What Could Be More Fun?

What could be more fun than a barrel full of monkeys? Nothing? Oh, think again! You, my friend, must have never spent 6 hours in an airport with active, sleep deprived children who haven't been home for 10 days.

We left yesterday, mid-morning, on our 3 hour drive back to the bay area after spending a few fun-filled days with my parents. We left early so we could spend a few hours with our good friends Scott and Chris, and their children Emily and Josh. Emily was sick during our stay with Brian's parents, so we weren't able to see them during the first part of our California visit. The kids don't sleep well in the car anymore, so we felt lucky that Caitlin napped for an hour or so, and that Brandon nodded off for around half an hour. We visited with the S's, and the kids ran around and played. Unnecessarily we rushed through dinner so we could get to the airport on time (thanks for taking us there, Donna!). We were told at the check-in counter that the plane was delayed 3 hours from Puerto Vallarta because the flight crew didn't get there on time. Excuse me? The flight crew was 3 hours late? And this is acceptable? How on earth can you be 3 hours late to your plane? I've never been 3 hours late to my job. Ever.

So, our plane was now scheduled to leave at 10:45 pm instead of 8:05 pm. Fun fun fun. It was already not going to be fun with the kids at the original departure time. On top of it all, we were stuck at a small airport that decided sometime between August and December to rip out the kids play area in favor of security lines. Personally, and bitterness aside, I liked it better the original way. We were given food vouchers, but we'd already eaten. Too bad, since that would have killed half an hour. Instead, we were stuck in a small area with two kids who'd rather run than sit. We camped out in the corner and Brian and I took turns walking around the terminal. I was usually muttering something like "stop it," or "stop crying," or "Mommy is very angry with you right now" while walking around. Sensing a theme? Caitlin originally liked playing under the seats, then decided that running away from us into crowds of strangers was much more fun.

Brandon was pretty good, but then again, he's the mellow one. I managed to find an area near some far away gates, but usually away from the crowds, where all the extra seats from the gates are stored. Probably something to do with the remodel. Caitlin and I would have races there. The trouble with Caitlin is that she's never satisfied. With Brandon you can run around for half and hour, and he's good to sit for half an hour and do something quiet. Not Caitlin. We'd run for a little while, and she was good for about, oh, 2 minutes afterwards.

2 kids in an umbrella stroller....

Brandon having one of several "time outs" in the airport

I had brought the kids PJ's, and changed them about 10:00 pm. The women's bathroom has a large bench in it, so I sat there to change Caitlin's clothes instead of taking up a stall. As I pulled off her onsie, she yelled "NAKED!" at the top of her lungs, and jumped from my lap (still wearing her diaper, thankfully!). She ran over to a mirrored wall and proceeded to dance in front of it for 5 minutes. Those were the best 5 minutes of my evening. It was as if house music was playing, she was dancing so ferociously! Several people commented on how cute she was, and a woman who had been doing her hair in the mirror near the bench said "Nothing better than a woman with confidence." I'm just glad my confident, nearly naked child didn't run out of the bathroom!

Around 10:45, when there was still no plane, I was hoping that someone would say the flight was cancelled and take us to a hotel. My kids were tired, but still running at a pace that made everyone tired just looking at them. I was about to drop But no, no hotel. We boarded the plane sometime around 11:10, and took off by 11:30. Thankfully, once the plane landed, the gate personnel and crew were all business (but with a sense of humor). It was by far the quickest boarding and take-off that I've ever gone through. And that plane wasn't packed, which made it easier. Caitlin was not. I managed to move over to another row, but she was up and down, on the seat and off the seat, wanting my lap, wanting daddy's lap. It finally came down to her just laying across me, sobbing, and then crashing to sleep. I glanced through the seats at one point and saw another child about the same age doing the same thing. Brandon was pretty good. He didn't sleep, but had big bags under his eyes while he watched 2 hours of Boomerang on the free Directv. I was so tired that I watched an entire hour of "Access Hollywood". If you've never seen it, don't bother. There's a reason that this stuff is shown at 2:00 am.

We landed at 2:50, and got our luggage rather quickly (well, after riding a tram through DIA, and traipsing through vast amounts of empty terminals). Brian called the shuttle service, which took us to our off-airport lot and dropped us off directly at our car. I'd gotten past the "I'm so tired I'm nauseas" phase, and had gone directly to the "I'm ready to pass out" phase. The shuttle driver put our luggage into the back of the car, wouldn't accept a tip, scampered quicky back to the warm shuttle and drove off. Guess he didn't want to help with the next step! After spending 10 minutes digging our car out of the 6 inches of snow in the 15 degree weather, and chipping the ice off the windshield, we (shivering) got into the car to warm up. The kids were complaining about being cold, even though they were in double layers and we had the heater on! They asked for water, but the water bottles in the car were frozen solid. Next time I'm leaving my boots and better gloves in the car. We drove slowly home on the icy roads. DIA is in the middle of nowhere, too. Next to nothing an no one. The trip home, which is half an hour without traffic, was close to an hour. Luckily the kids nodded off as soon as we started driving. We were able to make it up our snow covered driveway, thanks to 4-Wheel Drive, and carry the kids to their rooms. Brandon kept doing an odd, shuddering thing when I tried to put him to bed. At first I thought he was doing it because he had partially woken up when I took him out of his car seat, but he wouldn't stop. When I'd start to pull away to leave his bedroom, he'd start up again.I laid near him for a while until he stopped.

Brian and I finally dropped into bed at 5:00 am. A mere 21 hours after we woke up. Our luggage still in the car. Our kids still in their zip-front, hooded sweatshirts! It's been an interesting day. I bet we'll sleep good tonight!