We survived

Of course in the interest of internet security or what not, I decided to not announce to the world that we were going on vacation, or at least the exact dates of that vacation. I'm just announcing we survived our vacation.

The kids had a great time conning their grandparents into candy, cookies, ice cream and Zhu Zhu hamsters. There are now 6 (?) battery powered rodents in my house. Sadly, I don't think our contract with Terminix will eradicate them. Nor has the dog shown any interest in chewing them to bits. Surprising to me as well.

And it's been a good 2 years since we've flown and I can say it went far smoother than our last plane trip, I'd still debate a lengthy visit to the dentist over the all day flight again. And I'm rethinking the snacks packed and think perhaps less candy and gum would have made for less hyper kids (uh.. yeah.. what was I thinking?!)

Going there we took the car seat and stroller.. Thinking that JM might might might sleep considering we started our day at 3 am. What I didn't plan on was that the car seat did not fit down the isle of the plane. I had to hold it over my head, balance it and the backpack and purse and try to corral JM to a row without 2 people in it.

And THEN it took moves that would make hoodini proud to get that thing installed.. but installed I did get it. And Sleep he did. For 10 minutes. For the rest of the time, he tried to get the tray table on his lap so he could color, however, the height of the car seat simply made it a ramp for all his pencils and crayons and I spent the better part of the trip banging my head on the seat in front of me, reclined as far as it could go, trying to retrieve said instruments before they rolled away.

And when the plane landed... I could.not. lift the buckle to release the seat belt. And neither could the couple behind us flying with 3 month old twins get their seats un-installed, either. (oh, did watching them bring back memories....)   (Note to self.. hunt down stewardess and get that seat belt extender thing I've heard about next time)  I did get it lifted finally, somehow, I'm not sure how, but I'm sure the fury I had at it and the adrenaline thinking that I didn't have any options that involved cutting the dang seatbelt since anything sharp was contraband.. and I wasn't about to admit defeat infront of those super grouchy flight attendants. It's the same fury that I attacked a riding lawnmower with many moons ago.  (again.. those old memories strung out on fertility drugs trying to get pregnant with said twins)

But in all, it wasn't THAT bad. JM didn't scream for the entire 7 hours, infact he didn't scream at all. (talk the entire time, rendering my ear drums to a bleeding pulp, yes)  Nor did we sit in a Chicago airport for 3 hours with a plane delay after 2 gate changes that left us sprinting before they delayed the plane and then sat on the runway for an hour.

But I have a new appreciation for assigned seats. (So you know what airline we flew). Back when I was single, I flew this particular airline all the time and it didn't make a huge difference to me. NOW that I'm trying to get 6 seats together.. it's not so easy. And because they charge $10/person/way it'd be $120 extra for them to give us preferred boarding. So we thought "hey, don't they let families that need more time to board early?" [Answer: uh.. not really..  if you have a kid under 5 yes, you can board after 1/3 of the plane is boarded. In theory this gives you the chance to get  seats together. In Practice on our flight from CT to CA via a plane change and potty bread in Vegas, I was threatening strangers with sitting next to my kids (who talk in one volume (which is excited/exclamation) while traveling announcing every cloud, bird, tree, car and house they see as well as what they are looking for and thinking about-  if someone didn't move their seats.] If we skipped the potty break, we probably could have made it to the plane during the time between the 1/3 and 2/3 people, but well.. hindsight is 20/20 and Larry was threatening suicide if he had to try to take 1 more kid to the bathroom on the plane that day. (lest you think he was assigned that role, he only had 2 kids to take. I had the other 2 and also had worn a path to the bathroom not big enough for 1 person much less 1 person and the kid they're trying to help)

So we celebrate our survival and today it's back to the normal attempt to control the chaos that reigns daily here. Until school starts. *sob* not ready for that, yet, so I guess I'll appreciate the chaos a bit more.