Operation- Get Austin to Manila!

Have you ever had a day that feels like it could be a movie?  A day full of obstacles, plot twists, great characters, suspense, and even a high-speed car chase?  That was my day yesterday.  It all actually began night before last...

Scene 1:  Setting is a KL apartment, where a boy named Austin is packing his bags, getting ready to travel with his rugby team to Manila.  It is the final rugby tournament of his high school years.  And as team co-captain,  he is ready to lead his team to a gold medal!  Austin walks into living room, where his mom, a slim and very attractive woman (oh wait, this isn't fiction! Shucks!) is sitting, talking to her friend Brenda.  

AUSTIN:  Hey Mom, where is my passport?

MOM:  With her eyes wide open and a horrified expression on her face, replies, Um, your passport is kind of at the Chinese embassy, waiting for a visa...  (It would be important to note at this time that the Holmes family had made a spontaneous and somewhat rash decision to spend Chinese New Year in Beijing, of all places.  At the invitation of dear friends.)

AUSTIN:  What???

MOM:  I will get it back!  Don't worry!  (She actually has no idea how to make this happen, but feels it is the prudent thing to say.)  What time does your flight leave?

AUSTIN:  10 something.  

MOM:  Okay, I will go to embassy first thing in the morning.

Austin heads back to his room, to finish packing, thinking very kind thoughts about his mother (hey, it could have happened that way).    At this point, Mom and Brenda start brain-storming, thinking of who to call.  Father is out of the country and already asleep.  They need to reach Father's assistant, but don't have her number.  Brenda's husband, Kevin, calls assistant for us and discovers that passports are not due back until Friday, two days too late.  Nothing can be done.  Mom then calls rugby coach, and apprises him of situation.  He assures her that he will contact several people at school, and thus begins Operation- Get Austin to Manila!

SCENE 2:  This scene takes place at the Chinese Visa Center in KL, not the actual Chinese embassy.  Mom and Austin are accompanied by Shaun, a very nice young man who works at the school.  He speaks Mandarin and is familiar with the visa processes in KL.  (Mom is not too proud to ask for and accept any help available.)  

SHAUN:  Hello, we are here to pick up a passport.  It was submitted for a visa, but we just need to get it back.

OLD MAN BEHIND DESK:  Where is your receipt?

SHAUN:  Receipt?  We don't have one.  But here is Austin.  He needs his passport.

OLD MAN BEHIND DESK:  No receipt, no passport!  How do we know this is the right person?

The receipt is being held by the agent from Mayflower, an company that handles the visa process for clients.  This company was given passport by Father's assistant.  Mom calls assistant again.  No answer.  Mom texts assistant.  Mom emails assistant.  No response.  Shaun calls Mayflower directly.  No answer.  Mom calls Father.  No answer.  When they were about to give up, Mom gets a call from Assistant!  They get name and phone number of person holding the receipt for passport.

At this point, they drive to Mayflower office and retrieve receipt.  Travel agent from school has booked a noon flight for Austin.  Austin is sent home in a taxi to finish packing for trip.  They tell him that as soon as he is done, take a taxi to airport.  Shaun and Mom will swing by visa office, pick up passport, and meet him at airport.

SCENE 3:  Back at Chinese Visa Center for visit #2.

SHAUN:  Here is the receipt!

OLD MAN BEHINDS THE DESK:  Okay.  He points  to the lady next to him.

SHAUN TO MISS WONG:  Here is our receipt, and we need to pick up Austin's passport.

MISS WONG: Passport pickup is scheduled for Friday.

SHAUN:  But we need it today.

MISS Wong:  There is a procedure and you can't stop the procedure.  Passport is not even here.  It is at the embassy. It must first be processed.  Four working days.  

SHAUN:  Is there any way to get it expedited?

MISS WONG:  Yes, you can pick it up tomorrow.

SHAUN:  He has a flight today.  In less than two hours.

MISS WONG:  Cannot do.  But I will talk to supervisor.  Come back at 3 or 3:30, but no guarantees.

Mom calls Austin and tells him to stay put.  Shaun goes back to school and Mom goes home.  

INTERMISSION

SCENE 4:   Back in KL apartment;

MOM:  Austin, you need to get dressed in your travel clothes.  We are taking your luggage. We are picking up Shaun, then going back to embassy.  You are scheduled on a 5:30 flight.  

AUSTIN:  Will I be getting my passport?

MOM:  I have no idea.  And if you do, there is no guarantee that we will get to the airport in time.  But if you don't make this flight, there is an 8:00 am flight tomorrow.  You may miss the first game.

AUSTIN:  But the first game is against JIS, who I really want to beat.  (Now mom saw the JIS team last year in Bangkok.  Every guy on the team had a mohawk haircut!  They looked pretty fierce.  She understood why Austin wanted to beat them.  ...  As if Mom wasn't feeling enough pressure.)

