Luke’s 1st airplane trip (6/2/11-6/6/11)

Grandma, Mom, Luke, and I flew to Virginia to celebrate my cousin, Arthur’s, HS graduation and to visit with my mom’s sister, Mary.  I was so excited to go, but slightly intimidated by the thought of navigating the airports, flights, rental car places, and a strange environment with Luke.  We made it to the airport with all 18 of our bags (a slight exaggeration, but not by much), the pack n play, the car seat, and the stroller.  You might think, what’s the big deal?  There are 3 adults and one baby.  Well, not so much.  My G’mother has dementia, so at times, it is necessary to help her much like you would a child.  She did not carry any of the bags, and I won’t even get into trying to get her through security.  The only thing I’ll say is that ALL of the TSA personnel were cracking up by the time she made it through.  The highlights of the airport trip that I don’t want to forget…

• We show up at the airport in just enough time.  When I went to check in, the lady asked me with a straight face for Luke’s ID.  Luke’s ID?  Like what kind of ID?  Turns out I needed his birth certificate to verify that he is not 2, because if he’s 2, I have to pay for him.  Um…really?  You can’t look at him and tell he’s not 2?  No.  Sooooo, I had to call the pediatrician’s office and have them fax over a copy of his immunization records.  Common sense people, common sense!
• While Mom was trying to navigate Grandma through security, they pull me aside and have me take the tops off of all of Luke’s bottles so they can stick a strip in them to test them for explosives.  Ok, I get it.  Terrorists might use bottles to get explosives on the airplanes.  Problem is that as soon as Luke sees the bottle, Luke has to have the bottle.  Mommy was saving that bottle for the airplane, but nope, Luke had to have the bottle right then.  Awesome. 
• Luke couldn’t have been a more perfect angel on the 2 hour flight.  Everything was going like clockwork.  The bags came out as soon as we got to baggage claim.  Except the pack n play.  Enter JoAnn the friendly (not so much) Southwest employee.  Sparing the details, 40 minutes later, the pack n play finally came out.  The only thing I’ll say about JoAnn is that I hope I never see her face again and Southwest gave both my mom and me $125 travel vouchers because of her nasty behavior.  So, thanks, JoAnn!  I hope it came straight out of your paycheck!
• Things aren’t going quite as well at this point.  There’s only so long you can walk a baby around the baggage claim area before they’ve had enough.  After 30 minutes at the car rental place, we finally have a car.  All 18 of our bags barely fit in the trunk after rearranging them 1000 times.  It was so bad that a stranger started clapping when we finally closed the trunk.  LOL!
• We’re off on what is supposed to be a 45 minute drive to their house.  Well, it was 5:00 and the GPS apparently took us around the world.  An hour later, Luke was full out screaming and my G’mother was incessantly telling us that we were going the wrong way.  There is absolutely no way you can appreciate this story unless you know my G’mother or someone else with dementia.  Truly, I hope I never forget this car ride.  When I think about it now, it is absolutely hilarious as maddening as it was at the time.  Even as we were pulling in the driveway with my aunt waving at us from the front yard, Gma was telling us we were going the wrong way.  AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

Ok, we’re finally there!  What a great, great time!  Mary and Fred have an unbelievably beautiful house across from the Potomac River.  I would move into it in a heartbeat!  Mary made some delicious food, we had some great wine, and lots of time visiting with family.  Luke was an angel while we were there.  I was so excited to come home to see Stephen and the kids, but I had such a great time!  Here are some pictures from our visit.

little man on the plane

the girls (and Luke) at lunch

You had to be there…LOL!!!

Buster man really started really crawling (army style) while we were there

View Full Album

The view of the Potomac across from Mary’s house.  I would hate to have to go sit on the swing and have a glass of wine at sunset every night.  Soo nice!

View Full Album

Dinner on our last night.  We had a view of the Washington monument and the airplanes landing at DCA from our table.  It was a great way to end our trip!  We played pass the potato with Luke all night.  He spent time with Mimi, Aunt Mary, Aunt Jane, and Natalie.

Will using the present Mimi brought him back.  Hilarious!

Arthur’s party was so much fun that I never got my camera out.  I don’t have a single picture of the party or of Art.  He was there, though, and we’re very proud of him.  He’ll be joining his sister, Natalie, at Washington and Lee in the Fall. 

The trip back went pretty well.  I wish, wish, wish I had a picture of mom and I lugging all of our bags, the car seat, and the pack n play.  It was ridiculously hilarious.  Our flight was delayed for an hour and a half.  Luke destroyed his outfit while we were waiting and his Mommy forgot to bring a spare so he got a souvenir Baltimore tshirt.  The poor guy was beyond exhausted when we boarded the plane back, and Luke is not one to fall asleep while being held, so I was a little worried, but he did great.  He had his first Sprite (which he loved!) I would have given him just about anything to keep him quiet!  I think my favorite memory of the trip home was that I thought the kids were going to be so excited to see me, and they were, but they were much happier to see Luke and vice versa.  It was adorable!!   Okay, I think I have downloaded all of my random memories.