Two weeks ago, J and I packed up the boys and made the trek out to Poughkeepsie, NY to see Jeremy's family and friends.
As to be expected, the boys were picture perfect on the planes. I wish I had more than two hands because then I could have taken many snapshots and videos of Ayden enamored by all the airplanes coming and going and the workings of the wings as we took off and landed. He insisted that he had to buckle up before we took off [one could read here 'wow, he really listens well'....I think, 'wow, J's 'captain safety' nickname must have passed from the gene pool'!].
A quick snapshot of the day. Wake at 4am. Finish packing, get dressed and load car. Wake kids up get them dressed and 'milked' and pack anything else we suddenly realize we cannot live without. Leave house at 5:30am. 7:30am flight takes off. 10am land in Denver and discover plane is delayed an hour. Thankfully find some uninhabited real estate where the kids can run and play and roll and throw balls. Delay is blessing in disguise. 1230pm second flight takes off. Ayden passes out before the wheels go up, Gavin eats and falls asleep shortly thereafter. J and I rejoice thinking we have some quiet time to do work or catch some Zzzzzzs. What are typically a couple hour naps are over in less than one. J and I are back on entertainment duty. The hours....minutes...seconds..... drag by........ Finally we feel we are descending - [thank goodness I don't think we had another interactive song in us.] Then, the decent stops and it appears we are maintain the same altitude for some time. After far too much time has passed, the captain announces that we are in a holding pattern until....(oh right...no disclosed amount of time).
So...there we were, so close to the finish-line and instead we were stuck in the dismal gray clouds over Newark, NJ. After about 30min of circling, Ayden asks what is going on. J and I offer that we are stuck in the clouds. J then suggests that Ayden should tell the captain to get us out of the clouds. Ayden proceeds to do the following while still looking out the window into the endless cloud, head resting on the glass....
Placing his hand in a little cup over his mouth Ayden makes a radio white noise sound and proceeds to say, 'Captain! We are stuck in the clouds....we are stuck in the clouds.....Captain, get us out of the clouds right now!". J and I looked at each other in astonishment and then laughed....it was the perfect thing to lighten the mood. And boy does Ayden amaze me.
Eventually we landed in Newark where we were met by an eager and anxious Grandma-C. The boys were excited to see her but less excited to start the next leg of our trip.....the 2 hour car ride. With a pit stop for food and facilities, the boys did a fabulous time driving. We finally arrived at our destination around 7:00pm (Tucson time).
It was one long and tiring day.....and our kids were great. I cannot imagine how parents travel with kids who aren't. We had one family tell us that they were on their first trip with their two kids since the kids were around the age of my kids because on that trip they had screamed the whole time........their kids were now 4 and 6!!! That is a pretty long hiatus from family airplane trips.
Any way, despite sleep deprivation, the trip was great. The boys certainly didn't lack for attention and love and the weather held up very nicely.
You can see below that Ayden found some equipment from PopPop Joe's work. While I had thought that J or Joe had suggested the fashion show, I was corrected that in fact Ayden saw them hanging and wanted to try it on.
Again...does Captain Safety come to mind =)
If there was any question where the red hair gene came from....
While in town, we had a special dinner every night, saw numerous friends and family, and enjoyed the continual doting of Grandma-C, PopPop Joe, Great Grams and Great Grandpa. I think Ayden had a smile plastered to his face from cheek to cheek the whole time, which makes me just over the moon!
The trip back was not necessarily eventful, but much harder since we didn't even leave Newark (after the two hour drive there) until 5pm. Not to mention the fact that J and I came down with the flu (**note that Corinne was definitely right and I was wrong...it was the flu, not something we ate) Saturday night and were still recovering and we received notice from my mom, who was holding down the home front, that Erowyn (our dog) had gone missing. It was a rough trip home with two very tired boys and two lethargic and one nauseous parent. But, alas we made it arriving on our door step around midnight.
We miss you and wish you all either 1) lived closer! or at a minimum 2) lived near a major airport :) But seriously, thank you for having us and for being so gracious.
[Readers - I apologize for the lack of pictures detailing this visit. When I wasn't sick, or running, or being mommy, I was trying to bill some hours =)]
