flying {with a screaming baby}

We took a little vacation to Florida with my family.

It was actually for my cousin's wedding,

but we snuck in a little beach time while we were there too.

This meant Levi got to experience his first plane ride.

The rest of my family was already in Florida,

so it was just the three of us.

I was glad Joel could come along.

I love being together for Levi's "firsts".

I tend to be sentimental like that.

Levi did awesome.

In fact several different people commented on how 

well behaved and happy he was.

Maybe it was the TV in front of his seat??

I thought we had a good little traveler on our hands.

When we got to Tampa he was grinning and squealing 

all the way through the airport.

And it was way past his bedtime.

Silly boy.

Joel had to come home a little early because of work.

So, on the way home we had some new traveling buddies.

Levi and I tagged along with my sister and brother-in-law 

and my niece Ellie (who is actually my brother's daughter).

These are our "before flight" pictures.

Look how happy we all are!

We had no idea what the next hours would hold...

We boarded our plane and were waiting to take off.

The captain announced that there were thunderstorms in Atlanta.

Our flight would be delayed thirty minutes before we could take off.

Thirty minutes went by and the captain came on again.

We were being delayed another fifty minutes.

By this time Levi was getting very grouchy.

And Ellie was getting pretty squirmy.

And all the adults on the plane were pretty grouchy too.

We did finally take off...two hours after boarding.

But by this time my baby was screaming...really screaming.

In fact I am pretty sure that I have never heard him scream like that before.

And he screamed for close to an hour before FINALLY falling asleep.

I was THAT mom. 

Stuck on a plane with a screaming baby.

At one point Ellie looked at my sister and told her that 

if Levi didn't stop crying she was going to cry too.

I knew exactly how she was feeling.

I felt like crying too.

An experience like that will keep a mama humble.

And I'm pretty sure my sister will never have kids.

(Anne, you should really reconsider.

Levi needs another cousin!)

We made it to Atlanta only to find out we had 

missed our connecting flight by ten minutes.

Seriously.

We were stuck again.

At least it wasn't in a plane this time.

And at least the screaming baby was still asleep.

We were given hotel and meal vouches and pointed towards the shuttles.

They told us it would take two hours if we wanted to pull our luggage.

So we decided we could live without our stuff for one night.

We walked out to find the shuttle and instead found 

tons of other people who had also missed their flights.

We waited over an hour before we finally got on.

By this time Ellie started crying...

"I want my mama. I don't want to get on a white bus. 

I want my mama to pick me up."

She didn't understand why her mama couldn't pick her up at this airport.

And we were starting to worry that someone was going 

to wonder why this crying little girl wasn't with her mama.

Poor girl.

Thankfully Levi slept through this part too.

I don't know if we could have handled two crying kiddos.

We finally got to the hotel about 12:30 that night.

This little guy slept from thirty minutes into our flight 

(after he finished screaming of course) until eight o'clock the next morning. 

I didn't even take him out of his car seat. 

When he woke up he was so happy. 

I just couldn't stay too made at him!

And Miss Ellie woke up pretty happy too. 

She really was so good considering all we went through.

We got to the airport extra early the next morning 

to make sure we could actually get home.

After getting our tickets all figured out, 

we passed the time by taking walks through the airport...

...and feeding the baby Starbucks...

...and playing games on Aunt Anne's iPhone.

And besides the thirty minute delay on this flight
and not being able to find our luggage when we got back to Wichita,
we all made it home safe and sound.
(Yes, we did get stuck on the plane AGAIN for forty five minutes.
This time because they had to go back to the gate
and replace a part on the plane.
And we did eventually find our luggage, it just took awhile.)

Let's just say we were glad to be home!

**********************

On a different note...

I shipped all the Cora's orders today.

AND

If you are the Karina who left me a comment about not being able to get a dress the day I posted them, will you please e-mail me??

Have a good weekend!