Flying Day!

July 9, 2013

It has been a long lovely vacation.  I'm not sure I'm really ready to leave yet - life is so easy on vacation in ATL! - but I'm looking forward to seeing Art and being all together again, and doing SUMMER in California!  Not sure what that means yet, but, we'll have fun!

All the last minute packing stuff takes a bit as usual - the toiletries, snacks, dinner, etc.  But I was ready to go with plenty of time.  One chink in the plan

Yannick fell asleep in Joy's bed around 11am.

I had no idea what this would mean for the rest of the day.  Our flight is at 3pm, and I was hoping he would fall asleep then.  No who knows.  We won't get home until about 6pm, which is 9pm ATL time, which will be a very long day regardless of when and if they nap.  Still, I was not about to wake him to suit my schedule, and just pray that God is taking care of this situation for us.

Much last minute playing ensued, as did my attempting to clean up after our tornado of toys, beds, etc. We had lunch, said our goodbyes to everyone, and hopped into the minivan where Poppi was driving us to the airport.  Yannick slept all through lunch, and barely woke up in the minivan as we were leaving.  He did wake up about halfway to the airport and I let him eat his 'yunch" then.

Dad pulled over at the drop-off and helped me unload the aforementioned 3 kids, 3 carseats, 4 checked bags, and 4 carry-on bags.  He got us all the way to the front of the curbside checking line, a bit illegally, but I explained the situation to the very friendly (thank you Lord!) curbside security.  Then he went to park.  We had made it all the way to the stroller security line, which we were told after going through that we had better not do again, given I did not actually HAVE a stroller or wheelchair.  Sadly, the special needs security line was probably longer than the regular one, so we should have gone there anyway.  Oh well.  Next time.  Dad said his goodbyes to all of us, and we proceeded without incident or issue through security.  The boys were very nervous about getting one of the new body scan security lines, and we talked endlessly about what to expect if we did, etc.  But we (thank you again, Lord!) got a regular one, and they were not nervous.  I was super careful about not leaving anything, unlike last time I flew alone and nearly forgot my backpack somehow.  The boys enjoyed the train to the terminal, and we had plenty of time to use the bathroom, and watch the planes.

I dressed them all in their comfiest athletic pants, and all in red shirts, so it would be easy to spot them together.  Here they are checking out the luggage carts to the plane.  We were able to see some of OUR luggage, which was incredibly exciting.

Then, finally time for family boarding.  I won't lie, I was a bit nervous with the 3 by myself.  Especially because that meant that ZW were sitting in a seat with a stranger.  3 kids are tough this way - maybe we do need another.  KIDDING!  So we went to the back and found a good place where they were across from me.  They were disappointed because they were not allowed to sit by the window (as was Yannick, until the stranger came and took the window seat and he shrunk up against me!), but nothing to be done.  Maybe next year they can all sit together. :)  The flight was great.  Both flights were great. No real issues.  Even bathroom breaks are no big deal when you are in the back back back of the plane.  There was a nice teenage girl sitting with ZW who helped them a lot - opening snacks, picking up dropped toys etc.  So I was grateful (thank you Lord!) for that.  The second flight was easy as well.  Both big boys took brief naps, but Yannick never fell asleep again.  Odd.  The first flight was very very late, and we were all getting antsy, but we made the connection.  We walked out of our plane and into the next one with no down time.  Worked out fine.  Screen time is the savior for flights.  I would not ever travel again without at least 3 possible screens (ipad, iphone, gameboy).  They all would rotate every 20 minutes, once they were allowed to have it.  They were required to read or play with toys for a  good hour first.  But we easily did it.  We all prayed for the flight together, prayed for good attitudes, and lots of love and reminding of how I need them to help me.

And there was DaU waiting for us.  So Much Excitement!!

Back home, easy dinner, and everyone to bed.  What a day!  A great ending to a wonderful vacation!