Up up and away

You know - it was one of those typical “flying on a plane across the country by yourself with two kids, 4 large suitcases, 2 car seats, a double stroller, 3 dolls, 8 cars, 6 diapers, snacks uncountable, and 1 stuffed otter” kinda days.  No biggie - or so I tried to convince myself upon entering the day.  

It really did go quite smoothly.  My vomit maker only threw up twice all day, and not once on the plane!  We managed our way through check in.  Weaseled and waddles our way through security.  Of course, they wanted to test my four juice boxes and 2 milk containers.  Can we open them to test them?  No.  Can’t carry them open.  Can we pat you down?  Of course!  (A mother will do anything for her child’s juice on a day like this.)  Full fledged pat down with explained swooping motion for most body parts and swooshing motion for the “sensitive” breast and groin areas.  Right, I nod.  Privacy?  Nope.  Go for it.  Done,  we got our milk.  

We headed straight to the back of the plane.  We figured it was less likely someone would sit next to us.  With Kainoa being just short of 2 years old, he was free!  Lap infant, they call it.  I sat him up straight on the seat next to me and nudged him to look older, wiser.  We talked politics and economics.  Didn’t work.  The full plane was full indeed.  Our neighbour was a kind, pleasant one and a half seats kind of passenger.  It left us with, well, one and half seats for the 3 of us.  

I may have brought a couple suckers.  And I may not have given fist fulls of chocolate covered raisins (see photo.)  I perhaps broke a few parenting rules to appear to have it together.  Whatever.  

I did discover that shoving three souls into an airplane washroom is tricky.  Especially when the 3 year old have a long stay on the toilet panics when mother runs out of the washroom down the aisle after her younger child who is desperately trying to find his seat and, more importantly, his juice.  I imagine being 3 and sitting on a hold larger than yourself in an airplane would be unsettling.  

We did land.  We did make it.  We did whine and cry and not sleep at all.  

But we are home now, in our own beds, and thankful to be on the ground!