MOM:  All we can do is try.

SCENE 5:  Back in Chinese Visa Center for visit #3, an hour early, just in case.

SHAUN:  We are here to pick up passport. 

MISS WONG:  Fill out this paper.  

SHAUN:  Can we go ahead and pay?  (They have no time to spare and don't want to chance another wait.)

MISS WONG:  We have to make sure passport makes it here, and only then can you pay.  Come back at three.

SHAUN:  We are not going anywhere.  We will sit here and wait.

They are now just sitting and waiting.  Calculating the time to airport.  Discussing routes.  Shaun is getting phone calls from school, asking if Austin will make it to the airport in time.  Do they need to book another ticket?  Do they need to arrange a ride to hotel? They have no answers.  Shaun decides they need to leave no later than 3:30 to make it to airport in enough time to check baggage and go through security.  3:00 comes.  Nothing.  3:10.  Nothing.  But they notice Miss Wong is gone.  Is she receiving the new shipment of passports with visas?  At 3:15, Miss Wong re-enters room and heads to them.  

MISS WONG:  Take this paper to the window and pay the fee.  (In case you don't know, the expedited fee for a visitor visa to China is 753 rm, or $179!!  At this point, Mom truly doesn't care!)

Mom goes and pays the fee, and expects to receive passport.  But oh no, they are told to wait.  And wait. Mom calls her driver, making sure he is all set for a quick get away.  Finally, at 3:30, they receive Austin's passport!!!!!!!

SCENE 6:  Setting is the inside of car.

MOM:  Driver, we have one hour to make it to the airport.  Make it quick, but make it safe!

DRIVER:  Yes, madam.

They pull out into the street and into a tunnel.  The traffic was pretty much at a standstill! They are stuck in some of the worst traffic around.  You have no way of knowing what obstacle could keep you from reaching the airport in time.  Suddenly, they hear a siren.  The only way ambulances get through traffic in KL is by the cars shifting to the side and the ambulance travels between the lanes.  Ambulance goes by.  A few motorcycles follow it, taking advantage of the clear path.  The next thing they know, the driver is following the ambulance!!  Mom is kind of terrified and keeps her eyes closed.  They are following an ambulance, between lanes, in a tunnel!  They finally clear the tunnel, and Mom tells driver to get back in normal lane.  Mom looks over at Shaun, wondering what he thought of that harrowing ride. 

SHAUN:  Cool!  He probably saved us 20 minutes!  (Mom thinks, Men!!)

SCENE 7:  Kuala Lumpur International Airport

Austin gets checked in and Mom and Shaun walk with him as far as they can.  Mom gives Austin a hard hug and a kiss.  Austin shakes Shaun's hand and thanks him for his help.  Shaun and Mom high-five each other.  Mom starts humming the theme of Rocky.  Operation-Get Austin to Manila is a success!

Austin at airport, looking thrilled Mom made him slow down for picture

(Fade to black screen.  The following words appear on screen.)

On the ride back to school, Shaun receives a call from travel agent.  She informs him that there is no use going back to the Chinese Visa Center.  There has been an emergency shut down at the embassy and they stopped distributing passports at 3:45.

Austin and his team defeat the mighty JIS Dragons by a score of 15 to 5.

Acknowledgements:  This day could not have happened without the full support of Austin's school.  His coaches and athletic director worked hard to arrange his transport and lodging for the night.  Several other employees manned the computers, checking for flights and other information.  Moms at school took over her volunteer duties that day.  And most importantly, many prayers were said on Austin's behalf.  

Will Austin's team make it to a gold medal?  That is yet to be determined.  Maybe this movie could be turned into a trilogy.  And I could sell Austin and Mom lunch boxes.  Little girls would want to be Mom for Halloween.  

(Is it sad that I am cracking myself up??)

 Possible Austin doll.  His rugby nickname is Buzz.  

Miss Wong

Mom

Good night all!  This mom needs to go bake a cake.

New Year in New York!

Happy New Year!  I just got back from three weeks in New York City.  The Holmes family got a very special early Christmas gift...

Baby Isla was born on December 10th!  Big brother Cooper is 17 months old and not quite sure this is what he asked Santa for!  (Photo credit goes to Seth Whitton, proud dad)

Grandpa Joe meets Isla for the first time.  We didn't get to NYC until December 19. She is the first baby of my four babies and Cooper to be born with hair!  And she is the only one with blue eyes!!  (The doctor thinks they will stay blue.)

This is how Joe spent a lot of his time in New York.  This might be a good time to point out that my iPhone had a faulty camera.  If you see blurry pictures, that means I took them.  :/  Most of the pictures in this blog post were taken by various people.

Uncle Austin got some Isla time.

 One of our first outings was to Bryant Park.  It was Isla's first subway ride.

