Sickly in Seattle

Back in July of 2009, Andrew and I took a trip with his family to visit his grandparents in Seattle. We flitted around like free little birdies hopping from one sight to another. He even took me up on Mt. Rainier and asked a semi-important question that came with a shiny rock. Oh the simplicity of that time.

Fast forward to November 2016. The Reynolds went back to Seattle. This time with 3 extra kids in tow.

The day we left started out fairly optimistic. We got through the airport with 4 kids as smooth as anyone could, if you don’t count that security almost wouldn’t let Emmalyn through the gate because she didn’t have a ticket. Once security resolved that she was a lap baby and could indeed travel to Seattle with the rest of her family, everything was easy peasy. We even lucked up and had a playground right at our gate. We hustled and ate a quick bite just in time for the flight attendant to announce that she had opened the plane door and hit the loading stairs so there would be a bit of a delay.

TWO HOURS later we finally boarded the plane. At least the kids got to wear themselves out on the playground. Original schedule was to leave at 5pm and arrive in Seattle at 10pm (our time) but now we were scheduled to leave at 7pm and arrive in Seattle at 12pm (our time). Lovely. Problem #1.

Since we were flying standby, Andrew, Addie, and I (plus Emme) were all separated. Praise be to the Lord that we all looked desperate enough to get people to graciously give up their aisle and window seats and switch with our middle seats so our family could sit together. I’d take a middle seat vs sitting with a 4-year-old I don’t know for 5 hours too. We got seated and then Addie looked at me and said “Mom I don’t feel good. My tummy hurts.” PROBLEM #2.

Amazingly enough my child that doesn’t sleep actually laid her head down on Andrew before the plane even took off and fell asleep. Uh oh, now I knew she was sick. Lucky for us, when she feels bad she is uncharacteristically restful and super agreeable. By the grace of Lord Almighty she slept the whole entire flight. There were a few moments where she wiggled and kicked over a juice on all of us but other than that she was OUT.

Emme… not so much. She did well the first half of the flight. The snacks, games, Ipad, Iphone, and any other entertainment I could think of worked wonderfully… until her tiredness kicked in. She and I were both really hot and claustrophobic by hour 2 since we were trapped in by a sprawled out 4-year-old. Note to self: an almost 2-year-old is quite a handful to be a lap baby… especially considering that my small pantry closet is bigger than the seat space in the plane.

Right around the time we both were getting frustrated, juice #2 was kicked and spilled all over Emme’s clothes and my lap. At least we got cooled off for a second. Deep breaths, just take off the baby’s clothes, read her some books, get her to sleep… there is still hope. Check, check, check. She finally fell asleep and I got a picturesque “aww look at my cute sleeping baby on the plane” photo for Facebook. For about 30 minutes both children slept and I even watched a little TV. Just look at our family flying like champs...

 

About 30 minutes before landing Emmalyn decided she’d had enough of her sweaty, squished up sleeping arrangement so she decided to let everyone on the plane know it. PROBLEM # 3. It was a lovely 20 minutes of non-stop screaming, but at least the end was in sight and we were about to be off and FREE. As long as you have hope, you can survive anything, right?... So the plane landed, Emmalyn’s fit died down, and all was settled until Addie woke up and looked at me with that look. Uh oh. If only I could’ve grabbed the puke bag quicker! Where were my super natural mom reflexes when I needed them most? … Oh yea, holding a sweaty, ticked off, half asleep baby.

I wish I could’ve taken a picture of the girl’s face in front of us. Pure horror with a large dose of pity. Bless my poor Addie’s heart. It was truly a sight. Neither our bags nor the toys and definitely not Addie escaped clean. It was all we could do to get off that plane with a sliver of dignity left. Fortunately, Bre had a pair of Levi’s pajamas that we put on Addie. Ironically Addie was the only one whom I forgot to include a spare outfit for in our carry on…. maybe I jinxed her. After we got her cleaned up, we went to the area where Tom and Alicia were picking us up. "Lucky" for us they had just been asked to leave their pick up spot right before we arrived. At least Addie had plenty of time to throw up again outside as we waited. This time I probably caught 80% in a plastic bag. WIN!

Finally, Alicia picked us up and Addie had one more, let's just call it, "session" in her car before we made it to Andrew’s uncle’s house. Nothing like breaking in your welcome! We finally arrived to his uncle’s house around 1:30 am where all 4 of us wiggled and jiggled on an air mattress until we half slept the rest of the night.

Then the sun rose and THE GRACE OF THE LORD ALMIGHTY prevailed and prevented anyone else from getting the stomach bug the rest of the trip. God knew that the trip had to improve or else I would’ve lost whatever sanity I had left in me. His power truly kept us all going.

The mission of the trip was accomplished and we had a really nice time visiting with Stuart, Suzi, Alicia, Janna, Grandma Joyce, Brian, Angie, Becky and many other relatives we rarely get to see. Most importantly we got to celebrate his Grandad Rob’s 90 years of life. The man still walks 2 hours every day and plays the saxophone at his church. He's a rock star. If he can do all he does, then The Reynolds can survive a cross-country flight…BUT I think I’ll wait about 6 or 7 years before boarding another plane with children again.



YAY for no throw up!