Maile Girl and I traveled to Chicago this weekend to visit with the great grandparents and other Chicago-based family members. We had an amazing trip and will cover some of the highlights over the next few days.
The trip home, however, did not go very smoothly. We ended up being delayed 5 hours and had to switch planes TWICE. Switch planes as in, board the plane, get everything settled, pack everything back up again, de-board the plane, wait around for awhile, board another plane, get everything settled, pack everything back up again, de-board the plane, wait around for awhile, board another plan, get everything settled … and finally, take off for home!
Needless to say, quite the adventure traveling solo with a three year old. I have to say – Maile was a rock star. She had one mini melt down over some confusion between the two of us during our second boarding where I thought she said she needed to go potty, but she insisted she didn’t, but I decided better safe than sorry and Maile decided she doesn’t subscribe to that philosophy.
Other than that though – she was great. She ate lots of snacks, danced some ballet in the waiting area, chatted up the Chinese couple with the baby in the seat behind us (in Mandarin no less!) and only made me read the same three books we brought a half dozen times.
The trick for me while we were waiting on the runway for 5 hours was when to go to the iPad. I knew I had a four hour flight ahead of us once we finally took off, so I didn’t want to go to it too early (and risk a VERY long flight with a little girl who was no longer interested in the magical screen). The iPad was like my water in the desert – I wanted to keep it available just in case that mirage in the distance wasn’t actually us taking off for San Francisco. I’m going to pat myself on the back and say that I made it all the way through the delay without going to the iPad (thanks to the aforementioned old school books and a very timely art project purchase Grandma Jill sent along with us).
In the end we made it home and Mommy was waiting for us at the gate – Maile Girl gets an A+ for being a travel rock star – she can be my adventure wing girl any time!
Home in San Francisco ... at last!
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