The Way Home

I hope this doesn't throw you for too much of a loop, but let's start with the way home, shall we? That way it can be more like a debrief to get all the unpleasantness out of the way. Actually it was fine once we got going, but it was by far the most harrowing check-in experience I have ever had.

We checked the flight status before leaving for the airport. Two hours late. Logically enough, that made us rush to the airport ever sooner which turned out to be good. We thought it was because of the dense fog outside and figured the whole airport was socked in. We began to think otherwise when we tried to check in and they were like oh, that flight. Then they actually had us switch airlines, which involved briskly walking through two terminals with all of our entourage only to land ourselves at the end of a huge line with ominous 45 MINUTE CUTOFF signs blinking everywhere. We couldn't get seats together because we had been booked on that flight so late, and would be left to the mercy of nearby passengers as to whether we could sit with Dylan. Then on to an enormous security line, which at first went well -- Dylan was our ticket to the express stroller line. Our actual tickets, however, were our ticket to the SECONDARY LINE. The SECONDARY LINE is a depressing little corral of 5-6 people, all wondering how they got there, with no entrance or exit without an employee escort. We naively thought we had been pulled out of line because our flight was getting too close and we needed to be rushed through. One full body scan and many many minutes later we were granted the privilege of shuffling quickly toward our gate. I am sad to report that one bag of liquids was left behind in the process, may it rest in peace. Then, with time for neither diaper change nor use of bathroom, we were on.

We went through Chicago instead of Philly as we were originally supposed to. I liked having two medium flights with Dylan much better than one very short one and one six hour one, although she really was fine the whole time. In the end we got into Rochester two hours earlier than our original flights would have, even with no delays. And I think we all learned a little something about ourselves in the process.

One nice thing was that Dylan silently drifted off to sleep in her car seat on one of the flights. I think she has done that about three times in her life. It was sad though because she doesn't do that whole sleeping like a baby thing -- instead she did that nodding off to sleep only to jerk awake when your head bobs down too low thing. It was really sad to watch and I couldn't figure out how to help her position the pillow better. But she did end up with a decent nap that got her through many hours of flying.

Thanks to Gavin and Cathe for all the hospitality and generally catering to our every whim! Sorry about that trip to IKEA!