Home Sweet Home!

You might have wondered why you haven't seen any blog entries for a while. We've been on vacation for 3 weeks! It was great, just what we needed! In the next week or so, I will be blogging about it. In the meantime, this is the adventure of today.

We got up nice and early (as planned) to pack the last bit of our stuff (or should I say that Bob the master packer worked at cramming more clothes and stuff into already full suitcases in an attempt to carry everything on the plane and avoid checked baggage fees?). We left the hotel on-time, which is amazing for us. We got to the airport at a decent time, although certainly not with "plenty of time to spare". Does this surprise you? (All I could think of was my business travel with Alice and how she would keep me in the realm of time to spare. 8) ) Then, the adventure began. The signage was horrible. "All terminals this way" really meant "you could get to all terminals this way but you'll have to walk a mile in and out of buildings". We didn't discover this until, after asking an airport employee who directed us to keep going the direction we were headed, we came to the END of the terminal and no AirTran. Come to find out, we needed a different terminal, and the shuttle to get to it was across the airport thoroughfare. So, "you can't get there from here". This meant trucking all the way back the length of the terminal, down the elevator and out the door to the shuttle stop. We waited a LONG 5-10 minutes for the shuttle to arrive (by this time, we were 1/2 hour from departure and had not checked in nor gone through security) and unloaded everybody and everything to get our 3 children, 4 suitcases, 3 car seats, 3 backpacks, double stroller, an x-ray and 2 misc. bags onto the shuttle. When we arrived at the correct terminal, we found out that we could have just taken a shuttle from the car rental drop-off directly to the terminal. AGGGH!! The kids were WAY worn out as they were shlepping stuff too, I was sweating and breathless between walk/running and trying to motivate the kids to not dawdle, and we were once again hustling the length of the entire terminal to get to our carrier. (At this point, Bob was also double-loaded as Lyndsey couldn't handle anymore.)

I wanted to get so frustrated, but God showed me the teachable moment. I was able to talk with the kids about my having a choice about the kind of attitude I'd have about all this. I could be frustrated and angry because it was a lot harder than it needed to be and we were in danger of missing the plane, or I could give it to God and just try to maintain a good attitude. (Anderson, especially, has been struggling with getting upset about things/deciding they're "boring" or not good enough, etc., when the situation looks more like he's choosing to look at the negative over the positive. I wouldn't say that he's pessimistic in general, but we've been seeing a lot more pessimistic tendencies lately. Hopefully, it's just a phase as life is much easier/more enjoyable when the glass is half full rather than half empty.) So, God used Anderson's struggles to help keep my attitude and perspective in check.

When we got to the terminal, the airline employee said she didn't know if she'd be able to log us in. The computer let her, and we were instructed to run. Ha, ha. Through airport security with 3 kids, 4 suitcases, ... you get the point. Everybody's shoes had to come off, and I had to be hand-wanded due to my metal hip. It was insane, but we got through and RAN to the gate. When we arrived, the airline employee was NOT happy to see us with all our stuff. The others were very nice, and we got everything tagged for under the plane (car seats and stroller), suitcases and children onto the plane, and everybody seated with NO time to spare. (Our seats weren't together, so Bob and I really had to divide and conquer. I felt like an exhausted, crazy lady, and Ethan was complaining because of how I had to carry him. Poor kid.) Fortunately, the woman that Anderson, Ethan, and I shared a row with was very understanding and encouraging. She and I had a great conversation during the 2 hour flight where I didn't have any of the entertainment/food that I had packed for the kids since our bags had been put in any bin where there was space. We managed though. That was the first leg.

At the end of the first leg, Lyndsey and Ethan fell asleep. Bob had to wake Lyndsey up, and she was NOT a happy camper. She wouldn't follow him off the plane because she wanted to be carried, so I had to go back to herd her out. That was just the beginning. I won't go into details, but the bottom line is that Bob and I were beside ourselves trying to get everybody and everything onto the second plane. Anderson was extremely cooperative, and we were SO thankful. He responded well to pretending that we were race cars in a race. I was the commentator in the rear calling out the progress of race car Anderson, and yes, he did make it to the lead. I honestly wondered if we were going to make it getting everything to the gate and onto the plane. God got us there though. The next thing was for Him to show us how to parent Lyndsey as she was in hysterics by this point. Once I got the snacks out, I realized that part of the problem might have been hunger. It was past lunch time, and the kids just kept eating and eating. This doesn't provide an excuse, but I did learn that when you need cooperation in a very timely manner, make sure their bellies are reasonably full. It sets you up for success rather than providing another thing they have to overcome. Lesson learned. Fortunately, everybody's mood/attitude improved. Thank You, God, for helping us make it to Boston...whew.

Grammie C. met us at the airport. We were all very happy to see her, especially the kids. No problem cooperating now! 8) It was cute to see Anderson and Lyndsey excited to tell her stories about what had happened since we saw her 1.5 weeks ago. Of course, one of the first things they exclaimed was, "We almost missed the plane!" Yep, ratted out every time. 8)
We actually reached home around 5 and at right away. Bob did a lot of unpacking, and I worked on groceries and childcare. I'm pleased with what we've accomplished tonight, although there is still LOTS to do over the next few days.