Our First Plane Trip

We went to Rochester last Wednesday to stay with Kevin's mom and to attend Tom & Jackie's wedding. I was a bit nervous about the whole plane / airport logistics, but I have to say we put a lot of thought into the "plan" and we arrived in Rochester without a hitch. Security was a bit challenging to maneuver with 2 babies, but we made it! Riley was the star of the plane and we were very lucky to have people all around us that loved babies. Ryan even took about a 45 minute nap. Whew! We survived. Grandma picked us up at the airport and we went straight to the bath tub once we arrived at her house to wash off all the yucky germs. Her neighbor let us borrow 2 pack-n-plays, 2 booster seats and a big crate of toys, so we were very fortunate to only have to bring the bare minimum with us.

On Thursday, Grandma's friend, Barb, came over to pay us a visit. She's been recovering from a knew replacement surgery and this was one of her first outings, so we were honored that she ventured out to see us. We went to lunch and took a walk by the Erie Canal just before an afternoon thunder shower began. It was a beautiful day and not too hot! A nice change from the blazing hot temperatures in Atlanta. That evening we went to the Rehearsal Dinner. Riley & Ryan were invited to join us, and they were great. We met Lilianna and were able to hang out with a group of Kevin's friends from high school. It was nice for everyone to meet the kiddos.

On Friday, we left for the wedding at noon, so Grandma's friends, Jackie & Rena, came over to help her watch the crazy kids all afternoon. Riley didn't have her best day - she was a bit fussy, but Ryan definitely charmed the pants off of all of them. He was in his glory having all the attention on him. Riley spent a lot of the day in the pack-n-play having "quiet time". She was sitting straight up and not moving a muscle. We think she was sleeping with her eyes closed. They kept checking on her and she continued to sit up, but the key was that she was quiet, so they let her have her time.

On Saturday, we went to visit the Russell family and Riley & Ryan were able to swing and hang out with Lilianna one last time. Ryan wasn't so sure about the swing at first, but decided he really liked it after just a little bit. We went to lunch again and then headed to the airport. Now I have to say I had no idea what we were in store for in the next few (um...10) hours. Had I known, I might have tried to sleep a little later on Saturday morning and prayed for major patience! :) We left Rochester about 30 minutes late, but everything was going fine until we were about 30 minutes from landing in Atlanta. The pilot came on the speaker and told us the Atlanta Airport was closed due to weather and we would be making a stop in Chattanooga. We landed in Chattanooga and stayed on the ground about an hour. Riley and Ryan were just plain bored. We could only feed them so much, sing so many songs, and play with the handful of toys we brought for only so long. We walked the aisles while we were on the ground and then we were off again...still not so bad. When we first boarded the flight, I was wiping everything down and so worried about all the germs, but by the end I looked at Riley and she was literally chewing on the seatbelt buckle and I didn't care - she was happy! Riley slept for about 20 minutes on the way to Atlanta and we landed without a hitch. We were about 2.5 hours later than we should have been, but all things considered we were doing ok. We headed to baggage claim and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited along with everyone else on our plane. At this point it's close to 11pm and we are all very tired. Did I mention that there were about 25 kids on the plane? I've never seen so many kids... The bottom line is none of our luggage ever made it on the plane, so each of us had to file a claim. A lot of people very angry standing in line is not a fun place to be. It was so unorganized and no one from the airline knew what to tell us to do. To say we were frustrated is an understatement. Riley & Ryan didn't sleep until we got in the car at 12:15am. We left Grandma's house for the airport earlier that day at 2:45 - almost 10 hours in transit. We could have driven from Rochester in just a few hours longer! When we arrived home at 12:45, several neighbors were outside and let us know that the power had just come back on about 5 minutes before we arrived. Had I walked into my house after the day we had and there been no power, I might have had a major meltdown. It felt better than I imagined to sleep in my own bed and our luggage was delivered to our house the next afternoon. Our first plane trip with the kiddos was definitely an adventure!

Web Albums Added:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20080730Rochester
http://picasaweb.google.com/hutchinson.heidi/20080731TomJackieSRehearsalDinner