I Should Be Unpacking

The kids and I just got back from our trip to Pecos last night. I flew by myself with them for the first time and thankfully both flights went off without a hitch. I had a game plan for the flights and it worked seamlessly.

I packed all of Clara's stuff in her small rolling suitcase which she carried on. She also had a backpack with coloring books and a few toys. I had a diaper bag filled to the brim with anything I might possibly need and Robert's stroller and carseat I checked at the gate. That left only one big suitcase with all of Robert's and my stuff to check. Did you know the price went up on your first checked bag? Yep. Now it's $23 if you pay ahead of time. That hurts. $50 just to get my stuff where I'm going and back.

Anyway, I made sure Clara and I had nothing on that we would have to take off to go through security except for shoes. No belts, bows, jewelry, change, nothing. I threw everything up on the belt, pulled the carseat off the stroller, folded up the stroller, pulled Robert out of the carset, flung the carseat up on the belt and we walked right through without even holding up the line. I was quite proud of myself.

We hung out for a while and then I got gate claim tickets for both the stroller and carseat. I put Robert in the sling and then put the carseat in a plastic bag so it wouldn't get dirty or torn, put it back on the stroller, and then put Clara's suitcase in the stroller. We hit the bathroom for a diaper change and potty break. When we went to board the plane, I was able to get the carseat off and the stroller folded up with Robert still in the sling with nary a problem.

He nursed and played but never slept and Clara did pretty well also. She was very interested in the safety brochure and asked all kinds of questions about what was happening in the pictures. When I told her the lifevests are in case the plane crashes in the ocean, she decided that sounded like fun and asked if we could crash in the ocean. She wanted to know what the non-smoking sign was and when I told her, she kept wanting to know why she couldn't smoke. Oy. This went on for a good 30 minutes.

And then she needed to go to the bathroom. Of course. She wanted to touch everything in there and I noticed the "please return to your seat" light was on so I hurried her up. Good thing because we hit some turbulence and it was rough for a few minutes. Clara enjoyed it though and was laughing and saying "Wheeee!" while everyone else was looking at each other with a nervous laugh.

My mom picked us up at the airport and we headed to get some lunch at Cracker Barrel and do a little shopping before driving back to Pecos. Robert finally fell asleep on the way to lunch. It was after 1:00 and that was his first nap of the day. I'd say he did excellent for not having any sleep all morning.