Mid-February, I took Jackson Clayton and went to Georgia to visit my family. Jack was going to Minnesota for a job interview and then to Europe for 10 days, so it was a perfect time for me to go. My dad and siblings there hadn't met Clayton yet, and it had been over a year since I'd been there. Of course I wish Jack could have come too, but I'm glad that he was off doing things too. I have a hard time being gone when he's at home...or being at home when he's gone...so this worked out well.
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| Clayton's first flight |
I was quite nervous to fly by myself with two little boys. I've done it myself with just Jackson plenty of times. It's not the most convenient thing, but it was fine. I was worried about getting through the airport to the next gate on my layover with two boys and all our stuff in tow, and about keeping both of them happy on the flight. I decided that having a double stroller would be really handy for the airport (and lots of other times too) so the day before we left, we went to Babies 'R Us and did the baby gear trade in for 25% off and used a gift card we were given and got a Sit-N-Stand double stroller.
All my worrying was unnecessary. Everything went well and the boys did great. Jordan drove me to the airport and then got a security pass to help me to the gate. (Did you know you can do that?? When you're checking in, just ask the worker for a pass for whoever is with you to be able to help you to the gate. If you've got little kids or if you're old or otherwise needing assistance they're happy to oblige. You just have to do it when you check in, not when you're trying to go through security.) The stroller worked great and Jackson was even willing to ride on it most of the time. We also employed the trusty monkey backpack leash, which he likes to wear. Jackson had a great time watching the airplanes as we waited and Clayton was pretty happy too. Both of them slept for most of both flights on the way there, so that was great for everyone involved.
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| I'm not sure what I was doing here, but we made it to Atlanta :) |
The return trip was a little more exciting....err...hectic. My flight leaving Atlanta wasn't until around 6:00, so we went up to Atlanta earlier to return some things to a store up there before I left. I guess I just had no idea what time it was, but by the time we got to the car, we were quite late. Then we took the wrong exit. Then as soon as we got through the security check area, someone called "Code Blue" ...if you want to see a fun time in the air port, just yell out "Code Blue" and watch what happens. TSA agents in blue shirts appeared out of nowhere and went running all over the place. All the passengers were told to freeze where they were and after the initial pandemonium, the head TSA dude was trying to figure out who called the Code Blue and then finally declared that it was all clear. Meanwhile I'm tapping my toe and hoping this shut down the whole airport not just the part we were in so our plane wasn't leaving without me as I stood there for 15 minutes, as perfectly still as I could while keeping a 2 year old happy. All clear, we ran through the airport and made it to my gate before they shut the doors. They didn't even check the boarding passes and thought my mom was flying too so they told her to go ahead down the jetway thing... I thought that was weird that they let her go that far because they never have before. Yep, turns out it was a security breach. Oops. The flight was great though. It was very empty so we had the whole row to ourselves, with nobody behind, in front of, across from, or diagonal from us at all. That was nice. And we had great flight attendants who were on the second flight as well so that was nice. I can't remember now if the boys slept...I'm thinking not as much as they did on the way there. We got back at what was 1:00 AM for us and Jackson thought it was time to play.
All in all, the traveling part of the trip went pretty well.
One of these days I'll blog about the being there part...which really was more fun than the traveling.
4 comments:
That was such a relief to know the boy traveled well...and a huge relief when you actually made it on the flight to go back home. As I was leaving the jetway I read a sign on the door that said "No unticketed passengers beyond this point!!" Oops. Sure glad they didn't call code blue again.
We LOVED having you here!!! :)
You are one BRAVE woman. I would never in my life take two kids alone. It was scary enough taking Kyler without Rhet - not something I would repeat. Just imagine if you had to feed Clayton while Jackson had a blow out diaper or something - what would you do then?! Or if both were crying? The thought terrifies me!
Amazing! Way to go! We've only flown once with both of the girls and I worked it so Tyler could be on both the initial and return flight back (he was going out to CA for work). We have the sit and stand stroller and we're huge fans. So glad everything went so fantastically for you.
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