and hadn't had dinner and yet we don't hear a word about stand by passengers. Not one. Finally a gentleman runs up and says he is on that flight and she says, I'm sorry, the flight has left. You have GOT to be kidding me. Honestly. I understand that they may not have room but come on. Could she at least say something? Like "Stand by passengers, there is no room at this time?" How long does that take? Seriously. Boy was I bugged. So I took the girls all the way back past the previous terminal and had dinner.
2. How did I pinch a nerve in my back? Well, just picture me with Audrey on my back in a carrier, and pushing the double stroller with Claire and Hallie, with the carseat draped over the top of the stroller and our cary ons in the bottom of the stroller, oh and our 4 coats shoved in there as well. I think that explains the pinched nerve! :) Although I must say that back carrier saved me. I was able to have 2 free hands and never had to worry about Where Audrey was or what she was doing. It was worth the back pain hands down! I could even go to the bathroom with her still in it. I just held her feet up!!!
3. How many people did it take to get us boarded on the second flight? only me and 3 other adults. Audrey wasn't in her carrier anymore so I was holding her. A lady helped carry the carseat. Another lady pushed the girls in the stroller and the last person helped carry the coats. Boy was it an ordeal!
4. Why couldn't I see at one point during the second flight? Audrey hit me in the eye and my contact popped out. I am BLIND without my contacts so I blinked and when I opened my eyes I couldn't see a thing out of my left eye. I touched it and luckily my contact (hard) happened to be on my eyelashes. Boy could that have been worse. I could imagine trying to find it on the ground of the airplane. IMPOSSIBLE. So I handed Audrey to the stewardess in the back and put my contact back in.
5. Who threw up on the plane after the second flight? There was a lot of turbulence during the flight and when we were waiting to deboard the plane Audrey started dry heaving. I looked around frantically and said to the stewardess, I think she's gonna throw up. She opened the latch to the bathroom, opened the lid to the toilet just as Audrey launched it into the toilet. It couldn't have been more perfect. Again, it could have been SO much worse. Can you imagine the smell of it all over me and the girls in the middle of the flight? Not to mention how bad the clean up would have been?
6. How long did we wait to deboard the plane since no one was at the terminal to let us off? It took 30 stinkin' minutes. After the whole layover we still didn't get off for 30 minutes cause no one was there to open the latch and let us out. SO annoying!!
7. And last but not least, What time did we get to my sisters house? We didn't get home until 2a.m. I was so wiped out and still am, frankly. What a trip!
Just so you all know, I am still alive as are all my children. None of them were beaten or yelled at.
Although there were some very bad patches in the 10 hours we were traveling, it could have been so much worse. I have decided that the hardest party about flying with kids are the things you can't control. I can handle giving the kids things to do and entertaining them (no, we did not have a DVD player!!) but when you throw in delays, problems with the flight, and that you can't control other people it gets really hard.

Note to self and all reading:
If I have learned anything from this experience it is that you should pay the extra hundred or hundred and fifty dollars and GET A STRAIGHT THROUGH FLIGHT! It is worth every last penny!
Well, Have a lovely day everyone! Thanks for reading!