up in the air

The plan for the week was very straight forward. I was traveling to NY with Steven, Sammy and Amaya on Saturday morning and Aunt Sara was flying to Detroit on Friday night to help me with my travels. The craziness with Delta resulted in a nearly last minute flight cancellation for Sara with no hope of getting her to Detroit in time for our flight the next morning. I wasn’t planning to fly alone with the kids until they were at least 4 years old but I suppose necessity isn’t just the mother of invention, it’s the mother of doing things like flying alone with three 3 year olds. More on that later, though.

This week we finally got SSA’s school photos back! I love them! Look at these little personalities. And the kids look so BIG.

This photo below was just 6 months ago! Such a huge change!

Steven was a total ham. I’m told that he took direction phenomenally well and cheesed it up for the camera. My little Bobes.

Brothers! <3

Sammy cried and cried leading up to the photos so I’m happy we got some happy pictures of this bright eyed guy.

Little Miss Sass. Such a big girl!

She was very excited to wear her “jean jacket” in the pictures.

Rosie had the great idea to make a fort behind our living room sofa. The kids love it! I think Steven would move in if he could.

On Thursday morning I ducked out of work for an early lunch to attend a Family Seder at the JCC. I love being able to see the kids during the day, especially for such special events. The program primarily consisted of Passover-friendly snacks and a song on stage from each class.

I do not have joiners so I wasn’t surprised when Amaya and Sammy absolutely refused to go on stage with their class but I was thrilled that Steven gave it a shot! Rather than sing, he spent the time talking about the hats (my Steven <3) but he did it ! And without his brother and sister. The best part is that they were singing a Passover song I remember from my own childhood.

Don’t let this happy picture deceive you. Leaving the JCC was a nightmare. Amaya insisted on sitting to pee on the potty in the van twice and refused to get in her seat. Three year olds can be near impossible. Then they do something adorable and you almost forget the premature grays and bags under your eyes.

On Friday, after school, Megan took Sammy and Amaya out for lunch! Mac & cheese and salad. No surprise there!

Why wasn’t Steven with them? It’s because he was at the ball game with his Daddy!!! Steven and Jason went to Tigers Opening Day together. Sweetest thing ever. Steven was so excited. He even made a point to run to tell Miss Penny where he was going before he left school for the day.

By all accounts, they had a great time. Steven lasted until the 7th inning. He saw baseball players, helicopters, rode a ferris wheel (his first) and rode a carousel flanked by Tigers Girls.

Holding onto Daddy in line.

On the ferris wheel.

New hat for the Bobes! Jason said strangers were all commenting about how cute he was.

Steven and his entourage.

Steven and Daddy, taking it all in.

So, as I mentioned, Sara’s flight was canceled and I decided I’d fly with the kids on my own. (Because, really, there wasn’t another option.) There were no safety issues. An airport and an airplane are more controlled environments than a lot of places I take the kids on my own. But it’s definitely a chaotic environment.

Our fligt was at 8:30am so I set my alarm for 4:30am with a plan to leave for the airport by 5:45am. Jason would drive us and help me get the luggage checked. By chance, I woke up around 3am and happened to check my flight details. I didn’t know what was going on but I was no longer checked in for my 8:30am flight and we were booked on an 8PM flight. I immediately called Delta and got a message saying the wait time was 24- 30 HOURS to get someone on the phone. It was crazy. I spent the next 90 minutes on hold, stewing and stressing out because I didn’t know what was going on. I was convinced we weren’t going to be on the morning flight but, just to get another point of view, I woke up Jason at 4:45am and he suggested we go to the airport and find out what was happening. So we woke the kids at 5am and got the show on the road.

As we were getting ready to leave I did get connected with an agent who told me that my flight was canceled and, when the flight was reinstated, we’d already been rebooked on a different flight. But the 8:30am flight was back on and I wanted on that plane! We drove to the airport while I stayed on hold with the agent and, while Jason waited outside, I spent 45 minutes in line in the airport waiting to talk to someone while simultaneously staying on the phone with the phone agent who was still trying to help.

I don’t know how she did it but all 4 of us were rebooked on our original flight. And off we went! By then, it was 7am. I’d been up for 4 hrs and our day was just getting started. Don’t mind me while I share 8 million airport/airplane photos.

Steven, Sammy and Amaya did great. We were delayed 2.5 hrs but they stayed entertained and cooperative almost the whole time. I used some m&ms to reward good listening and that worked really, really well. Gotta break out the big guns in a situation like this. 😉

Eating breakfast and watching airplanes take off.

Amaya’s face when she realized she could pee in her pull-up, lol.

I thought we were going to miss our flight when Amaya decided she had to be the one to open this very heavy bathroom door. We waited a looooooong time for her to finally ask for help. Toddler madness.

Watching the terminal train go back and forth. Everyone wanted to ride the train but, once we got close, Sammy changed his mind. Steven and Amaya were great about the change in plans when I explained that Sammy was nervous and we needed to stick together.

I let everyone pick out an activity book in one of the airplane stores. They were excellent distractions.

Boarded! This was really stressful. I knew one of the kids would have to sit across an aisle from me and I had to play it carefully. Somehow I convinced Steven to sit across from me and bribed him with access to my iPad. He was great about it. Such a big kid. We didn’t know it at the time but it turned out there wasn’t even anyone sitting next to him on the flight! Plus we were in the last row which made me feel a little less obvious as I tried to corral the kids.

The flight attendant gave Steven a kaleidoscope to distract him during take-off. I don’t think he needed it, but it was still really sweet.

Enjoying the ride.

YES, PLEASE.

Sammy fell asleep about 20 minutes before we landed. He was so sweet.

Nana captured these pictures of us arriving at baggage claim. <3

Yay!! WE DID IT!!

Arriving at Nana & Papa’s house. Hi Chase!

It was a lovely, quiet afternoon. (Well, probably not all that quiet.)

^^I was sleeping while everyone was outside. BLISS.

Being with my children in my childhood bedroom will never, ever get old.

This morning, SSA got some great time with Uncle Austin before the madness started.

There was also time to bake with Nana while she prepped for Passover.

The main event of the morning was Chase’s championship deck hockey game. Such a nice thing for us all to go do together.

Watching their big cousin

The boys with the champion!

This afternoon we all went to Halls Pond park. How crazy to be in this park with my kids. I couldn’t even being to count the amount of time I spent at Halls Pond growing up. Hell, my mom & dad even had their wedding photos taken there! Little things like that feel pretty special.