Traveling kids is generally a huge pain, but there are moments where it's very sweet.
Yesterday as we were getting ready to leave, Jack kept going between the car and the apartment loading things up, and the more he left the apartment the more anxious Jane got to leave too. She brought me her shoes and gestured and babbled in a way that was clear she wanted to put them on and go. Once I put her shoes on she kept slipping out the front door as I was trying to finish things up inside. I finally gave up and stood with her at the top of the stairs out front to watch Jack pack up the car, and she seemed content for the moment. It was pretty sweet.
I took this pic while hauling allll our luggage to some seats to wait for Jack to get back from parking the car so we could check in.
At Sacramento airport, Jack and I were checking our many bags and car seats while the girls hung out in the (blessed) double stroller. Suddenly Clara turned around and offered Jane her sippy cup, and even though Jane had refused to drink from it in the last 30-60 minutes, she still willingly held it in her mouth basically as long as Clara wanted, and they both seemed tickled by that.
We rode up the glass elevators, which I genuinely enjoy just on my own, but which are more fun with the girls because they seem very interested in what's happening. Then of course we got to ride the little shuttle from ticketing to the terminal. Jack faced the stroller forward right next to the front window so Clara could watch as we pulled away from "the station." She was so excited. Once the shuttle started moving she shouted "Wheeee! Woohoooo!" a few times and the adults around us were laughing and talking about how it's even better than Disneyland (no wait, and it's free). So that was delightful.
We used TSA Pre-check for the first time, and while the TSA still shouldn't really exist, it was definitely faster and easier than the alternative. Shorter line, and you don't have to take off your shoes or belts or take out your electronics. So that was nice.
When we got to our gate we had plenty of time to spare so we had a little airport picnic of pancakes (gluten free of course, with apples diced in), hard boiled eggs, beef jerkey, and a nut mix. The girls stayed in the stroller while we handed them bits of food, and they ate a lot.
We let the girls out of the stroller to stretch their legs while they still could. I love how at most airports the windows go all the way to the floor, because it means little kids can easily look outside and watch everything going on. They both stood against the window looking outside and for a little while they both lightly kicked the windows and stomped on the window frames listening to the metallic thuds. Clara started walking back and forth along the length of one window frame watching her shadow on the airport carpet. Jane noticed some people sitting a few seats away from us and kept staring at them but wouldn't wave hi back until she had crawled to the safety of my lap. Then she smiled and babbled "hi" a few times.
The flight itself went okay. Neither girl slept but neither got very impatient either. Jane played a lot with trying to move the cards around on Spider Solitaire on my phone. She also got some Doritos from the little girl and Grandma we sat next to. The Kindle kept Clara busy the whole time in the row right in front of us.
In Denver, Clara loved the train from the gates to baggage claim. She and I sat at one end of our car so she could see outside. We were facing the adjoining car and there were two young kids sitting there too, so Clara was facing them. All three pressed their hands against the glass and looked at each other, and when the train started moving all three looked amazed and delighted, to the point where, again, adults around us we're laughing. Clara kept waving to them and saying "Hello my friends!" It was so sweet.
Jane fell asleep on the way to baggage claim and stayed asleep for our wait for Neil to arrive (he got stuck in traffic).
Unfortunately that meant she woke up just as we were loading up the truck, and she was very unhappy to be in her car seat. Inconsolable, at first. That's definitely not part of the joy inventory, but when we stopped for gas I swtiched seats with Jack (so he was in front and I was next to Jane). We also moved Jane's seat to the middle so she was next to Clara, and even though Clara was sound asleep (even snoring), Jane seemed slightly comforted by being near Clara. She kept reaching out to Clara and babbling. She was still crying a lot, but I leaned next to her and sang softly. My theory is she has to stop crying to hear what I'm singing, and it (sort of) worked. She started settling down for the first time in maybe 20-30 minutes. She still kept crying intermittedly but she was definitely winding down. I sang her "If I Only Had a Brain," "Rainbow Connection," "You Don't Know Me," and "Someday," and by the time I was done with all that she was calm enough that I could read her a book and that took her all the way to total calm. (Previously she'd been crying so hard if we got a book out she just shoved it away.) So I read her "A Time for Everything" and then sang her "Wheels on the Bus," and by then she was calm enough I could give her the Kindle and let her browse the kids videos on it. She made it the rest of the trip. It was a huge relief because when we had gotten gas we still had 50 minutes to go, and it was endearing to me that I can still sing to her and it helps a bit.
It was a relief to get to Tejon. Everyone was still there and we got to visit for a while. Jane only wanted to stay in my arms and glare at everyone for quite a while, but once she had some tacos she warmed up and ultimately she and Clara were playing with Malcolm and Rocket upstairs in the kids' room.
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