Across the Country
On Saturday morning, we woke up Ella (ack! It is so painful to wake up a child when you spend so much of your life getting them to sleep) and made Landen and Adam drive us to the airport.
And then we got on a plane to fly to Utah and begin our long summer vacation.
In our less sane moments, we’d considered driving instead of flying, so a three hour flight (even on the world’s smallest airplane) didn’t seem too difficult compared to the 20+ hour drive we’d contemplated.
And Ella, despite missing an hour or two of sleep, was delightful on the plane, except for one ill-advised moment where I threw her empty soda cup into the garbage the flight attendant was passing. There were some serious tears.
I tried to hit a nice balance between not packing the entire nursery and having enough things to keep her happy on the flight. A few of the successes:
- Some new (free! because I love free!) apps for my phone, including the Micky Mouse Club House Road Rally and Jake’s Never Land Pirate School.
- The ever trusty crayons and paper.
- A huge sheet of stickers that came free in the mail and which I’ve been hoarding for a very long time.
- Having Bart along. I read 100 pages on the airplane while he used the above mentioned items and his prodigious story-making-up skills to keep her entertained.
- The little bag of tiny pretzels. I’ve always loved snacks on an airplane, but now I think they are pretty much the best thing ever since it burned up so much of the flight while she ate them one at a time.
But now we are here, and I don’t need to pack a bag of tricks to keep her entertained because we are surrounded by grandparents and cousins all who are more than enough fun. Who needs lousy stickers?
And it is just lovely to be here.
So glad you could fly instead of drive. It really is so long for a small child. I'll have to look up the apps for our next drive to Seattle for my dad's birthday.
We drove home from Utah to Texas at the end of June….it is very long! Flying is a much better choice!
Bah! I just left Utah. As in just left this afternoon! I wish I could have seen you…
jj