Adventures on a Plane

We all awoke at 5 am to leave me friend/sister's house Sara. 10 pieces of luggage (check), 4 carry-ons (check), 4 kids with emotions running wild (check), and 1 exhausted mom (check). We were ready to leave. We kind of dilly-dallied before leaving the house, which of course meant we were running late. As we tried to plow through morning rush-hour traffic in this huge white suburban, we did almost manage to run down a car. If weren't awake by then, we definitely were after hearing 7 screaming children alerting us of our near-miss. Right before pulling up to the curb, I realized that my bare-foot son was just that --- BAREFOOT! I had packed his shoes and weren't sure at all as to which bag they were in. We pulled up to the curb. With some assistance we got all the luggage out and to the check-in counter, while Sara took the kids. As I'm waiting to be checked in, I'm tearing down the mountain of bags, opening each one (that's right --- all 10), looking for my sons shoes. After going through the bags twice, and being unsuccessful, I grabbed a pair of socks and had him wear that. So, to answer the question that some of you asked me on Sunday ---- will Micah wear shoes on the plane ---- No, but his feet were covered. We were checked in. We said our good-byes to the Griffins. 

This just isn't easy! The Griffins have been our family from before we even came to AZ. They will always be part of our family and we will miss them terribly. (I'm going to keep going so the tears won't come). 

Next was security check. After removing shoes (and socks), and reassuring my children with orthodontic apparatus that they would be let through, we were ready to walk through the metal detector. I walked through and was notified that I was "randomly" selected to be searched. My children's eyes all got wide with fear wondering what was going on as their mother was being patted down and swiped for bomb residue. I reassured them that everything was ok. I received the okay and we were on our way to the terminal. As soon as we arrived there, we boarded the plane.

The plane ride was fairly uneventful. At the half-way mark, Micah was going stir-crazy. I'm sure people around thought my kid was nuts. We made 6 bathroom trips, half of which were just for the sake of something to do. (Big sigh). As we descended, the kids were all excited (as well as myself). The plane landed and we hurried quickly to the baggage claim area (which was FAR!). As we waited with our bags, my husband arrived. It was so good to see him again and hug him. We are so glad to be a family again.