Packing again!

WE ARE FINALLY HEADED FOR NORTH AFRICA!!! (oct.1)

Here is the scary reality of packing again (pictured left and below left) - limit two peices of luggage per person and 50 lbs each - or else $$$$ Thankfully we were able to bring an extra two peices, and had three of our peices oversized (up to 70 lbs) and just paid the extra fees. We still managed to leave without sever essential items... Steven's special teddy bear (Brian), Abigail's slippers, toothpaste and hairspray, a power transformer, and mommy's sanity!

I packed until 7:30am and we left for the airport at 9:30am after a serious power nap! I also had help from the adults in the house who took turns packing and napping and being sick (thanks for your help guys!) and helping me keep up my courage - part of our packing was prolonged because of a mal-adjusted scale... so several of the bags had to be repacked and we left at least three full washbaskets of stuff we couldn't take.

We found a porter to help with our luggage and he refused to take a tip - so I saved $30! When we got our tickets it went smoothly - I noticed that the stewardess put a red line through our tickets - and I wondered why...(more on that later) I had never seen that done before.







While we waited the kids played at the airport playground and had a great time. Here is Steven with "Uncle Boogy" Stephen, learning his new "Larry Boy" game boy game. He has really been enjoying the game and hopefully we will soon be able to get a transformer so he can plug it in and charge it up - or perhaps find a power chord that is made for here... I think they have game boys all over the world.



















The play structure was made for younger kids - but all three of my pumpkins love to have a chance to wear off some of that extra energy - here is Gillian peek-a-boo-ing through the big toy:






















Mommy even got to take a moment to herself to get pretty for the plane ride!



So... back to the red stripe on the ticket. When it was annouced that we were selected to go through the super-duper check everything security line.... all five of us... yes, the kids too, chemical swabs, extra x-rays, unpacking, etc...I took a cue from "Life is Beautiful" and told the kids... "Hooray, we had the special tickets! We won the prize and get to avoid this huge long line in front of us and go through a different line where they get to do lots of fun stuff! Isn't this great! Who would have guessed!"




SO we proceded to the "special" screening area. All five of us with our orange shirts. You could tell the people working in this area were seriously tense and there was no room for error in their jobs. (Of course, I totally appreciate that they do thier jobs so well - just makes it a teeny bit forboding for little people) Thankfully the gentleman in the picture here was friendly enough when he had to enforce his rules and separate us, or make us stand here and there. And of course I kept up the littany of "Isn't this fun! I wonder what we get to do next!"



Next was the "puffer machine" we were told to hold perfectly still, ladies hold onto your shirts, or tuck them in, so they don't fly up, close your eyes so the air doesn't pierce your eyeballs, and stay frozen until the doors open.









Almost like a carnival ride - hair flying, startled children, eyes covered...





















The kids went through like champions! Then we waited as we watched them open and "wand" all of our carryons and coats for "residues" and were finally on our way.




We got on at the beginning of boarding and set the kids up with a DVD so they could pass the time as we waited for the plane to take off. The stewardesses came around with "travel packets" of activites for the kids - several of them were "sewing cards" with several strings for weaving or sewing in the punched holes. My creative little ones also found other fun things to do with the strings:





DECORATE YOUR CUPHOLDER! (Martha Stewart watch out!)







MAKE A TOLL BOOTH WHERE PEOPLE HAVE TO PAY YOU BEFORE YOU WILL REMOVE YOUR BARRICAIDE AND THEY CAN PASS DOWN THE AISLE (not so favorite a game for the stewards and stewardesses who were busy trying to run back and forth)




















Another fun thing about flying with kids is that they serve the kids "special" meals about an hour ahead of everyone else! Thankfully I ordered Vegetarian meals ('cause there good) and mine came at the same time - unfortunately Beth's meals came much later and by the time the tray got to the back of the plane all they had left were meatless meals (Bethie needs to have regular protein to balance her blood sugar). But God was taking care of us again and the fussy kids didn't eat the chicken in their dinners so we gladly shared that with Beth.

So how do kids deal with having finished food trays in front of them for an hour or more???? Well, I am here to tell you that.... they don't! Their mother does! Notice the lovely stack of trays on the left - yes, this happened at every meal. And Yes I was brushing my teeth with one of those finger toothbrushes - cool idea, but the hype was more than the product could live up to - now you have minty fresh dirty teeth!

While I was eating I got to enjoy trying out my new glasses (yes I am finally old enough to need real glasses for reading and computer work! Hard to believe considering my youthful complexion!) and they have really been making a difference, (except when I forget to put them on... or when I jump up from the computer to answer the door and nearly do a faceplant because I have misjudged the distance from my foot to the floor!!)







The kids did a great job of keeping busy- this time I was prepared and brought tons of activities and stuff in their carryons!










And finally after a bit of expected fussing and squirming - the kids dropped off to sleep! HALELUJAH!!!!!!!

Steven had a bit of trouble because he was hanging his head out in the aisle just far enough to make the flight attendants nervous about banging into it with their carts... but they changed their minds about asking me to move him after they witnessed my first attempt to wake him or move him.... we came to a nice compromise - they drove their carts carefully as they glared and I protected his harder than anything noggin with my hand as I smiled winningly back at them.







Later, when Steven did reorient himself - he insisted on using all the pillows within sight and promptly dropped off to sleep again.