Airport Antics

The airport was EMPTY last Saturday.  Hubs flies all. the. time. and said he's never seen an airport so empty.  And it makes sense.  Ours was the ONLY flight and had just 11 people on it.  We were 4 of them.

Being the ever-prepared momma I am (okay, used to be and still want to be, so sometimes occasionally am), we got there EARLY.  So early, in fact, the TSA was "off."  You know those "be back at..." clock signs?  No lie, it was hanging there, right where you're supposed to unload your junk at the security checkpoint.

So what did we do?  There's TONS to do at the teensiest little airport in MI, like...

play in the water fountain

and push each other in the SmarteCart!

and screech, run around, crash the strollers into things (and each other), and when the TSA comes back from their coffee break, which, by the way isn't so bad to NOT be rushed through security with two squiggly little guys, we watch our plane land.

Amazing!

What's cute about this is, ten years ago, hubs used to work this exact. same. ramp, working the flights just like the guys in the photo!  It's adorable to listen to him tell the guys, "now they're going to place the chalks...here comes the baggage tug..."  

"Our library book calls that an airport truck," I interrupt.  

"Well, it's actually called a baggage tug, so that's what we call it,"  

Aye, aye, captain!

Twins on a Plane

We once again did not get a photo of L and I as sherpas, weighted down with a carseat-as-backpack, backpack-as-frontpack, pushing a stroller containing a squiggly almost 15-month-old each. 
But I know that image made both my mother and mother-in-law laugh when they saw it at the airport at 10:30 last night!

M enjoyed his sunset view beside pretty Aunt L

I know that they could fly as lap babies, both legally AND theoretically.  However, I can't even get them to stay on my lap on the couch while we read a book!  So I nearly jumped over the ticket counter to hug the agent when he said there were seats for all four of us!  To borrow from Forrest Gump, flying standby is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get.

They were angelic at the ticket counter, through security, in the tram, down the elevator, on the moving walkway, up the elevator to the gate that's just about in Wisconsin (B, in case you were following).  But they were getting wiggly, so we caved and gave them their snack in the gate area.  This seemed like a good idea until I was running out of activites while we were delayed on the tarmac.  

Phone toy?  It lasted about a minute until it was chucked.
Skymall magazine?  About 5 mintues because it was fun ripping pages.
Pacifier?  Ten seconds till the leash was ripped off and tossed.  (They're so strong!  Our ped said last week.  Yeah, I know.)
Stuffed lion?  Another minute.
The Wheels on The Bus?  About two rounds.  How many times can you SING that?

Me and N maxin' and NOT relaxin' in the back row

Yeah!  We all (me and N) clapped when we felt the plane push back.
And taxi.
And taxi.
And taxi.
Maybe we're just going to taxi all the way to Michigan?

I repeated the above list while we waited to reach cruising altitude so I could turn on the magic bullet: Peekaboo Barn!

I know, Hubby, I rolled my eyes when you first downloaded Peekaboo Barn onto your phone, but it saved my life last night. At least, until M and L reached critical mass in the row ahead and we had to give it up for them.

That's when I tried ignoring him so he'd close his eyes and snooze.  He DID skip his afternoon nap was going on 8 hours of awake time by then.

Yeah, right. You and I both knew THAT wouldn't work!

So what do we do next?  We practice drinking water out of a cup when we were served our snack.  My snack.  He got a few Cheerios, but chucked those, too.  The water worked wonders and he got some in his mouth, so he was happy. 

We began to descend shortly thereafter (I'm making this sound like a short flight because technically, it was, but realistically, it wasn't), so we had to resort to the phone toy/Skymall/lion/pacifier/empty plastic cup routine we were perfecting.

We made it!

That flight was *only* about one hour long.

Just 4 years, 9 months, and two days until I can fly first class again.

When they're 6.

14 Month Olds' To-Do List

• ride in the shopping cart and buy lotsa diapers. 
• laugh at the little boy ahead of us in the Target checkout who hollers, "Whoa, that's a lotta diapers!" and reply, "Yeah, I have a lotta kids!" (Wait, that was me)
• WALK!
• climb up onto the furniture
• climb off the furniture, going down backward, and keep walking
• fall off the sides of the furniture headfirst (whaaa!)
• cut teeth: N has 14, M has 8, but he's working hard on those molars!
• push our toy trucks around the house making "rrrrrrrrrrr" sounds
• point at tiny airplanes flying far overhead
• dance to the "Veggietales" songs on DVD
• play by ourselves, but only occasionally, when we think Mom's not looking , and only for a few minutes until we see her looking

Planes, Trains (not really) and Automobiles

Boy, oh, boy, did we have a fun weekend!  Friday night there was a "cruise night-" anyone with a car 25 years or older could enter.  We thought we picked a good spot to watch all the fun old cars go by.  It started with a fire truck, of course.  Makes sense.

