Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The Flight

We had an eight hour flight from Phoenix to Honolulu.  I was more than a little nervous.
If you've ever actually met my children (well, the boys...) you would know why I was nervous. 

Most of my friends actually started praying for safety, understanding, and guidance weeks prior to our departure!  (I'm not kidding!  Have you met the three boys?)

During the flight, we had the option of strapping car seats into the plane or checking them.  We decided to strap them in.  Our kids are usually good travelers, and they are in their car seats often so we felt familiarity would be to our benefit.

It seems we did the right thing.  They jumped right into their seats and sat buckled up...the entire flight!  (Well, ok ~ we did let them out to go potty!)

Tyler...always (well, mostly) ready with a smile!
Love those dimples!!
Since Tyler is 4 and over 40 pounds he is not allowed to have a car seat on the plane.
No biggie since he has a booster seat, but booster seats are not
FAA approved ~ we had to check his booster seat.
He was a little wiggle worm!  I'm glad we had seats for the littles.

Aiden and Daddy
They are all smiles and ready to go!

Isaiah and Sister...
(yes, he adores his big sister)
Nope, she doesn't like to fly and she was nervous how she was going to get Isaiah to sleep during take off.
She always puts herself to sleep during take off and landing.
Don't ask me how she does it...
Ask about the Georgia trip...

Tyler and Mom
(Mom is looking a little tired and worn out...oh yeah...she only had 2 hours sleep.)
He read the safety magazine 3 times before take off...
asked specifically where the kid life vests were...
wanted to know where the rafts were...
when we would get to slide down the exit...
why there was water...
made me double check our safety belts...
had to move away from the window to watch the safety video (as if he hadn't already memorized the pamphlet!)...
tested the window shade...12 times before Mom made him stop!...
from there he moved onto the "in flight" magazines...
thank goodness they didn't have any catalogs.
That kid would have been a major shopper.

Note the blue mouth...
his headphones were not plugged into anything!
large sheet of stickers...check
crayons...check
paper...check
This kid was set...while sister slept!
Fortunately I was able to reach behind my seat to reach his stuff for him.

Aiden was not happy that Daddy slept...
I kept leaving my seat to get his toys...
candy...
water...
(see that water bottle on the left side?  They are the best!  I'll write more about them later.)
He actually got pretty good at waking his dad up.  He would tickle him in the nose or ear with the pipe cleaners.  :)  LOL.  That kid is a joker!

Aaaahhhhh......
Finally...
The Professor slept.

My kids are AWESOME travelers!

They each carried their own (age appropriately sized) backpack with toys and in flight supplies,
and
they had a pull along backpack with clothes, stuffed animals, and blankies.

(OK - I confess...they each some of my clothes in their pull alongs!)

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Hawaii...Here We Come!

For many years we have been talking about going to Hawaii when Ashley turned 16.  A couple years ago, after the twins were born (and placed with us), and Tyler was living with us, Ashley said, "Guess we won't be going to Hawaii."  Tim and I talked and decided...lets just do it!  So, we saved and saved and guess what?  We are in Hawaii!

How do you travel to Hawaii with ...
a husband who hates to fly...
a 16 year old who hates to fly...
three toddlers under the age of 4 who either haven't flown or don't remember flying...
and
a mom who always overpacks...

You read A LOT of online suggestions, and ask your experienced FaceBook friends!

I was prepared...
1.  We were not checking bags.  We don't fly often enough to get the free luggage rates, and $35/bag was not in our budget.  That meant one carry on and one personal item each.  (Oh crud!  How am I going to do it?  I started panicing in October!)
2.  I researched Hawaii's car seat laws...good thing too since they are way more strict than AZ! 
3.  Got the ridiculously high rental rates to rent a car seat and decided to take our own!  It meant three bulky items to carry, but we saved $300!
4.  I packed each boy their own backpack with: stickers, paper, crayons, blanket, stuffed animal, pipe cleaners, chapstick, and a ridiculous amount of candy.

Feeling guilty for all the candy...
I mixed Craisins, cashews, and sunflower seeds with the m&ms.
Yep, pretty tricky of me.
Unfortunately, if you sat with Tim...he made you eat the nuts first!
He was less than thrilled with the giant candy bag!

Just a small sampling of what went into the candy bag...
The plane ride was 8 hours!  I wanted my kids happy.  I figured we could get them back on track when we got home.

Here is Aiden...
eating the donut that I got him for breakfast...
did I mention that I was going for "Mom of the Year"?

Tyler...my junk food aholic!  Yep, he's all smiles!

We basically took up residency in one corner of our gate area.
6 people
12 bags
3 car seats
5:am - we really didn't care!

Isaiah waiting for the plane.
So glad I washed his shoes before we left...
sheesh!  Some mom I am...
Did I mention the "Mom of the Year" thing?
Yep...

My Four Kids
with the Hawaiian Airlines Plane!
Yippee!

OK - so he's about done and we haven't taken off!

Always the awesome sister...
not sure if they were looking at pictures,
listening to music,
or reading texts.

My amazing 16 year old being patient with her little brother...
watching planes land and take off is super fun though!

The Boys...
waiting...

Off we go!....