Arrival

Shoes, check. Swimsuits, check. Toothbrushes, check. ID, check. Packing for this trip was an extremely difficult task. On top of all the every day basics that need to be packed for a weeks vacation for a Mamma and two little girls, I had a lot of other, VERY important items to remember. Items needed to be remembered because if forgotten, we'd be out luck. Epi Pen, check. ER Letter, check, Dr. M's food letter, check, Neocate - oh no! Where am I going to find the room to stash four cans of Neocate in our already full suitcase?! Benedryl, Motrin, AHH! A bottle! We can't forget the bottle! Cortizone Cream, Desitin, Prescription Antibiotic Cream, I think we could have used a suitcase for Kara supplies only!

Note to self: Just because you buy three seats and are allowed three carry on's, a diaper bag, and a purse, doesn't necessarily mean that it's a good idea to pack with what you are allowed to bring on the plane! Especially when you already have a baby in a carrier on your back and a 3 year old in the umbrella stroller! We must have been quite a sight at the airport!

The three of us travelled to AZ with one of my good friends and her daughter for a week in the desert, visiting my Grandparents, a little bit of sight-seeing, and soaking up the sun. We had quite the load but the trip there was quite an experience.

I'll start with picking Shannon up at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. Kara was really confused as to what was going on, getting up early, rushing to get ready and getting shoved in the borrowed van with a blankie and bottle, in the dark. We picked Shannon and her daughter up and when we opened the door to load her stuff in, Kara had a fit. She cried and cried, so out of sorts, wondering what the heck was going on. Soon she was crying for Daddy and it took quite a bit of convincing that she was  fine. Luckily, this was the only meltdown we had on the way there. Kara tends to get quite out of sorts if we're away from home for too long, even if it's just for the day.

Upon getting to the airport, we unloaded and had the three girls between Shannon and I in the lines as we checked our baggage and checked in. We got to the security checkpoint and started unloading, in the same fashion, keeping the kids in between us so they couldn't escape! We got all of our things through but since I had some liquids for Kara, we had to go through a little more extensive check than just sending our bags through the x-ray. No problem, I was prepared for that from travelling last year. What I wasn't prepared for, however, is having something in my bag flag me, to the point of having to get a pat down. I understand that they are doing their jobs, but we had no clue what triggered this, and I was told ahead of time that the foods that I had brought with for my severe food allergy baby was going to be just fine. Nothing like holding up the line with pure chaos as Mommy has to go through all of that. Ugh. I survived it with a laugh and we started loading everything back up. Threw all the bags in the stroller, got Kara strapped in and onto my back, let Brenna run, only to find that our gate was RIGHT.AROUND.THE.CORNER. So much for getting everything all organized again!

We sat down and fed the kids the lunch that we brought and talked about our flight plan. We had three seats on one side, and the two on the other so we were all next to each other. It was decided that Shannon would take Brenna so the bigger girls could play, and I'd try and keep Kara content in our seats. Although Kara is under two, I did purchase a seat for her because I never thought she'd sit for a minute on my lap, that she'd want to be a big girl in her own chair. Man, was I ever wrong. On the flight to AZ, she wasn't in her seat for more than 5 minutes, total. She napped about 20 minutes and the rest of the trip I fought her, climbing around all over me, going between Shannon and I, hollering PEEEEEE every time she peed until I could finally take her to the bathroom to change her, it was a battle. Once we arrived, we sat tight until the plane was mostly cleared so we could get our chaos off.

What an adventure. No one said travelling with young children was fun and my attitude for Saturday was that we just had to "fly" through the day and get there. Once there, we could sit down and relax, planning our week out.