Part 1: Sleepless in Seattle...

(Insert "The Disclaimer" - see previous post)


Stick with me... the first one will be a bit longer than the rest!

5:00 am - We literally scoop the kids out of bed and put them in the car. Time to head to the airport.

"You're traveling with two lap children? Well, bless your heart." Thank you, Mr. Check-in-Boarding-Pass-Guy. What he should have said was, "Bless the hearts of those sitting around you." Oh yeah... and our flights are all FULL. Joel's parents helped us quite a bit with the kids, and Grandpa Mike even parked the car for us while we checked in. Thank you! :)

By the end of breakfast, we had already pulled out 2 of our 'no-fail tricks' - both bombed.

For some strange reason, no one wanted to take the only empty seat on the plane next to us on the first leg of our flight. Really, what could go wrong with 2 children under 2 on a full flight at 7:15 in the morning??? By the time we had taken off, the man in front of Carter had already asked to change seats.

At this point, all I can say (and I say it with the utmost sincerity) is THANK YOU, LORD, FOR ELMO AND DVD PLAYERS. Seriously. I owe the little sanity I have left to that fuzzy red, little monster. Joel set Carter up with headphones and the Elmo DVD we can recite verbatim. Life was good. I fed Laney a bottle and she slept until the captain came over the VERY LOUD speaker to tell us we were nearing Denver. She only woke up for a second or two when Carter would shriek "MOOOOOORE" as he ran out of airplane crackers. He had never worn headphones before and had no idea how loud he was talking. Still no nap.


Then came time to "stow all electronic devices and put seats and tray tables in their upright position." Life was bad. Elmo was gone, and so was any bit of peace and quiet we had on the plane. I would have paid money for a sedative or a straight-jacket. For Carter AND me. Still no nap.


First stop: Denver. We hop off the plane and quickly recharge the DVD, change diapers, run around, and hop on the next plane.






Unfortunately, I wasn't aware that we had ANOTHER stop in Salt Lake. Repeat the same incidents with Carter and Elmo and snacks and Laney and her bottle and sleep - but it turns even uglier here. The DVD player dies. No more juice. And we can't deplane in Salt Lake to recharge.


BY THE GRACE OF GOD (again meant with utmost sincerity), Carter falls asleep on the last leg of our flight.


Off to J&B's- and where the fun begins!! WOOO-HOOO!


J&B live in Everett - just outside of Seattle. They are RIGHT on the water with a beautiful view. The weather was perfect. I actually wore jeans and didn't sweat! I love Houston and treasure our friends and family here - don't get me wrong. But how cool would it be to live where they do? Granted, I would have to take all of said friends and family along with us.

This is what they see out of their kitchen window:






I know, not near as pretty as the bricks of our neighbor's house we see out of ours - not to mention their AC unit...


We had wine and dinner while we caught up with family. Carter discovered their cat, Birdie, and was instantly intrigued - as was Birdie! He did manage to bang himself up pretty good while "exploring." By the end of the day, he had a bruise on the side of his head (not sure where that came from), a swollen lip (that you'll see in the pics below), and had fallen off the last patio step smack against the flagstone. I admit - I was VERY concerned about his noggin', but Grandma assured me he was ok!


The kids' schedule was so screwed up at this point. Only bad thing about traveling across 2 time zones! We weren't staying at J&B's, but we finally put them down until we were ready to leave.

Here are some pictures from our first evening:












Carter woke up about an hour or two after Joel put him upstairs. He was asleep when Joel laid him down, and then woke up in the dark in a strange bed in a strange room. I can't imagine why he would be disoriented???? We left hoping he would fall back to sleep in the car.


After an hour or two of hyperventilating-type crying and refusing to go to sleep, Joel finally drove him around for a bit. Nada. Well, it put Joel to sleep, so he decided it was best to come back to the hotel. About an hour later, he finally crashed. Poor little guy. He had a rough day, but the kids were both great sports.




We were just a couple of hours shy of being up 24 hours straight.