Our Trip To Nebraska

Last Tuesday, my mom and I headed to Nebraska with Abbie and Carter to visit family. It was the first time for them to meet Carter and to see Abbie again since our visit last summer. We all had a great time, despite the chaotic nature of traveling with a two-year old and a four-month old!

Steve drove us to the airport Tuesday morning. We arrived about two hours early because I had to idea how long it would take us to check-in, go through security, eat lunch, feed Carter, change diapers, etc. (Doesn’t that sound like a fun two hours?) Thankfully, it didn’t take us too long to check-in. We were those people in the security line that you do not want to be behind! We had a diaper bag, my backpack, my mom’s carry-on, my mom’s purse, Abbie’s travel stroller, Carter’s carseat and Carter’s stroller. We had to manage all that and the two kids! It was not easy. Abbie did not want to take her shoes off. Carter was sleeping and I had to wake him up to get him out of his carseat. Fortunately, a nice screener set up our strollers for us after we went through. Then we went on to eat lunch and feed Carter. Our plane was on-time (this time) and we were all set to get on.

It never occurred to me that Abbie would be a little scared to fly this time. It had been about a year since her last plane ride and she is much more aware of things now being a year older. As we were walking down the jet way to the plane, I stopped to make sure our strollers and carseat were put on the plane. I told my mom and Abbie to go ahead and get on. Well Abbie was not too happy about that. There was a line of people to get on and I think the fact she had to wait and think about what she was getting on scared her. All of a sudden I hear her crying “no, no, no!” and see her walking back towards me crying. So there we were all standing with Abbie crying and watching other passengers board the plane. Several people tried to be friendly to her and coax her into getting on. It was so funny! Finally, we just all headed onto the plane praying that our stuff would arrive. (I have had several friends have awful experiences with American and gate-checked items.) She did better that time and was happy in her seat once we gave her some M&Ms. The rest of the flight went very well! Abbie ate snacks and watched Dora on my ipod. Carter slept for a little while and then ate an entire bottle. He was happy the rest of the flight! What a relief!

Once we arrived, my aunt, Bev, was there to pick us up. Bev and my cousin, Joan, were so helpful and had all the necessary baby gear and an inflatable toddler bed ready for us when we arrived. By this time it was late afternoon, so we just got everything set up, ate dinner, gave them baths and put them to bed. What a day!

For the m0st part, the weather was beautiful while we were there. We had two sunny days when it was barely 70 degrees (much different than the 100 degree weather back home)! Abbie spent Wednesday morning playing outside. After Carter’s nap, we all went over to visit my grandparents and to take my grandma out to lunch. It was so great to see them and to have them see Abbie and Carter. Abbie warmed up very quickly to my grandparents and was soon giving them hugs and kisses. Carter was laid back as usual and would let anyone hold him. Both the kids did great at lunch, and it was so fun to eat out with my grandma. After lunch, we headed home for naps and then it was the usual nightly routine. Carter slept fairly well while we were there and only woke up once a night to eat.

On Thursday, Abbie played outside again. My uncle, Gene, put up a swing for her which she loved. Then we went to meet Joan and her son, CJ, for lunch at Red Robin. Abbie loved having someone close in age with her at lunch (CJ is 3). Carter slept through lunch, thankfully, which meant I only had to wrangle Abbie who decided to sit in a booster seat. After lunch, we went to Joan’s house to play on CJ’s fun, new swing set. Abbie had a great time! Then it was time for naps. We went to visit my grandparents later that afternoon.

Friday was a rainy day. We went to the mall and walked around in the morning. Then we went over to visit my grandparents, followed by lunch with Joan and CJ again at Bev’s house. I packed and organized for out trip home the rest of the afternoon. Before dinner, we went to visit my grandparents one last time and to say goodbye.

We got up bright and early Saturday morning, as our flight was supposed to leave at 11:00. We made it to the airport, checked-in and went through security easily. We only had a little while to wait at the gate before our flight home. Believe me, I was counting down the hours until we would see Daddy at the airport. Then, right as it was time to start boarding the plane, we get the dreaded announcement…mechanical problems with our plane. I hate hearing that to begin with because who wants to fly on a plane that has just had some sort of mechanical problem! To make matters worse, the Omaha airport is not that big and does not have a mechanic on-site on the weekend! Seriously! I just don’t know how that can be but anyway you would think if they are going to have a mechanic on stand-by they would be required to be no more than 15 minutes away or something. Oh no…the mechanic was 40 minutes away! So we had to wait 40 minutes just for him to arrive, in addition to the time for him to diagnose and fix what was wrong with the plane…if he was able to fix it at all. I just knew our flight would be cancelled. Given how tiny the airport is, it is not like they have a lot more flights going to Dallas. I think there was one more later that afternoon. There would be no way for all the people on our flight to get on that one. I was already preparing myself to stay another night in Omaha. While we waited, we fed Abbie and Carter. Fortunately, they announced about an hour later our flight was ready and we headed onto the plane! Abbie did not hesitate at all this time to get on the plane. She ate snacks and watched her videos again while Carter slept. It was a very easy flight again!

Stephen was waiting for us at baggage claim when we arrived, and I was so excited to see him! We all were! He had the fun task of chasing Abbie around the baggage carousel while we waited forever for our bags. Then we headed home and both kids napped in the car. The rest of my night was spent unpacking, doing mountains of laundry, and dishes. It felt so good to just sit and relax once both kids were asleep.

We all had a great time on our trip! We had so much fun visiting my grandparents, Aunt Bev, Uncle Gene, Joan and CJ. Thank you guys so much for everything! I was amazed at how well both Abbie and Carter did on our trip. Not counting her meltdown at the airport, she behaved very well the whole time! No tantrums or meltdowns. She made me so happy by actually sleeping on the air mattress on the floor. I had anticipated her not sleeping and instead walking all over the room and coming down stairs. She was so good and slept and just laid there until we came to get her. Thank you so much for being such a good girl Abbie! Aside form some issues with constipation, Carter was also a wonderful baby. He rarely cried and slept as well as can be expected when we are dragging him all over the place! Thank you both for being such wonderful kids! We can’t wait until our visit next summer!