3 on a plane

We made it. We are now in North Carolina! The flight(s) were a little long but Naomi and James were great flyers.... it was getting all three of us through security that was difficult. Picture this: James in car seat, in stroller, Naomi in back of stroller, it's a sit 'n stand:), two carry-on bags hanging from stroller handle and Naomi's car seat face down over the top of James' car seat shade/handle/stroller shade. Enter security line. Take my shoes off, Naomi's shoes off, my jacket off, Naomi's jacket off, put in bin. Take 1 quart size bag with containers of liquid or gels out of bag, remove DVD player from bag, put in bin. Take Naomi's car seat off and place on conveyor belt. Take Naomi out of stroller, hold her hand and/or pull her back to my side as she takes off towards something more interesting than mom. Take James' car seat out of stroller, fold stroller and send through conveyor belt, take James out of car seat, hold him while sending his car seat through on conveyor belt. We still haven't walked through the metal detector. The pile up is getting big on the other end; two bins, one stroller, two car seats. I walk through with no beeping. good. Now we reassemble. James into his seat first, stroller unfolded, Naomi in and STRAPPED in. shoes on, jackets on or stowed, bags hung and car seats back on stroller. Now to gate D13.

Seriously, flying with two kids on your own is not something I really recommend. It was OK, but it's juggling act. I really, really felt like a traveling circus!

Unfortunately that's not the end of it either. I choose to bring Naomi's car seat on the airplane, I feel like she's safer in it than just the seat belt, which she so suavely learned to unbuckle from watching me. oops. And I gate check the stroller and second car seat. Sometimes the flight isn't full and I can bring James' car seat on too- that's sweet. Anyway, I was getting to the boarding the airplane part. we disassemble at the gate again and then I need to get the two bags, car seat, baby and toddler onto the plane..... I still haven't managed to do it in one trip. I asked the flight attendant to help me by bringing the car seat after me. She must not have been the nice one, she blinked at me like I was asking her to let me fly the plane. But she did bring it for me, but then informed me that the car seat MUST be by the window. Apparently it will block me from making a timely exit from the plane in case of an emergency. Sigh. The guy next to me was very nice and talkative. I still feel kind of bad for him though:)

The leg from Cincinnati was much shorter and much easier. The flight attendant brought me a bottled water, straw and cookies for Naomi before we even took off. She was awesome. I'm going to send her a Christmas card.

I know I could do the whole airport/airplane thing different but in the end you still have to get from point A to point B and having a stroller for the kids and bags is easier than using a baby carrier and having Naomi walk. I would still have to take James out of the carrier to walk through the metal detector. And who knows of a two-year old that likes to hold hands? Yeah, I have a little monkey-backpack-harness I could use but then I really feel like I have a little pet dog with me, or maybe a monkey..... Maybe I'll try that next time. But I wouldn't get to gate check either car seat, or have them on the plane with me. I could check them with baggage but I only get one free "baby item" for the lap baby and we all know of the wonderful new 1 BAG policy. I think I will just stick to my miniature choo-choo train get-up for now.

In the end we made it and Zach picked us up and deposited us at our summer apartment here in Charlotte before zipping off to some social that he "really didn't want to go to." Right.

One of the best things about this summer is that Zach will be home by at least 7 every night and then that's it for work for the day. He, along with the other summer associates, does not have access to their work stuff at home. It's in-office only for them. :)

I took the kids over to the pool today even though it's only about 72 or so, Naomi LOVED it. She would only get in to about her waist. I can't blame her though, the water was very cold. James loved it too, sleeping in his car seat.

This city is so much smaller than DC. Yesterday I drove to Target and then took a different route home, basically exploring the downtown area, kind of on accident... but it's so small it's hard to get lost really. DC goes on, and on, but you are in and out of Charlotte in about 10 minutes. But the crazy thing is that Charlotte isn't really that small.

Enough about that, I gotta go back to being a mom.....

(But I have SO MUCH TO POST ABOUT! Natalie's WEDDING and all the fun in Utah!!!)