Airplanes and Highways

Brian took the whole day off work on Monday even though we had a 6pm flight.  It made for a great morning.  We had a bit to do to be prepared for our trip, but it all went smoothly. We bought Maddie a roller backpack (pink with princesses of course).  Ben had his purple one.  I made them dump everything they had packed (tons of toys they don't even like) and bring me the backpacks.  Then I sent them on a treasure hunt.  Bring me one swim suit!  Bring me three pairs of underwear!  Now I need four shirts for playing in!  Etc. When all the required things were in, they got to finish filling their bags with toys, books, crayons and paper.  It was the perfect mix.

 

We flew out of Baltimore, so we knew we had to leave plenty early.  Departure time from the house was 1:30 pm for a 6:00 pm flight.  Glad we did.  Traffic was almost stopped on the beltway.  Then we hit a rainstorm.  Not a little drizzle.  It was like buckets and buckets of water.  Water raining down on...our luggage in the truck bed.  It got soaked.  When we got to Brett's place that night my pajama shirt was so wet I could have squoze water out of it.  I slept in my clothes that night and started my entire suitcase of clothes in the dryer at 5:30 in the morning. Jakey and Brian's suitcase contents joined mine.  Lucky for Ben and Maddie we had put their things beneath their feet in the cab of the truck.

 

The kids did okay on the flight out to Salt Lake. Especially if you know Jakey.  When put in proper frame of reference, it was a fantastic flight for him.  The last plane trip we took to LA for Jasons wedding I banned him from a plane until he was 25 years old and was in tears by the end of the flight.  Mostly due to the idiots on the flight that were so incredibly rude, kept glaring at me and asking me, "Can't you make that kid shut up?"  I wanted to scream at them, "Does this LOOK fun??  Are you STUPID??  If I could make him shut up, don't you think I might have done that an hour ago?!?!?!"  Idiots.  So, compared to the last trip this one was amazing. 

 

They were pretty much happy the entire trip.  The last hour of our four hour direct flight Jakey got a bit restless and Brian had to walk the aisles or stand with him.  Maddie made great friends with the guy sitting next to Brian.  Eventually he switched her seats so she was solo with him and they talked and talked and talked.  He was a big burly man twenty times her size.  She drew him pictures for him to take home.  He took her picture with his camera to show his kids and tell them all about the precocious little girl he ran into on the plane.  He got such a kick out of all the wild things she would tell him.  Ben read a few books and colored a bit.  Our big achievement was that we didn't get the DVD player out for the kids at all until Jakey needed distraction for the last few minutes before we prepared for landing.

 

Brett and Missy picked us up at the airport right on time with the carseats we left with Grandma and Grandpa two years ago.  Just a short drive out to their place and the kiddos were free to run like wild people and get the wiggles out despite that it was nearing midnight on their body clocks.  They had a little mac 'n' cheese and it was off to bed.  I couldn't get Jakey settled laying with me since we didn't have a crib for him.  Finally I hollared out to Brian asking for help.  I really, really had to pee so he stepped in to monitor the situation for two minutes.  I grabbed a toothbrush, ran to the bathroom and was back in about three minutes.  Brian was sitting in the living room, shirking his duties.  Except that in the time it takes me to pee, he got all three kids to sleep.  Miracle worker I tell you.  When I asked how he did it, he said, "I just told them to lay down and go to sleep."  Huh.  It doesn't work for me like that.

 

On Tuesday morning, Ben started vomiting at Brett & Missy's house.  We had to pull over on our drive to empty his throw up cup.  Then he had a bunch more at Grandma's house.  His comment on the situation was, "I did all that boringness yesterday for THIS as a reward?!?!"  More than being upset that he felt so crummy, he was mad that after enduring the boring airplane his "reward" was no fun at all. There is a big parenting clue here though - he is old enough to wait and realize a future reward.  Great news.  I think the allowance lessons are kicking in as he grows up.