Family picture at the big Christmas tree in the park.  We were missing Jared, who was still working.  Amanda was carrying Isla in her Moby wrap.  One very long piece of fabric that she wraps around herself and makes a very secure pouch for Isla.  We also enjoyed the Christmas market at the park and watching the ice skaters.

This was a very special three weeks.  We shopped for Christmas presents and food, played with the babies, and did some sightseeing.  I have included some pictures of various sights around the city.

Avenue of the Americas and Radio City Music Hall

The tree and ice skaters at Rockefeller Plaza

Saks Fifth Avenue.  This was actually an amazing light show set to music.  I tried very hard to upload my video of it, to no avail.

 These were the store windows in Saks.  Sorry for the blurry pictures.

The widows were wonderful!  This one has a Chinese theme with the Great Wall of China depicted in the bottom.

As we walked down Fifth Avenue, even the building themselves were decorated.  This was my favorite.  What was the building?  Tiffany's!  

The more spectacular window displays were in Bergdorf Goodman!

The amount of detail was amazing!!  For example, those suits of armor were totally covered in rhinestones!

On another evening, we took the subway to Times Square and walked to our theater to see a Broadway show.  We saw Something Rotten, a really funny musical.

The weather for the first part of our trip was unseasonably warm.  We went to the rooftop deck of Amanda's apartment building for these views of the city.  My four kids!

Christmas Eve was spent at this Puerto Rican bar/restaurant.  Puerto Rican food is our Christmas Eve tradition.  I usually make it, but in this case, we found a restaurant within walking distance.  We were the only customers, but the food (and music) was great!

Savannah helping Cooper open his Christmas presents.

He loved his train set from Santa!

Cooper also got some Timberland boots to match his Auntie Savi!  Too cute!

My favorite Christmas gift came from Amanda-- a family photo shoot!  These were taken early on the 26th.  I won't bore you guys with all 50 photos.  You already have to see enough family pictures!

After taking pictures, we piled into Jared's car and headed for Philadelphia!  We spent a few days in Jared's house, helping him decorate.  Here we taped pieces of paper on the wall, trying to figure out picture frame placement.  (This was not our final arrangement.)  Jared filled the photo frames with family pictures.  Luckily he has tons to choose from. 

This is not a great picture, but it was taken at the King of Prussia Mall, where Savannah and I spent a lot of time.  :)

This is how we got back to NYC.  Jared had to go back to work, and this was the cheapest way back. $65 for the four of us.  Unless you add the price of a new computer.  I left my carry on bag in the bus. I got the bag back a few days later, without my computer.  Yikes!

Another one of our outings was to the One World Trade Center (or Freedom Tower) and 9/11 Memorial.  

We first walked around the two huge pools that sit at the sites of the original Twin Towers.  The names of all who died on September 11 are inscribed in bronze.  Here we see that the men and women at the Pentagon are not forgotten.  The memorial is not just for the people who died at this location.  The flights and first responder stations are also mentioned.  This was a beautiful memorial park.

Then we waited for the time on our tickets to go up to the One World Observatory for amazing 360 degree views of the city. 

We had the great fortune to stay at one of Amanda's friend's apartment.  Thanks Marissa and James!  While they were visiting family in California, we stayed at their beautiful apartment on the East River in Long Island Beach.  This was the night view across the street.  The shiny building to the right is the Chrysler Building and the one with the bright top is the Empire State Building.  This park was also the site of our family pictures.

New Years Eve!  We celebrated at a Amanda's home, a safe distance from the craziness of Times Square.

On New Year's Day, my mom and sister came to visit from Texas.  Here are four generations of Diaz women!

I had such a good time with my mom and sis!!  By this time, Joe and the kids had gone back to KL and Jared was off to a friend's wedding.  It was my turn to play tour guide and navigate the subway on my own.  I was successful!  :)  

Central Park

The forsythias were confused by the earlier warmer weather!

I took my mom and sis to see all the lights and Christmas decorations I had already seen.  The crowds were much worse on January 2 than they were before Christmas!  Diana took this picture of the lighted trees in front of 30 Rock.

On this night we went to another Broadway show, On Your Feet, the story of Gloria and Emilio Estefan.  Oh my.  It was even better than Something Rotten.  I was literally dancing in my seat!

The next day we took a boat ride.  That is the Brooklyn Bridge in the background.

We sailed by the Statue of Liberty.

One of my last afternoons was spent at Grand Central Station, at the largest Apple store in North America.  New computer and new camera in my iPhone.

Here I am packing up to return home.  Cooper climbed into my suitcase.  We added Isla.  Oh, how I wish I could have brought them with me!!  I am now back in KL.  When I left there were Christmas decorations everywhere.  I returned to Chinese New Year!  Year of the Monkey coming up!