Kwan Family Adventures

Texas-bound!

The day had finally come when I was going to Texas, taking my two children by myself. I had prepared as best as I could to meet the challenges of flying with kids, but I was still anxious about this big day! Uncle Stephen drove us to the airport & was gracious enough to park the van & come inside to help me check in. Thank God! I only had one piece of luggage, but I also had 1 double stroller, 2 car seats & 3 carry-ons. And Uncle Stephen was so great, distracting both the kids, until I had a chance to check in my luggage & car seats.
Afterwards, I was on my own, going through the security checkpoint. I was amazed (since I was mentally prepared for what I needed to do) that everything actually went really fast & really smoothly. I was able to put all the carry-ons onto the conveyor belt, take the children out of the double stroller & also put the stroller on the conveyor belt. Thankfully, Nicole did not run away & Jason was able to sit on the floor while I did these things. And thankfully, the security personnel did not need to examine any of us or our belongings.
Once we boarded the airplane, that was a different story! What chaos! And in such a tiny space! It seemed like I needed another pair of hands to keep up with the kids' needs & wants, not to mention their acrobatic antics!
Jason kept on crawling all over me & Nicole. I guess he didn't really have much of a choice, actually.
Being in such close quarters, it was nice to see some friendly sibling interaction. But only some...
I really have to say that Nicole was absolutely great on this trip. I was afraid that she'd run off away from me (because she's likely to do that), but she was really good about staying closeby when I asked her to. And since I had packed a lot of toys & activities for her, as well as her favorite snacks in her "snack bag", she was fairly easily entertained.
Jason also did well for the first segment of the trip. Even though he was in a new, noisy environment, I managed to get him to sleep for a little bit after the plane took off, maybe an hour. I was able to fall asleep, too, while holding him!
But, as expected, the flight was just too long for li'l Jason to handle. During the last hour or two of the flight, he became increasingly agitated & difficult to soothe. Towards the very end, he couldn't be placated by anything - different positions, different toys, different sounds, food, nothing! By the time we landed, I was in a bit of a manic, panic mode, trying to grab all three of my carry-on bags (one of which had been moved downstream in the overhead bin by someone else, making it impossible for me to reach it on my own), sling them all haphazardly onto me, tuck my tired, cranky & crying baby under one arm, while clutching the hand of my toddler, for fear she'd fly with the wind, once she tasted freedom!
Needless to say, I was SOOOOOOOO relieved to see Kung Kung, Po Po waiting for us at baggage claim. Jason had fresh arms to hold him & Nicole had some new snacks & big open space to run around in.
I was even more relieved to sit down at a nice family dinner at Souper Salad. It was a nice way to end a very long, strenuous day. I was wiped out for the rest of the week! Thank goodness Auntie Amy was able to take some time off of work to spend with us!

posted by Becky at 3:27 PM