New York- Getting There

Oh boy, because of picture overload on this trip I honestly have not even attempted to go through them all! We looked at them once when we got back and the 1000+ picture folder has just been a tad bit overwhelming to sit down, sort through, and blog about, ever since.

But today I will start... or at least try! Who knows how many parts there will actually end up being!

For the record, I just want to say we were totally ready for this trip! Granted we had to leave at 2:30am, but still, we kicked preparing for this trip's booty! In fact, that night we left, we stopped at a friend's house for a little bit, and had the missionaries over! And we were in bed by 10! Which I actually call a win!

I have been SO excited for this trip, so I started preparing SUPER early and it actually was very very beneficial!

We had the car already packed and so at 2:30 am, we got up, got dressed and moved the kids from their beds to their car seats and took off. And just as we had hoped, the kids slept all the way to Jake's house.

From here we had a 20-30 minute drive to the airport. We stopped at Jake's first because he was nice enough to take the ride with us so he could drive our car back so we wouldn't have to leave it at the airport.
(Thanks Jake!)

And this ride was way shorter than expected! Since it was only 4 in the morning, it literally took us only 15 minutes to get there! So that was awesome!

So we said good bye to Jake and started the "airplane experience" with two kids under the age of two.

Of course the line was HUGE as soon as we got there. I'm talkin' a 30 minute wait at minimum. And of course, half way through, our stroller broke. Luckily, Izaac could still sit in it and be strapped. But the cup holder part wouldn't stay on.

But it was okay. One of the things I am most grateful for in my husband, is that in situations like this (at an airport where something goes wrong) he is incredibly calm, so it honestly wasn't even a big deal that this happened.

And everything else went smooth. Both kids were great, checking our bags went great, and even security was just great.

We opted not to take the car seat on the plane. We went back and forth, oh, I don't know, a BAZILLION times lol, but we opted to check it, and we didn't take our double stroller either even though I had planned on it. We called both airports to make sure it was allowed, but in the end (literally the last two minutes before we went to bed the night before) I decided to just bring our little umbrella one.

So our load wasn't quite as big as it could have been, which was nice.

Next thing we knew, we were on the first plane! It was so fun! Lexi was SO excited to be on a plane and was literally just in awe. We gave her the window seat and she just stared out that window for the longest time. And because Izaac woke up for the trip to the airport from Jake's, and was awake for the whole time at the airport, he was actually already very tired. So we gave him a bottle right at take off and he fell sound asleep.

I remember thinking after he fell asleep, wow this is going to be so easy! Especially because Jimmy was holding Izaac.

LOL

Well after about 15 minutes of our perfect plane ride, Jimmy tried to get more comfortable and caused Izaac to wake up. Oh my goodness, Izaac FREAKED out! Literally screaming at the top of his lungs, like he was going to die at any given time.

This of course made all of us on edge, including Lexi. Let's just say, the next 15 minutes were the exact opposite of the first. Looking back it is somewhat funny (somewhat).

Luckily in only about 15 minutes (even though it seemed like an eternity) I got Izaac to fall back asleep and Lexi fell asleep too.

And they actually slept the whole rest of the plane ride. So it actually was a pretty good time.

Next was our lay over. We didn't have too much time but we still managed to get both kids dressed and get some food. And it was really nice to let the kids move for a little bit, especially Izaac. However, I actually think it made it worse a little, since we had to put him BACK on another plane.

This plane was harder because he did NOT want to sit still and he was NOT tired lol. So the whole time I was constantly getting out snacks and toys. Snacks and toys, while Jimmy helped Lexi.

This time I remember Jimmy looking at me and saying, "How are you gonna do this on your own?" I had no clue whatsoever. Because even though both kids weren't crying, it was still very BUSY.

Luckily I had read about some good tricks! The best one was tying ribbon to all of Izaac's toys so that if he were to chuck or drop them, I would still have a grip on it since I would hold the end of the ribbon. This trick saved my life. So thank you random blogger that I don't remember.

Anyways, it was music to my ears when the captain told us we were in descent! And it was magical to step off the plane and put Izaac in the stroller. Even with Jimmy taking turns with me. It's tough to hold a baby THAT long! (Especially one that is enormous!)

And it was wonderful having mom pick us up in a mini van. She of course had lots of snacks and fun things for us and it made the drive so nice! Thanks mom!

And pretty soon, we were at Nona's house!

Looking back, we actually had a really great day. Busy and long, but good. It was also very bonding.

We haven't really "traveled" together as a family, since Izaac was born and it was really nice going out, just the four of us. I would do it again in a heart beat!

Anyways, stay tuned for New York, Part One!