Taking to the friendly skies

We are heading to hot and sunny Houston, TX for my cousin's wedding. It's going to be a whirlwind weekend trip with lots of great family time. We are finally getting to meet my cousin Lauren's sweet baby boy from CA. The kids are all geared up and excited about flying. This was a long time coming. Carter, who's flown on 50+ planes decided 2 months ago he wasn't flying. He was adamant about it. Everyday he reminded us. No amount of discussing was changing it. Thankfully 2 days before we were leaving he announced he had decided to go, he just needed to think about it for a long time. So off we went on Friday morning. Now my husband has been gently reminding me that this is a "quick trip"- 48 hours to be exact. How much luggage could we really need to take? Well the answer is more than you might think.........

Our reluctant little flyer jumped right in at the airport. He designated himself "the ticket man".
Tell me this is not every parent's dread- the worst part of flying the "friendly" skies........security. I always stand there for a minute surveying all the stuff that has to be taken apart and then reassembled in quick fashion, trying to psych myself up for it. I must say it's gotten much easier. I usually travel solo with the kids, so the extra pair of hands is awesome. Also both the kids are old enough to walk and "help" now. I still remember all those trip with them by myself when you have to take off every one's shoes, empty the bags, defend all your liquids and baby food- praying you get to keep them, disassemble your stroller and car seat to go thru the machine (and the kicker is they can't help you! where are you supposed to put the baby?!), hopefully find your boarding pass and photo id, coax the kids through the x-ray one at a time (and hope they don't get chosen for body search- yes! this actually happened to my 2yr old once? it was crazy in SO many ways, but we won't go there), then try and put everything back together while all the "nice" people in line glare at you. Now I consider myself an organized, go-with-the-flow person, but I have had some harried security experiences. This one however was nice and smooth.........
..........and we came out with all our parts at the end :)
The kids eagerly awaited the arrival of our plane. We were actually early because they had been so excited to leave the house :)

The kids were great travelers. They kept themselves amused with books,
the Water WOW paint sets (love them!),
the PSP, snacks, markers, and tictacs. We made it to Atlanta, grabbed lunch, caught our connection, and were off to Houston. We were very fortunate to be in first class for the second leg and the kids were thrilled. As soon as we boarded, Carter said, "Dad, this is a much better plane than the last one." No kidding, the flight attendant had already given him juice, sun chips, and cookies- and we've only been on here for 10 min! The kids were great and amused themselves most of the flight. We were all excited to be in TX and the kids were intrigued by the baggage claim, elevators, bus, and rental van. That is until they hit the car seats.......
...then they were zonked- completely. I'm talking about the head falling, snoring, drooling kind of sleep. Hopefully 20 minutes will tie them over until bed.
They woke up surprisingly refreshed and excited to see Mimi, Grandpa, Aunt Beth, Uncle Jason, and of course Anderson..... Carter is totally in his element with Mimi and Grandpa. You can just see the thrill and joy on his face :)
I love this shot of the two munchkins and their Daddies. I would love to know what Julia was thinking- probably, "Do you know you're losing your drawers?" or "Hey little man, I used to be the cute blond around here."
She loves playing with him and he's fascinated watching her and listening to her talk. It's fun to watch them get to know each other.