5:30 am

I woke up. I was actually up by 5, you can thank my internal clock for that one. In retrospect, I should have just gotten up then. Keep in mind, it's an 8:30 am flight.

5:57 am

Grandparents woke up, started having breakfast. I went over to make sure they had everything ready. Green light!

6:20 am

Told the grandparents it was time to go. I figured it would take 15 minutes to drive there at most, thus we'd get there 2 hours early. They were all ready to go, just zipping up the bags.

6:30 am

Still not out the door yet. Grampa gets really nervous or anxious when he travels, so at this point he thought he had forgotten something, and was sitting trying to remember what it was. I went up and down the checklist. Do you have your medicine? Passport? Money? Clothes? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay, let's go. Okay, keep thinking.

7:00 am

We finally left the place. I went for the Yonge Street 401 West exist. Closed. Drove back and hit the Bayview exit. Closed. Leslie? Closed. Okay, this is bad, it's 7:30. So I took 401 East to the 404, and slipped back around and back on to the 401 West, and away we go. Speed limits? Screw them.. Got to the airport at 7:45 am.

7:50 am

Dropped off the grandparents with one bag and told them to just go indoors. Drove around, found a parking spot, grabbed the bigger luggage and 2 chinese paintings and headed back to the terminal. When I got inside, I couldn't find them, I ran around for about 5 minutes then realized they were still outside. Finally got them to the Special Assistance area, sat them down and lined up.

8:00 am

"Sorry sir, boarding closes 40 minutes before the take-off."

8:30 am

Successfully booked a new flight at the cost of $100/person, 12:10pm. There's no way to be late for this one I figure, we've got 3+ hours to work with, and we're already at the airport. Right?

9:30 am

Air Canada finally lets us check-in. I book 2 wheelchairs so GPs won't have to run from gate to gate. 2 AC flight assistants push them while I take the bags to customs.

9:45 am

U.S. Customs tells me we need to declare with Canadian Customs first. That's downstairs. No problem, lots of time left. One assistant leaves, leaving the one guy pushing two wheelchairs while I push the bags. We head downstairs to meet with Canadian Customs. He starts filling out a form. He acts as though he's never done it before, and consults with another officer. The two of them look at the form, it's #8665 I think. The US Customs guy told me I needed a different form. Oh well.

10:05 am

We're about to wrap up the form. At one point the guy thought he'd have to take out the money and count it all to make sure, including what denominations they were. Yikes, but the other officer gives him this funny look and he says to forget it. Meanwhile, while they're doing all this, I turn to Grampa to point out for like the 90th time, this is what happens when you bring so much money. He looks at me and goes "I don't get it.. it's nothing."

10:20 am

We finally finish this form, which btw he doesn't even give to me. How is U.S. Customs going to know I've been through Canadian Customs if I have nothing to show them? Oh well. By now the AC assistant has left to tend other people, and says he'll be back later. I give the form for my Grampa to fill out.

At this point I hear sobbing and some woman in the back saying "..but sir, I didn't do anything wrong! Please..!" -- Yikes! What's going on back there?!

10:30 am

Finished signing the form, the work is done, need to get back to U.S. Customs now, even though I have no proof that I've been through Canadian Customs. We're now waiting for the AC assistant to come back to help push the wheelchairs.

10:50 am

He finally arrives, along with the other person who was helping from the start. We push our way back upstairs and then to the US Customs. That's odd, where's my Customs Card? I think the U.S. Customs inspector guy had it. They run off to look for it. Nope, can't find it. Oh well.

Finally made my way to the back inspector again, and yes, he had it.

11:00 am

Cutting it close again? No, it's finally time. Hugs all around. Exhausted, dehydrated, and STARVING, I head back to the car and drive home. On the way home, I got lost. As most of you know, I'm terrible with my directions. I ended up basically circling around North York twice before I got home at noon. LOL..

Praise God for bringing me home safe and sound, and thank you Lord for this awesomely frustrating adventure!