getting home

I absolutely HATE traveling by myself with the kids. It's never fun. But, our flight to Washington went really smoothly, so I had high hopes for Wednesdays travels. At least I started out with a positive attitude, b/c it didn't last long. The actual flight was ok, but getting on that flight...that's another story!

I set my alarm for 7 am so that I could get showered/ready, get the kids up and fed, finish the last minute packing, load up the car, and be on our way around 9:15. But, only the vibrate on my phone went off (at least, I think that's what happened?!) and at 8:20 as my dad was going downstairs he came in and said, "did you want to be up by now?". PANIC! And of course Mia was totally uncooperative and wouldn't get dressed by herself, and told my mom she wanted waffles for breakfast (which my mom made! I was thinking breakfast bar in the car...but whatever, it all worked out). Amazingly we were on the road by 9:30 and traffic thankfully wasn't a problem, so we made it to the airport a little before 10:30 (for an 11:25 flight...perfect, right?!)

Would've been, if Mia hadn't thrown up in the car 10 minutes from the airport!!! So while my mom got Gavin in the stroller and our bags out, I quickly tried to clean up Mia (who amazing got almost all of it in a garbage bag I had given her, so it wasn't the worst mess we've dealt with!), the car seat and change her clothes. And thankfully that was the end of her upset stomach (maybe those waffles weren't such a good idea after all!)

Still at this point I thought we were doing ok for time, but then everyone in the airport seemed to be in slooooow mode. There we only 2 people in front of us checking their bags and we waited WAY too long for such a short line. Then I had to pee really bad so I decided to take advantage of my mom still being with us and I take Mia to the bathroom with me so I don't have to deal with it on the plane. I thought I was being smart - HA! First, the bathroom was NO where close, and second, taking a 3 year old to the bathroom takes FOREVER. Especially when that 3 year old has OCD and won't let you help her with anything!

Next stop - security. Again, not a really bad line - at least to get to the guy that stamps your ticket. It helped that they had a "family" lane and I just walked up to the guy. But then we waited (not sure what for...but remember the slooooooow mode?!). So we finally get through and ALL the belts have long lines that aren't moving. The nice guys in front of me brought some bins over to me and I was able to get all our shoes off and all our our things (including the car seat and stroller) ready AND WE STILL WAITED!!! Usually by the time I get everything up there the line behind me is huge, etc...it was huge this time, but not because of me! While we're just waiting I check my watch and it's 11:00. What?! How is it already 11:00!!! That technically meant they would start boarding in 5 mins and even though it wasn't a full flight, I didn't want to try to get me, 2 kids, 2 bags and a carseat on as everyone is ready to take off! Major panic mode at this point. Seriously, TSA at SeaTac is RIDICULOUS!!!!

So we finally get through and I whipped that stroller upright like you wouldn't believe, got Gavin strapped in, threatened Mia with her life that she HAD to stay sitting on the stroller and could NOT walk, threw on my shoes, threw the kids shoes in my purse, threw on the pack back, rested the carseat on the stroller and we TOOK OFF! I've only ran in an airport 1 other time in my entire life - when we were trying to get home from Hawaii - and let me say it's a whole lot easier with NO kids and only a carry-on. And of course, Southwest gates are ALWAYS at the end of the terminal; it doesn't matter what airport, you can guarentee if you are flying SW you will have to take a hike to get to your gate! I was sweating by the time I got to the gate and (embarressed to admit this) was out of breath! I expected to find a somewhat empty waiting area, or at least a large line formed, but instead I saw a LOT of people waiting around. I asked a lady if she was waiting for the SLC flight and she said yes. My only reply was a sacarstic, "good thing I ran!" Although not posted anywhere, the flight was apparently delayed. We left about 25 mins. late! So annoying that I was totally stressed and in panic mode for nothing! But that's the thing about airports and flights - you just never know, so it's better to be safe that sorry.

The flight was fine. I did manage to leave my purse behind as I was folding up my stroller to be gate-checked. Oops! Good thing I realized it as soon as we got to our seats and a flight attendant got it for me! I was hoping that since the flight was exactly during nap time for Gavin he would sleep the entire time, but no. He only closed his eyes once, just as we were landing! But that meant he and Mia both took naps as soon as we got home, which was good. Gavin didn't cry at all during the flight, but he's just loud and always babbling away. And he wasn't entertained by anything, so he did start getting cranky about mid-way. Thankfully I had LOTS of snacks with me, because eating was the only thing that kept him happy. So he ate, and ate, and ate!

So there it is; we survived another day of traveling. It was really nice to be able to get really great fares and to spend the extra time with my parents, but the traveling by myself with the 2 little ones really makes me wonder if it's worth it! J/K mom and dad...it was TOTALLY worth it :)