The Flight Over

To say I was a little worried about the flight to Hawaii with two kids ages 3 and 1, would be an understatement. It was quite literally, pure dread. Thankfully, we only had one layover which meant 12 hours from wheels up to wheels down. After the first flight (30 minutes), Levi said "See Mommy, that flight wasn't long". I quickly told him that the long one was still to come. Long it was - 9 hours to be exact.

The first 3 hours were amazing - the kids were stellar. Despite some really bad turbulence during lunch (no doubt), where Levi spilled his orange juice everywhere, things were looking spectacular.

The next 3 hours were decent. Levi slept for almost all 3 of them, but Kara was a little squirmy (although quiet). Our flight was smooth during this time though and we could get up and walk around with her. She, of course, charmed everyone she walked by.

Here's a picture at about 6 hours into the flight. This was all I got since I didn't want to disturb everyone:
The last 3 hours were the hardest. We had a lot of turbulence and so we had to stay in our seats a lot. Everyone was starting to get restless (I mean we had been in a plane for hours at this point) and we were running out of things to entertain the kids with. Kara did sleep some during this leg of the flight. Despite all that, the kids really were amazing. Of the entire 9 hours, I really think there were only about 30 minutes where I wanted to pull my hair out. Thank you for praying! Our lifesavers were the DVD player, a Planet Heroes figure, a baby doll, milk and Teddy Grahams.

We like to play this game when we fly where we book the outside seats on a grouping of 3 in the very back of the plane. The middle seats in the back are usually the last to be booked and I would say we have been successful about 90% of the time in having an open seat between us. Thankfully, our game worked and we had an extra seat on the long flight (for Kara since she was a lap baby) - I really can not tell you how wonderful that was. Also, a note to all of you with the Britax Marathon. We brought the car seat on board for Levi to sit in, but it is so huge that his legs wouldn't fit between the car seat and the seat in front of him. Thankfully, Kara fit in it (and we had an extra seat). I think we are going to check it on the way home.

When we landed, the flight attendant came on and asked all of us to remain seated at the gate. With us on the flight were several military men and women who were on home leave from Iraq. They had been traveling for 30+ hours and they asked if we could let them get off first so they could see their families quickly. As they stood, the entire plane burst into applause. The emotion got the best of me - I was really proud to be an American as I watched them walk off the plane. And, they all looked so young. I'm sure none of them will ever read this, but just in case: Thank you for reminding me that I can fly with my family on vacation because you are facing danger everyday for me. I was honored to fly with you.