The past couple of days have been spent hanging out around home, having another dinner or two with family, and the like. But mostly what we’ve, or rather Ali, have been doing is packing. If you saw us packing up to go to the airport you’d think, “There is no way those are the same people that live on a sailboat.”
It’s crazy. There is the baby crib, the car seat, the stroller, the giant duffle bag filled with nothing but clothes (the vast majority of which is for kids), another large suitcase with baby monitors, toys, books, blankets, and who knows what else. Then there is the carry-on suitcase with computers, snacks, cameras, and more snacks. Followed by the shoulder bag filled with, you guessed it, more snacks, another camera, wallet, water bottles, and the like. And wait, that’s not it. There is the rolling Dora la Exploradora bag with coloring books, miscellaneous dolls and small toys, and a DVD player. We are every traveler’s worst nightmare.
Yet somehow, amazingly, our kids are angels. Ouest hunkers down in her seat, takes advantage of every cart that goes by to get a glass of water or OJ, uses the bathroom just because it’s fun, watches a movie, and generally behaves herself perfectly. Lowe eats, drinks, sleeps, and flirts with the ladies. Then spends some time searching the floor for snacks that were probably dropped there back in the Regan era. That’s really about it. Ali and I are pleasantly surprised every time.
Grammy was pretty much a wreck at the airport today. It seems sharing grandkids with grandparents for a month leaves them both feeling rather attached. Who would have thought?
Our flight from Portland to St. Paul today had one stop. Unfortunately that stop was in Phoenix. Not exactly en route to Minnesota. Our layover was also over three hours. Both Portland and Minneapolis have awesome airports for kids. There are kid things to do everywhere. Phoenix apparently has decided to go the opposite way and not provide one entertainment option for kids or adults. Unless eating fast food for three hours is considered entertainment.
A few days ago Ouest saw a girl at the park with roller skates on. Ali said, “Lea (our niece) might have a pair of those you can use when we go to Minnesota.” From that moment on she became a girl obsessed. She talked about nothing else for three days. She also talked about how great a skater she was going to be. “Me no help, Papa.” She told me over and over again. Nope, she wasn’t going to need any help skating because she was an expert already. She even had specialized jumps she was going to do. On the plane this became a big topic of conversation.