On our first trip to Oregon since moving to Hawaii, we made a few mistakes... I was flying alone because Cliff was going to come later. He could only get a week off. So we got ready to go and our neighbor dropped us off at the airport!
I was pretty confident that I would do ok with 4 kids on my own... but I neglected to consider some very important details...
Before we went through the security checkpoint I told the kids, "Now listen, there are some words we just can't use in the airport. We don't say, "bomb, explode, gun, and other words like that." Well, that was a big mistake, because right as we were walking into the checkpoint Lochlan says (loudly), "Why can't we say SPLODE?! And why can't we say BOMB?!" We all just shushed him and continued walking.
I put Kaiah at the front of the line of us so she could help Lochlan get his bag on the conveyor belt. She's such a great helper! Mason and Bria were in the middle, and I brought up the rear to make sure everyone was OK. It was a brilliant plan... until Kaiah went through the metal detector. I had completely forgotten to remove her CGM monitor (inserted into her belly) and her insulin pump (with its plastic tube also inserted into another place in her belly) which, of course, alarmed and halted our progress through the door.
When she beeped, we had just put the last of our bags on the belt which totaled 10 carry-ons and 5 personal items. We weren't checking anything... I had to go to the front of the kid line with Kaiah to clear it up. I lifted up her shirt and showed the guy with the wand all of the things attached to her belly while I muttered something about Type 1 Diabetes. He just said, "OOOkay... Umm, I'm going to have her step aside. And I'm going to need you too."
Meanwhile all of our bags/personal items are piling up and smashing together on the other side of the belt and people behind us are looking annoyed (even though we went in the family line). So I tried my best to multitask, calm down Kaiah (who was looking a little unsure of the situation), keep Lochlan from saying "bomb", and grab the bags and put them in a pile near where Kaiah was being searched, wanded and tested for bomb residue on her hands. Yes bomb residue! I told the other kids to hold still and watch the bags. Thankfully the people were able to start moving again. And for a brief moment I thought about how funny this situation was and contemplated taking a picture before I had flashbacks to Malawi when I took a picture going through customs and I almost lost my camera to a very angry security guy. It was about that time that the guy testing Kaiah asked me to put my hands out too for a bomb residue swab. Seriously. Like I was the one who strapped the "bomb stuff" to my daughter. In hind sight, it did look pretty impressive when you consider two things were attached to her stomach and the CGM monitor and pump were hooked on to her shorts. Well, the next time I didn't make that mistake. All that stuff was disconnected and put in the little bucket. At least this time she wasn't required to strip or anything!
Once that was cleared up, we waited for the plane.
When we got in line to board the plane I heard a strange buzzing noise. So as the line moved quickly forward, we were searching our bags for the noise. We found it when we were about 10 people back. It was Cambria's electric toothbrush!
Anyway, because we were trying to figure out the noise, I didn't have time to check our boarding pass. I knew we were in the middle of the plane, and knew the letter... just not the number of the seats. My arms were so loaded down with bags that I didn't pull the passes back out of my bag when we got on the plane. I told the stewardesses that we were on the far side, and they sent me down. I think we hit about 4 people with our bags before we arrived at our row. And in the spot where I thought we were supposed to be was a very annoyed looking guy. Thankfully he stood up so we could get through, but the kids didn't want to go ahead of me. I had to tell each kid exactly where to sit... twice... and try to remain calm. But I was starting to sweat. And I hadn't even put our bags up yet. As I was getting the kids in their places, I could sense a collective groan from everyone in our general area. 4 kids... ugh! At this point, no one behind us was moving. So I just started handing the guy that had to stand up my bags. I think I gave him 5 :) He was a good sport... but he didn't smile.
When we were all situated I talked to the lady in the seats in front of us about Mason and Kaiah who were sitting next to her. I gave her permission to whack them if they needed it and she just kind of half smiled. Cambria sat next to the annoyed guy and was a perfect little quiet princess. Except when she stole my phone and started taking selfies...
I thought it wise to give Lochlan the aisle. He was a busy beaver,
but from the start and throughout the whole flight he charmed the people around us.
And he finally got the orange juice he had been waiting soooo long for!
By the end of the flight the people who seemed so nervous to have us near them were complementing our parenting, saying how fun our kids are, and were totally chatting with them. Mason and Kaiah really hit it off with the lady next to them and they giggled throughout the whole flight over funny videos on the personal tvs. Then, when we were landing, all three of them threw their hands in the air as if it were a roller coaster ride! Funny kids :)
It was a rocky start, but a fun ending and the kids did great. And now I know what not to do when flying with 4 kids alone.
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