Well, we are here and have been here for 10 days.  We have had 9 of the roughest, most horrible days of our lives.  There is a song that is often attributed to Frank Sinatra that refers to that fickled female, Lady Luck.  Well, on July 26, 2012, Lady Luck ran as fast as she could in the opposite direction of the Figueroa Family.  She took off like a bat out of hell and did not look back.  I just wish she would’ve let us know she was leaving.

It started out nice enough.  After a wonderful week at Disney World with my sister and brother-in-law followed by a  hectic but fun week and a half with my mother and our nieces we headed out for a flight to Philadelphia. 

The flight was fine.  I say it was fine because due to the chaos that followed I can’t for the life of me even remember that flight.  Trust me when I say an unmemorable flight is a good flight.  Later I would’ve only prayed for an unmemorable flight.  

We then got a NICE Chrysler Town & Country minivan for the ride up to Newark.  I will stop here to say that I am not much of a minivan person but darn it that thing was nice.  I am sure it was top of the line and nothing close to what I am usually prepared to pay for a vehicle that has every chance of getting vomited in.  I can be pretty cheap in that area.  

We also stopped at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant for lunch for the last time.  I always consider it necessary when going to a foreign food establishment that the majority of the clientele be of the race of people that is selling the food, i.e. Mexican people eating Mexican, Chinese people eating Chinese, etc.  I know I am in the right place when I feel out of place and we ALWAYS feel out of place when we eat at this particular restaurant.  We are usually the only non-Asian people in the place and that is okeedokee with me.  After noshing down on some fantastic Bun we headed on to our destination, the Marriott Newark Airport.  This is where things took a curve.

I will add a disclaimer to say that in all likelihood Raphael caught the cold while we were vacationing with my sister and brother-in-law in Disney World.  Isn't that a good looking group of people?

We always get sick after going there.  There are just too many people with varied personal hygiene habits surrounding you there not to get sick.  What we did not expect was the veracity of the cold.  It is a knock down, kick-you-in-your-pants beast that does not let you go for at least a week or more.  He came down with it on our way to Philly and spent the rest of that day and the next sleeping in bed. 

The rest of us enjoyed the benefits of a night and extended check out at a Marriott.  We ordered room service for dinner and watched movies, we lounged around preparing for the long flight we knew we had ahead of us, and did our best to care for Raphael.  We had elected to pay for a late check out since our flight was not supposed to be until 7:30pm and it was worth every penny.  I could not imagine sitting around the Newark International Airport for any longer than necessary.  (Or so I was thinking at that time.  Oh, what my arrogance was going to cost me!)  We were excited when we left the Marriott.  Our bellman was kind enough to take a picture of us as we left.  Oh what fools were we............

I will continue this tomorrow as I need to start dinner.  Stay tuned!