Traveling to Texas

Traveling with Sadie is not always easy...and it seems like it's getting harder the bigger she gets.  It requires a lot of planning and a big, long "don't forget this" list.  Yesterday, I'm glad our plan didn't leave until noon, because then we had until 9:30 in the morning to get everything we needed packed and ready to go...especially the stuff that was still being used overnight.  It took careful planning.  And by 9:30 I was already exhausted.  I laid on the couch and quizzed myself... "do I have the pump?  Yes. Do I have diapers and extra clothes for the plane?  Yes.  Did I pack all that frozen food I made?  yes.  The sound screen?  Yes."  etc. etc. etc.  I was pretty confident I had it all by the time our ride to the airport arrived.

The airport went pretty smoothly.  We didn't check in early online because our plan was to get a disabled pre-boarding pass and get on the plane first anyway.  And even if they didn't let us have one (we brought the handicapped parking pass just in case), we could still board with families.  Brian flies a lot, so we got to go in the short line to the check-in counter.  Then, we got to go in the short line to security.  So that was nice.

Security was our first big obstacle.  I find that TSA is very inconsistent; not just from airport to airport, but from day to day.  Sometimes they tell us Sadie has to come out of her chair, sometimes they wand her while still in it. Yesterday, they asked us to carry her through.  I refused (since I'm already carrying a baby), but Brian did it.  We declared the medicine and the food, they wanted to look at it, but said it was no big deal.  They didn't even blink at my knitting needles.  We did everything right and there was no scene and it went smoothly, which was so nice.  We got to the gate in record time, I swear.  Considering by the time we got there I had already gone to the bathroom 3 times, we had wrangled our way through security, and we were doing it all with a special needs 2-year-old.

We were flying with my in-laws, who were coming from New Mexico (I know, weird, they came from NM to Phoenix on their way to TX).  We thought they'd be on the plan already and were expecting the plane to land, everybody to get off, then we'd get on...and they'd just stay on the plane.  But it didn't work that way, and as we got up to get in the pre-boarding line, I turned around and there was Grammy standing there!!

Sadie on the airplane being a big girl and sitting in her car seat

This was our first time flying with a car seat so we were a little nervous about getting it installed and having Sadie strapped in for take off and landing.  That's another reason why we wanted to make sure we could pre-board.  Luckily, the flight attendant was really nice and helped us get the car seat strapped in and secure.  Unfortunately, Sadie didn't want to be in the car seat, let alone strapped in!  So, for most of the flight, she was a lap child.  Eventually, she calmed down enough that we were able to sit her in there for part of the flight, but not strap her in.

Sadie's generally been a good flier and we've never really had a lot of problems with her on airplanes, so we knew we'd be fine.  We managed to feed her (thank goodness we didn't have to change her!)  and before we knew it we were descending...and she decided it was time to take a nap.  She got a good 10 minute snooze in before we landed, and luckily nobody cared that she wasn't buckled into her car seat during landing.  That 10 minutes was enough to improve her attitude and she was a gem the rest of the day...which included an hour + car ride to the resort!

Sadie is teething, so she wants to bite and then suck on a rag, which sometimes helps her relax enough to fall asleep

Remember how Sadie used to scream in the car?  Well, luckily she doesn't do that anymore, because where we're staying is at least an hour from anywhere we'll be going on a daily basis.  We're basically in the middle of nowhere, Canyon Lake, TX.  Texas hill country.  Our resort condo/suite reminds us of the Bear Country Jamboree at Disneyland.  It's beautiful here...but there's no internet and barely any phone reception!!  We are right on a lake...but we can't see it from where we're staying.

There is plenty of room to spread out our Sadie's crap, and we have a King size bed, so all 3 of us can fit comfortably!  Our big garden tub has jets and there's a full kitchen in the condo (so Brian and his mom made a grocery store run).  It's comfortable and we made it safely and we're looking forward to a good (but hot) week!!