The Crazy Lady Flying Alone with 2 Kids

So, I got a little overzealous in that last post and did 3 days instead of 2. Didn't realize till I clicked over here, so this one SHOULD be short, but no promises, my kids are cute.

Monday (3-10-14):

I was able to attend the funeral of a dear lady and celebrate her life.  My dad was officiating, so I hitched a ride with him.  He had another funeral in the afternoon, back in Paden, before he drove us to the airport.  I took my kids, in their pjs, dressed them once we got to the church, and Kora lasted in the service for MAYBE ten minutes.  I was sitting out in the hallway, but I heard crying in the nursery and couldn't decide if us going in would help or hinder the situation.  We joined the nursery crowd and the extra kids DID help the situation and I was glad that even though we weren't able to be in the service, we were able to make the time pass easier for one little boy missing his mommy.

When we got back to Paden, we needed to eat lunch, pack up, and wait for Grampa. Gramee pushed Kora in the swing one last time.

This little girl snuggled me on the couch and Kees was a wee bit grumpy.

Both kids slept on the way to the airport and I enjoyed my last Dr. Pepper in Oklahoma.

Well it was my last Dr. Pepper in Oklahoma, until I had this one from Sonic,  after we checked our bags.  Can I just say, I love the OKC airport, it's small and easy to maneuver. It's also very clean and open.  I've never felt rushed there, it's one of the most mellow airports I've been in. 

After we ate our dinner, we headed to our gate. The kids stopped to look at the airplanes out this window.

There were guards at the check point that gave the kids coloring pages and crayons. I had plenty of activities in my mommy bag of tricks, but didn't have to pull them out right away.

I guess Kees was still feeling tired because he laid down in my lap.

First flight of two.  Headed to Denver...

At the Denver airport, it was a quick layover and I'm glad we didn't need the restroom or to buy food because it was NUTS. Tons of people, millions of gates, my stress level was highest here.  Whew!  And it was not quite as easy as this picture would indicate, Kora did want to wander, but there were so many people, I was worried she'd get lost in the crowd. And she took her shoes off, so I had 3 jackets and 2 shoes floating around outside the one carry on back pack we had and I was trying to keep up with it all.

Can anyone tell that Kees is getting tired?  This was our flight from Denver to Spokane.

I was so excited to finally see Doug Tomlinson!!! It was honestly hard for me to just go get in the van while he went to get the bags. I wanted to all stay together and not split up for anything.  I told him to hurry, but Doug is not known for "rushing around".  It was midnight back home, but only 10 pm local time.

Excited to be so close to our new home!  Waiting for Doug to load all our stuff.  It's funny, we've been preparing for this and planning it, but it was still exciting and weird all at the same time.  A new place, my van got here without us. Doug had already been here for a few days so I felt like I was behind the times.

Car seats made it!

Pulling into our covered parking spot, that's our storage closet!  It's so real, we live in Idaho!

I had quite a few people concerned about why on Earth I would travel with two little kids by myself. I hadn't really thought too much about it.  We've all flown together more than the average bear, and a few short flights didn't register as "difficult" to me.  The kids were so good, I know lots of people were praying!  I had people at both airports and on both flights, ask me about flying alone with two kids. One of the men that was talking to me said my husband would owe me big. I'd agree with him, but Doug did a lot of heavy lifting and set up in our new place and I avoided a 30 hour ride the the car with a cram packed van!

In fact, we had hardly any trouble, but there was an incident with my blue water bottle.  Scroll back up through the pictures and you can see the bottle. Anyway, it has a straw in it, and you push a button to make the spout pop up.  I brought it into the airport empty, then filled it at a water fountain, so the kids and I would have something to drink on the plane. When both the kids were sleeping on the second flight, I popped it open and water shot ALL OVER me.  Pressured air plane cabin.  I'd like to say "lesson learned", but my memory is terrible and I might do it again. It's funny, it took me a second to realize what was causing water to pour all over me, then finally got the thing closed!