After a long day in Dallas and a side trip out to see Matt’s brother and family, we are finally headed home. It feels like we just got here and simultaneously that we have been gone from Alaska forever! All we have to do is get through two more plane trips and we’ll be back home with Dada. Yay
Of course, I was more than a little bit stressed about flying again after the first flight went some poorly. This guy seemed happy enough to be on the plane, but that’s how he suckered me last time. At least we didn’t have to get up at 4 AM this time. Just 6AM…
We’re doomed.
Just like last time, my eldest was pretty much easy peasy! This time he actually let me show him how to play the Lego game and was doing an awesome job at matching his Lego creations to the picture. Also notice he has another paper bracelet. I thought buying him a watch would be a clever way of convincing him that he didn’t need a “bracelet”. You can see how well that worked.
We had a bit of a layover in Seattle, so I decided to try and find the small play area that I had found 2 years ago when we were moving up here. Imagine my surprise when the terminal map sent us here! This is no dinky playground - this is an awesome playground!!
There were things to crawl on, games on the wall, tunnels and slides! It even had stroller parking and a family bathroom. Minus the one giant column, you could see the whole area from the comfy benches on the side. On behalf of parents with little kids, thank you Sea-Tac!
Once it was getting close to boarding time, we headed over to our gate to have lunch and then wait to board. Of course as soon as we got done eating, they came over the PA and announced our flight was going to be delayed due to an aircraft issue. No big deal, I pulled out the bag of Hot Wheels to let the boys play.
Then they announced we needed a new aircraft and it would be at least an hour and a half. Ok… Back to the play space we went! I figured if I ran them around they would just sleep on the way back and it would be a great flight.
Ha!
It worked that way at first - they both crashed pretty well once we were up in the air. But when they woke up they were both super pissed for some reason! It was pretty awful trying to get them to stop crying. I was getting pretty close to the end of my rope by the time they finally calmed down.
Amazingly, several people on the flight went out of their way to tell me what a great job I did and how good the boys were. Wait, what? I guess people give you much more leeway on your kiddos if you are actively trying to keep them happy? All I know is that I am done with traveling solo with the boys for several months…
Thanks to the delay, we ended up getting to Anchorage shortly before Matt’s flight was scheduled to return. We managed to get all of the bags out to the car and then headed back in to the terminal to wait. Thomas was more than happy to wait for Dada because he knew it would mean frozen yogurt! This boy is no fool…
Once we were down to the final few minutes of waiting, I had the boys standing near the exit to greet Matt as he arrived. Apparently 2 weeks together hasn’t made them love each other any less - they started doing impromptu hugs that were adorable.
Although if I am 100% honest, I think Henry *might* have been trying to tackle his brother, but Thomas interpreted it as a hug and I am not one to point that out. ;)
Matt finally arrived! Thomas saw his Dada and ran to give him a big hug! I did manage to convince him to wait long enough for Matt to get past where the alarms would go off. (We’ve learned from previous incidents…
Henry for some reason didn’t bolt at the first sight of Dada, but he wasn’t far behind. Remembering the one time Thomas ran to hug me at the airport, I would imagine a running hug from both boys was a pretty awesome way to get home.
It’s good to be home! :)