Then we discovered that we didn't pick such a great spot - the muscle cars revved their engines EXACTLY in front of us.  Matthew wasn't fond of them, but he did like our friend S.

Nathan, on the other hand HATED it, crying hysterically - sobbing, really - every time it happened.  Then he'd recover.  "What? I'm cool.  I don't cry."

Saturday, Grandma A was here, so we went to the WWII airplane and military vehicle show.  What a blast!  Only once did Nathan look concerned when a plane took off, but he didn't cry - he wants you to know that.

Here we are with "Miss Mitchell," a B-25 bomber, who did a fly-over our house later that evening when the big parade started!

Although not technically part of the vehicle display, there just so happened to be a fuel truck out on the tarmac, so Grandma, the boys and I got a lesson in how to audit one. So they know what they're doing on take-your-kid-to-work-day, of course.  (When IS that?  I can't wait for that day!)

Matthew and I check out the glass nose on Miss Mitchell.  And bang on it, naturally.  Then we go bang on some more stuff.

See?  Banging on the airplane is way more fun than looking at Grandma  and the camera!
One last vehicle to see on our way out - a Blackhawk helicopter.  Very impressive!

I'm getting the sense that being a boy mom is going to be a lot like this: cars and planes all the time.  I don't know much about them, but what I know so far is that it's a lot of fun!

Traveling Tips

I received a formspring question this week: "What are your tips on traveling with multiples?"  My boys are just 13 months, so I can only answer how we've done it with babes on an airplane.

1. Bring help!  Only once did I fly alone with the boys when they were tiny, and while I survived (read about it here), I do NOT recommend it.  I think I'll be able to try it again when they are old enough to obey directions to stay put - otherwise, I need another adult.

2. Strollers: if the babies are still in their carseats, take a snap-and-go type stroller that your carseats fit into.  We bought ours on Cragslist for $20 and schlepped it all over the world until it died (tribute blog here).  Now, when we fly, we take two umbrella strollers. We do that so we can fold down the strollers to go through the security screening machine at the airport (our uber-limo double stroller weighs 40lbs. and takes up the back of our van when folded).

Me, the boys, and the beloved Snap and Go in St. Maarten.

 The boys in their umbrella strollers we use now, visiting Dow Gardens.

3. Carseats: when we fly, we try to get each boy a seat and strap him in his carseat.  I did a LOT of research when we moved up from the Snugrides.  We decided on the Sunshine Kids Radian 65's, which are top-rated carseats that fold down and can be carried through an airport backpack-style. Even though we could hold the boys, and have, we don't like doing it - for safety AND sanity!

Hubby, Matthew, and our beloved Snugrides buckled into the seat.

We use the Sunshine Radians in the van every day, too.  They're bulky, but still easier to carry through the airport and get into an airplane seat than I believe other convertible carseats are.  I had to use the above photo because we don't take pics when we're sherpas at the airport!

4. Food: You are allowed to take bottles for each baby through security, so do it!  You just have to declare it before you go through security and they will open it up to test it - they just wave a "sniffing" wand over the milk.  We've also just taken formula through and mixed it up with bottled water and a hot cup of water for warming from a coffee shop on the other side of security.  Jarred baby food is okay, too- we took the plastic sealed tubs.  Now that they're older, we take a lot of snacks: puffs, cheerios, yogurt bites, goldfish, you name it!  

5. Sleeping arrangements: we've done it both ways - take the pack and plays and use hotel cribs.  Both worked fine, even though we once had a hotel staffer tell us that two cribs were a fire hazard.  We just asked a different staffer and got them.  Our boys have each had their own bed from day one, and we're just not willing to sacrifice sleep to experiment putting them in one together.  The room is pretty mushed, but it's worth it, especially when we have to sleep in there, too.

Crib with a view

Those are the ones that come to mind first.  What about you?  Anyone out there have tips for traveling with kids?  I could use some because as the fellas get older, they're tougher to entertain.