Utah holds the magic of family during the holidays. Each year we make the trip, dread the travel, love the stay and I still find myself thinking next year I am just staying home.
Packing for the trip always holds much excitement at our house. Tate and Ian love playing peek-a-boo and hide-and-seek as soon as the luggage comes out. Ian also decided the bags make great dumping grounds for toys. What accumulated in that bag in less than an hour would have taken me ages to decide upon. Maybe next time I'll just let him pack; entertainment would definitely be covered. When I really did pack the bags and the kids were no longer allowed to play in them there was some weeping and wailing throughout the house.
Tate decided to take matters into his own hands and pack for himself. Note the loaded backpack on his back too. Trimming this entourage down to four toys took four hours and 2 parents. It was quite the feat.
Upon arrival at the airport we found that our flight was delayed. It was due to mechanical problems so we decided to take our chances and head to Chicago in hopes that our connection would also be late. Of course fate was not so kind and we ended up spending the night in a hotel. Luckily we were stuck with friends. There was another family and a friend from our ward on the flight as well and we all had a party hanging out and waiting for our next flight; the earliest one we could get confirmed on was at 8:30 p.m. the following day. Ian slept through the 2 hour wait to get our hotel and flight changed and Tate slept in the stroller during the 30 minute line to check in. We left our house in Davenport at 4 and were finally settled in our hotel at midnight. The kids slept 6 whole hours. It was by far the best our kids have ever done in a hotel as far as sleeping and much less stressful than I expected.
With a day to kill and no wheels to utilize we set about keeping busy in our small enclosure. Ian read a book all about Chicago.
Tate colored for a half hour!!! It was monumental. It helped that we had a wall of windows that looked out over the train that shuttled people from parking to the airport. It whooshed by every 15 minutes on the dot and was probably the highlight of my little man's life. We could also see all the planes taking off and landing. It was pretty cool.
So cool it put Ian to sleep. Note the train in the right side of the picture.
There was a lot of buddy bonding going on. Tate was so sweet to hold Ian's hand for about 15 minutes as we wandered around. I much prefer this to the side stoop I have to do to guide him along.
Ian and our little friend hanging out and watching Micky Mouse Clubhouse in a hotel crib. We had 2 of these in our room, one for Ian and one for Tate and then a King size bed. It was the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in. Someday I hope to have one this wonderful.
The middle of our hotel. It was really cool. I would love to visit again minus the kids.
After checking out of our hotel around 4 we headed to the airport. Upon arriving so early I decided we should check out an earlier flight. They ended up having room for us. As we were waiting to board I looked away from Tate to wipe Ian's nose and when I turned to find him he had exited the airport to the baggage area. Our gate was right next to a revolving door exit that was to awesome for my three year old to pass up. With 10 minutes to boarding I had to grab our passes and my ID and run like the wind with him to go through security yet again. I was pulsing angry vibes as Tate kept saying, "Mommy I don't want to be in trouble." We ended up getting onto the plane with attitudes and energy plummeting south by the minute. Ian fell asleep with take off to spike a fever an hour into the 4 hour flight. Oh the adventure of travel with children....
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