This last week we went to Minnesota to watch our niece graduate! It was a surprise for her that we came, so I didn't want to blog about it until afterwards. With that said first time flying with a toddler was a little nerve wracking and consuming all my thoughts. Creating a void in my innovative brain and blocking all ideas on what else to blog about. I also didn't want to do just filler posts to fill the empty spaces, I want to make sure each of my blogs are something I actually want to share. So, sorry for the lack of posts lately. Here is review of our trip to Minnesota and how I survived flying with a toddler!
Before we left I had grand ideas of things to buy to pack and take to make flying for Mackenzie as smooth as possible. Then the week before a fellow employee got injured and my hours went from 28 to 44. Leaving me no time to pack, clean or shop until Friday the day before we left. This also added to lack of pictures which I have now had to go back and re set up to take to make it look like I was on top of my game and took these pics. Blogger fail! Another blogger fail while we were there I hardly got in pics because I was enjoying watching Mackenzie experience it all for the first time, or I was chasing Mackenzie around and trying to keep my sanity. Overall the trip was great, too short, but great.
So it all started with Friday, working in the morning, meeting with the house sitter, cleaning and packing. Which I had not done any of that the week leading up. Mackenzie didn't nap great which made dealing with a cranky baby. Finally, she passed out around 5pm on the couch and I was able to move my butt and finish cleaning house. She woke up at 6pm still crabby but wanted to paint, I got her painting and started gathering clothes to pack. 8 o'clock was the time I was hoping to put her to bed but due to earlier nap she was not tired. So, she got a bath and I sat. 9pm I put her to bed then really started packing.
In my personal bag I do this whenever I travel I packed a large bag and then inside the large bag I put a small crossbody purse to double as my wallet. This way when we go shopping I don't have to carry the large bag I can just use the crossbody. Mondo also always brings a back pack. In the large bag I had 3 magazines (I never looked at them and they were heavy. I should have just done one), Mackenzie's change of clothes, 3 board books, a little bag with Minnie, stuffed Minnie, stuffed fox, Coloring book, crayons, headphones for me and her, and 3 binkies. Mondo's backpack contained Ipad, diapers, wipes and all of his other goodies.
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| Not everything is pictured. Extra's not mentioned are Minnie dress up, extra clothes, scarf, busy wallet for Mackenzie |
So our plane was supposed to leave Spokane at 6am, which means we had to be at the airport at 430am, my parent's house, since my dad was driving us, at 4am, leave our house by 330am, up at 3 am. Max joined our bed at 11pm, I think, which is the same time I finally crawled into bed. My alarm scheduled for 245am, was on vibrate and I didn't fell it! Oops! Mondo set his for 3am and him and I both slept through for 10min. Double oops! We finally got out of the house and to my parent's only 10 min late. All good. All the commotion woke Mackenzie up, and she decided to stay awake. Which worked out Ok she slept the whole first flight! Until we touched down in Denver and the pilot slammed on the brakes. She didn't like that but, no crying just frowning. First flight down and all good! Denver we ate breakfast and got doughnuts. Then waited until we boarded. This is where Minnie (Minnie online) came in handy I was afraid of losing pieces and almost didn't bring it but, it worked great for the layover. 2nd plane we watched t.v. I think there was a glitch and we got it for free! Whoo hoo! We colored and played with the Ipad, which we also watched an episode of bubble guppies on. When it came to landing there was quite a bit of tuberlance and she decided to sit with daddy. Again, no crying all good. Minnesota airport had a Chik-fil-a. We needed that for lunch, it was far from baggage claim. So Mondo went for bags and Amy, Max and I for chicken! Mackenzie loved the moving sidewalk but she also loves escalators. Only problem no stroller and after we got food, toddler no longer wanted to walk. So I carried the food, Amy carried Mackenzie and it was was a long awkward walk to baggage claim. We got our rental car and rented a car seat. Surprisingly it was in great condition, although due to a mix up and miss reading of fine print we thought we were getting it for free. Nope, $12 a day. Next time we will gate check ours for free.
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| passed out first flight! |
Finally, Minnesota. Surprise went great, graduation went great. I wore cute outfits. I will blog on this later. Let's keep this post under a 2 hour read. This post is strictly for flying.
Trip home: great news Sister in Minnesota had a spare umbrella stroller she let us have! After calling to make sure I can gate check it for free we headed to the Mall of America. Mackenzie loved the umbrella stroller and would not get out of it! Except when we got to the disney store and Lego store. Minnesota airport chicken for lunch again! How is that place so good? Gosh, it was so nice pushing Mackenzie in the stroller. We were there early so she got to play in the play zone for a while. Then we loaded the plane and gate checked the stroller. I do want to say I read about having one person load early while person 2 stays out and plays with toddler until last minute. This plan did not work for us. It was better to load earlier. Our seats for 3 out of 4 flights were in the back row. Actually all babies were in the back. I found out that this is because they keep the infant life vests in back. Makes sense, just is an uncomfortable flight. So it was better to load early with families then try to explain to a toddler we can't push people out of our way and why they take a long time to put their carry on in the overhead compartment. So family load in our seats and no lines was the way to go. OK back to the flight. This time she stayed awake. So we colored and read board books over, over, over, over and over. I think I might have fell asleep and she was in daddy's lap. I think he mentioned Ipad and looking out the window too. Landing was smooth no problems.
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| Mackenzie waving bye |
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| Playing in the MAC train at MSP |
Denver at first we thought "we have 1 hr 30 min layover, no prob." Then double check, no only 45 mins. Then get to the gate. 2 hour almost 3 hour delay. Ugh! This was already 7pm Denver time. Flight not supposed to leave until 11pm, which means no Spokane until 12 am, Washington time. Yuck! So we ate, had ice cream. I wasn't feeling good so we sat at a darkened gate a let Mackenzie play. Minnie mouse again and colored some. Then she wanted to run around, which would have been ok, except she was tired and was no longer willing to listen. So we took her closer to our actual gate and let her walk around in a more contained area and look out the window at airplanes. This made her happy. Finally with 30 min left to go she was restless, who could blame her. I also knew she had to be tired since she hardly napped. So mondo and I switched turns pushing her in the stroller around the terminal. Thank you God and Brenda for this stroller! While pushing the stroller around a bunch of people had flights cancelled and were sleeping at the airport. I was so thankful this wasn't us but, also it broke my heart when I saw a few families and even a few with infants. How yucky would that be! Finally we load. Since we were seated near the front we actually waited to seat with our section. This wasn't too bad. It was late so, I knew we would all sleep. Yucky, thing about this flight I don't think one mommy thought about the ear pressure thing. Her little one cried the whole flight and I noticed baby would cry louder whenever I felt more pressure in my ears. I was glad we choose to let Mackenzie have her binky the whole time we were flying. Of course she fell right to sleep. We landed again he slammed on the brakes. Seriously! She woke up, dad was there to pick us up got her in the car and she fell back asleep 45 min later. Got home transferred her to her bed she stayed asleep and slept in until 8am.
Overall flying was great! I was so proud of Mackenzie she handled the whole thing like a trooper! I am so excited to fly with her more often. Hopefully next time to Disneyland! I love that place!
So this week Mackenzie turns 2! I plan on posting about her party, including a special surprise! I also will blog later about the outfits worn in Minnesota. And in July my family moves in with my mom (temporarily), so my mom and I have a few photo sesh planned for so new blog posts. Oh and also coming up weight loss update!
Thank for reading,
Dorinda
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