We are really proud of the kids, all things considered they did great! My alarm was set to go off at 1:15am. At 12:50 am, Elizabeth comes into our room, wide awake. Not exactly the start I had hoped for. By the time we were loaded Grant was awake too. You would think with a two and half hour drive, in the dark, in the middle of the night they would fall back asleep...nope!! Elizabeth kept saying, "this is taking sooo long." Oh girlfriend, you have no idea what you are in for!! Come to find out she thought we were flying out of the Bloomington airport, so no wonder O'hare seemed sooo far away! Even though they were awake they did well.
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| Carry-on Luggage - back packs are great, but don't fit under the seat that well! |
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| Oh yea, did I mention we have an umbrella stroller and two car-seats too! |
We got checked in and headed for security. The line was pretty long, but we are doing fine. We make it past the paperwork checkpoint and are almost to x-ray when we hear, "I have to go potty." My eyes roll, really? right now?? "Can you hold it?" - "No" Do we really want to start our day with an accident. So I rush her back to the security lady and ask where the closest restroom is and if we can come right back to our spot. Luckily, she asked me if I had our boarding passes, which I didn't, they were in Brandon's pocket. We made it to the bathroom and through security and even found a McDonald's for a breakfast burrito!
Time to board...We gate check the stroller, but we still have a small suitcase and two backpacks. As we try to enter the bridge lady says we have to check the suitcase because they are running out of overhead compartment space. Um, no, I have essentials in there - Benadryl, extra diapers, back-up clothes. I decide the plea. "Please, we are traveling with small children, there are things in there that I need on the plane." Her response, "Pull them out and put them in your other carry-on." Is this lady crazy? Can she not see that our backpacks are bulging? So I try again, "Please ma'am I really need this suitcase, could someone else check theirs?" Now I get attitude..."Would you like to be the person to tell them that your stuff is more important than theirs?" Oh my goodness, I almost start crying, but instead I motion for Brandon and Elizabeth to ahead and I would deal with this lovely lady. As I am filling out the tag info, Brandon comes back and says, "Alison, come on, there is room!" I swoop up Grant and dart. The bridge lady follows and continues a conversation with the flight attendant. I keep walking, but all I hear is attendant say, "This is my first day." and the bridge lady replies, "I'm done!!" We easily, EASILY find room for our suitcase.
And so it begins...Everyone takes a little snooze, we are eating, playing games, watching shows. The most you hear from our row is a little shout ever now and then, but no pro-longed crying! We are nervous about a very short layover in California, but our flight gets in 20 minutes early and the gates are right next to each other! It is now feeling like lunch time and Brandon runs to BK and we grab chicken nuggets to eat on the plane. We sit on the tarmac for 45 minutes. There are two other families seated nearby us, one family has a set of twins. Needless to say they were cute, but not so found of confinement. One of them cried/screamed off and on the entire flight. Elizabeth and Grant both took great naps and thanks to Bose, Brandon enjoyed one too. I practiced deep breathing. Elizabeth's ears hurt on the descent. The flight attendant asked if I had a bottle for her. Nope didn't pack a bottle for my 3 1/2 year old! I had her blink three times and make a funny face and waved my hands in a magical way and she felt better! Mommy magic...works every-time!
We land and we call the day of travel a success!! Will we be so lucky twice?
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