Texas Trip #1

So most of you know that I am in Texas now with the girls. I thought I ought to tell about our trip so far and keep everyone in the loop. Maybe even with some pictures. =)

So the scariest part, or the part I was most nervous about, was the plane ride. I mean, I wasn’t too worried about actually being in Texas alone, as Dad and Patricia and my grandpa would be there to help out with the kids and it would all be just fine. But me alone with 2 toddlers on the plane? That is just plain scary!

I shouldn’t have worried. I should have known I could count on the sexist way that strangers treat dads with children, showering praise on them while treating them as incompetent Homer Simpson wannabes.

So Märia dropped us off at around 615 or so for an 805 plane ride. We were at our gate by 635, and had an hour and a half to burn. And the place was empty. I can’t imagine a better place for two toddlers to explore than a nearly empty airport terminal. They had a blast running and jumping in and out of the terminal chairs and looking out the big windows and seeing the “big jet”s. There is this big jet on Seporah’s favourite show that goes by the name “big jet” and that was all Seporah could say. And boy was she happy when she found out that she was gonna get to ride a big jet!

So we boarded the plane and I can’t imagine having gotten a nicer seatmate. We were in the middle rows, with three seats. I was on one end with Felicity on my lap, and Seporah was in the middle. On the other side of Seporah was a nice asian lady (and so Seporah had to call her “doctor” – there is a story there all by itself!) who horribly missed her two grandchildren. Seporah literally spent half the 5 hour flight with her head in this lady’s lap, and both of them loved the whole ride! Felicity was mostly good, with only a couple loud, but short fits. The flight attendants all loved the kiddos and gave us extra attention. And you know those special meals and snacks that cost extra money? Yeah, not for us. Free food!

So the first plane ride went very well, and we made it to Los Angeles in one place physically and mentally. Our layover in Los Angeles was 4 hours long, by design believe it or not. Märia and I thought they might need some running around time between the flights and it turned out to be a good idea. But there was a surprise for us waiting at LAX. Our next ride was at a different terminal, and we had to ride a bus to get there! Seporah had a blast riding the bus, and she called it a train of course. So we got to another nearly empty terminal and I found an electrical outlet to charge up the laptop so they would have a movie to watch on the next plane and they started running around.

Our next plane was empty. Seriously. It was one of those smaller planes that have 3 seats on one side, and 2 on the other side. We picked seats at the back of the plane, near the engines, on the side that had two seats. The two seat side so we wouldn’t bother anyone, and the back so the noise would drowned out screaming toddlers. Yeah, that wasn’t neccessary. As soon as we were ready to take off a stewardess came back and said it was silly for us to sit on the two seat side when there were so very many seats open. So they moved us up mid plane and over to the side with 3 seats. The three seats in front of us were empty, and the three seats behind us were empty! We had plenty of room! This was a flight without a meal, just pretzels and a drink, but the flight attendants gave us free first class snacks and cookies. Both girls were good on this flight too, and Seporah got some sleep. Felicity wouldn’t, and she seemed really sad, but didn’t throw too much trouble.

Okies, that is it for now, that was plenty long. Here are some pictures at the airport to reward you for reading so much drivel. =)