Home Again

The boys and I flew back from Nashville on Wednesday. It was a day of flying that made me want to swear off flying forever, but I know I'll forget and travel again in 3 or 4 months.

We arrived at the airport at a quarter to 7 a.m. for our 7:40 flight, but the check-in line was long, and I was stressed out and sweating after getting the kids' carseats out of the car. After getting our luggage checked, and getting the boys and our stuff into line for security, I knew we would be late. We made it through the check-in line, which is always fun when you have two boys, one stroller, a carseat strapped to your back and the bare minimum for surviving a 3 hour flight with two boys in carry-on bags: a portable DVD player and DVDs, and a bag containing a change of clothes for said boys, wipes, and diapers. Of course I had to get the boys to take off their sandals, because you know how the under-5 set likes to smuggle things on planes. That, or their obviously psychotic mother who is clearly stressed out and sweating about something arouses suspicion - must be because of what she's planning to do on the plane, not because it's already 90 something degrees at 7:15 in the morning and she's loaded up like a pack mule.

After clearing security, we ran to our gate, or the closest thing possible to running when one is pushing a stroller with a carseat strapped to one's back and dragging a 5-year-old. I was the last person on the plane, and since this was Southwest, which doesn't assign seats, the flight attendants had to beg people to relinquish their seats so I could sit with the boys. They didn't have to pull the "you could end up sitting next to a stranger's screaming kids" card which I have heard on more than one Southwest flight. Three people were kind enough to switch with me out of the goodness of their hearts. I had offered to have Harrison sit in my lap, but since he's 2, that's not an option anymore. I thanked the people who agreed to swap seats, and got us settled for the 3 hour flight to Las Vegas.

That flight was thankfully trouble-free, though I was still feeling residual stress for most of it. The boys were content to watch their movies and eat their snacks. When we arrived in Vegas (no, what happens at the Las Vegas airport DOES NOT stay in Vegas), I looked around for a few minutes before I figured out we had to take a shuttle bus to our next gate. Always fun with the boys, stroller, carseat, carry-ons. But, we arrived at our gate with lots of time to spare, and were able to pre-board. Yay!

And pre-board we did. Harrison soon feel asleep in his carseat, and I was looking forward to smooth-sailing on the 2 hour flight home to Seattle. That is, until the plane hadn't taken off at its scheduled departure time. No problem, maintenance was working on a radio. They'd keep us updated. An hour later, they gave up and got us all off the plane. Strangely enough, Harrison did not continue napping after I picked him up out of his carseat, placed him on another seat so I could get his carseat, and attempted to schlepp everything up the aisle. Some nearby passengers kindly carried some of my stuff for me, thankfully. After another long wait inside for a new plane, having to explain to Hutton that we couldn't play those neat video games just inches away, we re-boarded. I kept the boys distracted with the 4 packs of peanuts I found in our seat pockets, but was annoyed knowing that there was no chance Harrison would take another nap so soon after being woken up from his first one.

And when the DVD player's batteries died mid-flight, I just chalked it up to my horrible day of flying and tried to keep the boys entertained with the inflight magazine and safety cards. Yeah, that's exactly what they wanted to do! Kicking self for forgetting to pack any kiddie books or snacks for the flight. The 100 calorie snack packs of plane-shaped crackers were curiously not very satisfying when one ate breakfast hours before, had a snack of raisins on the earlier flight (I gave the boys my crackers and 100-calorie pack of "Oreo Crisps" or whatever the heck they were), and didn't have time for lunch between flights. When we finally arrived in Seattle at 3 pm, I was almost kissing the ground, but didn't as I probably would have tried to eat it.

And just think, come November I'll probably be doing this all again for Thanksgiving!
How much are private jets running these days?