Flying on Friday

So on Friday we had the wonderful experience of flying for 5 hours on a plane with three kids under the age of four. If you think that this was a stressful time for me, then you are absolutely right!!! (thus the lack of pictures). I probably would have been stressed out if it was just Tom and I, but worrying about car seats, formula, apple juice, and keeping three kids entertained was a major source of stress.

I really struggled with the formula thing. I read on-line that they had become more lax with the liquids that you could bring on board....but in some places it looked like 3oz was the maximum amount you could bring. And how on earth am I supposed to keep a five month old happy and fed with only 3oz. I called Delta and the lady told me that I could bring a reasonable amount of formula, but to pre-mix it and find some way to keep it warm.?? (I decided that this particular lady had no clue about how formula actually works.) AND that I would have to taste each bottle before going through security. So after fretting about it for days, I went to the store at 11pm the night before our trip and bought a small can of powder formula and six small pre-mixed bottles. I also brought some powder formula and empty bottles. As it turned out, this was overkill. I told the security guy that I had formula in the bag and he was like, 'okay, thanks." and that was the end of it.

And gone are the days of bringing two bags per person and carry-on items. I thought that I was doing good to pack only five suitcases and one garment bag. When we got to the baggage drop off, Tom found that we had to pay $15 for the first five bags, and that garment bag cost us a whopping $25!!! Needless to say, that garment bag will be folded up and stuffed into a suitcase for the return flight.

But that was the end of my complaining about our flight. We were able to check both car seats and our large double stroller at the door of the airplane free of charge! And the flight attendants (an all male cast) were a great help. The carried Abbie Grace to her seat, and grabbed my bags from me. You would have thought that we were first class or something. Once settled, they continually came and offered us beverages and tried to help entertain the kids. I was VERY impressed with their attentiveness.

As we sat down in our seats (we all five had our own seats. There is NO way that we could have held any of the kids for five hours straight) Tom and I noticed that there were TV screens on the back of every seat. And it wasn't just an in-flight movie. They had local tv shows, pay-per-view movies, and even games.

The kids did great for the flight. Abbie Grace slept most of the flight, and only had one bottle (even thought it seems I packed enough for about 20 bottles). Lucius was entertained by SpongeBob and coloring books. Maggie slept a little and then entertained the passengers around us by running up and down the aisles.