A delicate balancing act: Part 2

So at home I thought carefully about trying to get myself and 2 kids, our luggage and 2 car seats through the airport, away from baggage claim, and onto a shuttle to the car rental location. Knowing that I'd arrive at 6 am Boston time, even with folks usually being ever so helpful to a mom traveling with kids, I decided it best to be self sufficient and able to haul everything w/o help if needed. This turned out to be a very good choice as by the time all of our luggage arrived (car seats a distant last), everyone had already gone, and all that was left were the other families traveling with kids (who were all gone by the time I attached the car seats).

It might have been a pain to haul the 3 wheeled stroller through the airport, but with the help of a couple of bungee cords, both car seats are suspended off the sides (look past deserted baggage claim area and the slightly haggard tired looking children and note that the car seats are not touching the ground).

It worked like a charm and I managed to haul through the terminal to the rental car shuttle while the kids rode.

Everything else went pretty smoothly. No traffic leaving the city, found a Starbucks right off. MMMM, Starbucks... Life is good.

3 hours of shitty plane sleep

So other than waiting just a little too long and missing the cheap ticket window by just enough to have to choose between double priced tickets or an overnight leg, I chose the overnight and even convinced myself that it would be a good idea as that way I'd not have to entertain two children for 6 hours straight while trying to confine then to their seats (by myself). What I did not think through is how it would be to try and actually sleep with two children on top of me, each adjusting and twitching and half waking up when they couldn't spin freely, or being startled in by an alien noise, of attempting to sleep sitting up and jerking awake every time my head sagged.

The photo is courtesy of the flight attendant and taken at 11:30 or so (the flight took off at 9 and the children finally collapsed at 11pm). This arrangement of two apples on top "worked" (if you want to call it that) for about 45 minutes before I gave it up. My bountiful pillow and blankets supply went to make a little bed for Kiwi on the floor, and I put Kieran mostly on top of me, where we twitched and shifted for the next 2 hours. Flight was 9pm-3am (WHAT WAS I THINKING). Kiwi woke up at 2am, and didn't go down again until the car ride home. Kieran snoozed until we landed, and both kids walked of the plane with 3+ hours of sleep (can't believe I was jealous of 3 hours of sleep).

Now off to get our luggage and the car.

No mommy, that would be pee littering ...

OK. So maybe not my best moment, but I was trying to explain to Kieran that if he needed to use the bathroom on the drive to Vermont, he would need to give me a little warning as we were not in the city, and there was not a bathroom to be found every 5 blocks, so he could not tell me that he needed it "right now". Then I tried to differentiate and say that if he just needed to pee, then we could pull off on the side of the highway and open the door to the minivan and he could pee out the side.

He said, "No mommy, that would be pee littering."

I laughed so hard I almost ... pee littered.

A delicate balancing act: Part 1

Airport drop complete.

Have to stand in line for check in even though I've printed online boarding passes as Jet Blue requires that you do standard check in you have luggage and/or lap child (both).

Emergency bathroom run with Kieran while trying to do said check-in while we are at the counter. At least we get to come back to the front of the line when we get back.

Just us (Kieran, Akira, and I), my 2 nap sacks of food, snacks, and entertainment, my bag stuffed with 3 (yes three) full size pillows and several previously filched and much used airplane blankets, and our HUGE double stroller.

Through security with 2 large bottles of water, a litter of drinking kefir, tubes of creme and such exceeding 2 oz (I'm going to miss having young kids and being able to pull all of this off with a smile and a "its for the kids"), and down to waiting... and another emergency bathroom run (thanks to the god(s) above that these are happening off plane rather than on).

Now entertaining at gate A2.

How do spit balls rate on the Homeland Security Advisory System?

In Eager Anticipation

So after a weeks of prep, converting books on tapes and movies to MP3s and MP4s and 3g2s and mixing and matching media so that I had every contingency and two separate media devices packed full of choices, after making lists, trying to pack with care, sorting through all of the power cables I'd need to support all this rapcay (pig-Latin), putting together packs of games, little books, markers, balloons, stuff stuff stuff - we were ready to go.

Kieran, in great anticipation as he was waiting to get ready for the flight, fell fast asleep as shown. I of course took a photo before waking him up. Would not do to have him nap before trying to take an overnight flight (something I don't think I'll do again, but more on that later).

Skipping Ahead

Ok, so I've skipped ahead and not posted the rest of our vacation (quick notes: San Diego Zoo - FAB, Lego Land - mixed feelings, beach beach beach - need I say more), nor anything on my last trip (Kiwi and I back east for my nephew's Bat Mitzvah). Perhaps someday I'll get there. Perhaps not... I'll let you know.

Your child found what?

So frankly, when the casual mention of a condom wrapper found under the bed skirt of our Marriott room as I checked us out got us %25 off our Disneyland hotel, I pretty much thought that was our "good luck" for the trip. Boy was I wrong.

I'd found the Park Manor Inn in San Diego when looking for efficiencies (with kitchen), and while it got good reviews, looked generally nice on screen, I was not expecting to walk the "historical site" to be quite so lovely.

On check-in, I discovered that our king bed suite with a murphy bed was instead a queen bed with a pull-out couch, and that the hotel was just about booked solid for the night. The manager noted that one of the few available rooms happened to be the room next door (a studio rather than a suite) and it had a king in it. All well and good, but it did not have a couch or pull-out bed, so no place for Kieran to sleep (the kids performs acrobatics all night long and there is no way any of us would get sleep with all 4 of us in the same bed. The managers solution to this problem (so that we would not be inconvenienced by having to swap rooms during our four day stay here)? Why don't we just keep both suite and studio for our stay since they are adjoining (yippy skippy !!!). So we are hoteling it with 2 full bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, 2 kitchens, and and two tvs (and 800+ square feet). Talk about being spoiled. Did I mention that our rooms overlook Balboa Park, that we have 1 of 6 balconies out of eighty some rooms (of course we are not using it much as Akira can fit right through the bars - yikes). We can see the planes coming in to land at the airport looking huger than huge. All the rooms are old school (Chip & Dale furniture, beautiful gilded mirrors, incredible carved tables, upholstered chairs). Don't look too closely of course, as the guilt mirror might be artfully attached to the wall with 3 inch drywall screws, and the upholstered chair caves under ones butt (the springs are as old as the hotel). Named a San Diego Historical landmark by the city in the year hrmph-hmmm-numnina, the charm is there - as long as you don't look to closely.

Its gorgeous. Lovely. Spacious. Not sure if I'll ever want to stay in a regular hotel again.