Our daycare is closed for both Columbus Day and an inservice day next week. Two days closed in one week was apparently enough to push me over the edge to just pack up the kids and go back to Texas to visit everyone. Then Matt planned a hunting trip to Kodiak for the following week and I decided traveling to Texas was the hard part, so why not just stay for two weeks??
I was more than a little worried about the plane ride alone with both boys. I did a test run in July to Seattle with just Thomas and it went great, but Henry was really the wild card. Getting ticketed and through security was way easier than I thought it would be. The Anchorage airport has a room set aside for people with little kids, so even killing time before take-off was super easy. And to top it all off, Alaskan Airlines lets you board early with kids. We were on the plane, ready to go and I was feeling so confident.
For the most part, it was well deserved confidence. Look at this happy guy! Safely buckled up in his CARES harness because I decided lugging a car seat was more than I could confidently manage with the two of them. He was all smiles and giggles.
For the first hour... I had to wake them up at 4:30 to get to the airport in enough time to catch a 7am flight. That severely cut in to his usual amount of sleep and it started to show. All the fun toys I packed became projectile objects and I really owe everyone in the radius around us a big thank you for patiently handing back books, crayons and his pillow.
He wouldn't play with electronics longer than a few minutes before those were no longer entertaining and I had already stuffed him full of snacks. We were mostly hanging in there until he started pulling at his harness and saying "All done!" complete with hand signals. With an hour left until we really were all done, I decided the only thing left to do was to try and get him to nap.
The only song I could think of to sing to him was Wheels on the Bus, so I leaned over to cuddle him as best I could without unbuckling him and sang him verses over and over until he fell asleep. Crisis mostly averted...? :(
But this guy? No problem! He ate his snacks, played with some new toys and then played games or watched movies on the iPad. Easy peasy!
My grand plan was to wear the two of them out during our layover by running them all over SeaTac. Unfortunately, our plane was late getting in and we had almost no time between trips. I ran them around as much as I could, then we got ready for round 2.
As soon as we stepped on the plane, the flight attendant at the front was gushing about how cute they were. She gave Henry a hug and a high five. He assumed that this was what everyone wanted and proceeded to walk down the aisle high-fiving everyone (adorable!). The rest of the flight attendants were just as awesome - coming by to talk to the boys, bringing them coloring books and even offering to watch them if I need to use the restroom.
Thomas pretty much had the same flight as the first time, though he did get tired at the end. I got him to finally nap by putting on Frozen but having him lean on me - I think he was out before it really got going. Henry required more attention, but he was much happier. I'm sure it was mostly because of the short nap he got, but I'm also giving some credit to the awesome flight crew. They made me less stressed and I swear the kids react to my stress levels.
To top it all off, when we landed the flight attendant came over the intercom like usual to thank the flight crew. They followed this by mentioning how many young children were on board and how well behaved they all were. They said the moms and dads should be commended for doing such a great job and the whole plane followed with applause! I can honestly say that has never happened in all my years of flying. Way to make a super stressed out mom have a great flight - I will forever love Alaskan Airlines and all of their employees! :)