We made it!!

It's been a busy couple of weeks for us, that's why it's been a while since my last post. Rob finished up his training in North Carolina the first week of June and we spent the days after that getting ready to make the big move across country to Mountain Home, Idaho. That meant,  packing up our belongings, cleaning out our apartment, having Rob's two cars shipped and getting ourselves to the airport - with a lot of baggage! Of all my time spent with Rob and the boys, I'd have to say the flight across the country has been the biggest challenge I've faced thus far. I realized it wasn't going to be an easy task, but I thought two flights, each about 2.5hrs long, one layover, it can't be that bad....right?

Our day started with Rob and I schlepping 6 suitcases, 3 backpacks, a stroller, pack n play, 2 car seats, diaper bag and 2 children to the check-in counter at the airport - with no help from anyone but the two of us. Next stop was security, we got into the designated line for families as TSA has recognized that families usually have more things and take longer to get through security checkpoint. Rob and I were trying to get all of our things loaded on to the x-ray conveyor belt as the line behind us was stacking up. It came time to remove our shoes, but Andrew was not having any of it. We told him he needed to take his shoes off because it was the rules and he started to pitch a fit. Much to his dislike, shoes came off and it was time for Andrew to walk through the metal detectors. Andrew was still clutching his Bear Bear stuffed animal when the guard told him he needed to put Bear Bear in the bin on the conveyor belt to be x-rayed, and that's when our patients started to go out the window. Andrew throws himself on the floor in a temper tantrum because he does not want to part with his Bear Bear. There is a line of people waiting and staring as I frantically pick Andrew off the floor and lovingly push him through the metal detectors and to the other side. Although embarrassed and a bit frustrated, crisis somewhat diverted. . .

Our first flight was from Raleigh to Chicago was approximately 2hrs long. Our seats for this flight were a bit split up, it was a smaller plane with 2 seats on each side of the isle. Andrew and James sat next to each other and I was assigned a seat the row in front of the boys. Rob was across the isle from the boys but on the window seat. We thought for sure once we got on the plane that people would be willing to trade the isle seat next to Rob for my window seat in front of the boys so that we could all be in the same row - but I guess some people would rather listen to screaming fighting children for 2 hours. The "gentleman" who was sitting in the isle seat next to Rob and  across from the boys did not want to switch seats with me because he wanted to have more legroom being on the isle. Since Rob was against the window there really wasn't much he could do to control the boys. I on the other hand got  to be referee by sticking my arm between the two seats and reaching back to stop the boys from fighting with each other, hand them snacks, pacifiers, movies, books and the like. We had about 20 minutes left of our flight when we got an overhead message from the flight attendant that we would not be able to land in Chicago at the moment because thunderstorms had rolled in and no one was able to land or take off from the airport -great! We flew around in the air for about 40 minutes in hopes that the storms would clear, but of course it didn't and we were forced to land in nearby Columbus, Ohio to refuel and wait it out. While waiting on the tarmac in Ohio for about and hour, James entertained himself and everyone else on the plane by going up and down the isle showing off his Buzz Lightyear toy. He was not too thrilled when we had to strap him back in his car seat for the 50min flight into Chicago. Thankfully the day's events  (thus far) had tired him out and he was able to nap the rest of the flight. Our connecting flight out of Chicago to Boise was canceled due to the weather and the only other flight going to Boise was not until 8:30pm which meant 6 hours to kill at the Chicago O'Hare airport. Thankfully Chicago O'Hare is a huge airport with a lot to offer. They had a big indoor playground that we took the boys to so they could run out some energy and kill time. Since Rob is in the military we were able to take advantage of the USO at the airport. For those of you not familiar with the USO it stands for United Services Organization, run by volunteers , there are USO's at most major airports, it's a place where military personnel and their families can go to relax in between flights, get some food, watch tv and get waited on by their amazing volunteers. They had a separate family room that we hung out in. It was filled with toys, books, tv/dvd player, it couldn't have been more perfect. A cozy room filled with everything the boys could ever/want and need, they were not even concerned that we had been hanging around for 6 hours because they were having so much fun playing. Rob and I on the other hand were getting pretty antsy. 

It was finally time for us to catch our flight to Boise - which ended up being delayed about 40mins. The boys did great on the second flight and slept almost the entire flight - and this time we were able to sit together;) We finally arrived in Boise just after midnight Mountain time - which meant 2am for us. My parents had met us at the airport, and thankfully all of our luggage was there waiting for us too. Between my parents rental car and Rob's rental we were able to get all the luggage to fit as we pour our tired bodies into the car. Unfortunately our trip was not done we still had to drive 40 min to get to Mountain Home from Boise. We checked into our darling Bed and Breakfast and crashed - well almost. I thought for sure I'd fall right to sleep but I kept going over the days events and I tossed and turned for an additional hour before finally getting some rest. It was a very long day, but I'm glad we finally made it!!

The boys enthralled in a video on the plane