Vacation Blogging: In the Air and On the Ground (Day 1--Saturday)

We are here, safely and happily, and have been enjoying a busy first 36 hours:

• "We're in the air!" Bud exclaimed, after having asked for the last 30 minutes during boarding and taxiing if we were taking off yet (after a several hours of "when will we leave home?", "when will we be at the airport?", and "when will we get on the plane?"). Such a veteran flyer (of eight previous flights), he declared our departure right over Manhattan with Central Park (with the Zoo where he got his penguin critter) clearly visible, along with other notable landmarks, the "best take off ever!" And you know what, I think it was.
• The kids were not in their car seats for the first time ever, instead using an FAA-approved harnass to keep them secure. And keep Bud from crawling all over me, which he had been doing all morning, since our discussion about what to do if we get separated and how to talk to strangers (which elicted lots of questions about what was wrong with strangers. Nothing overall, of course, but it's good to be careful. We'd just had a long conversation with a nice woman heading to Cleveland and I had pointed out afterwards not to talk to strangers if Mama or I wasn't around.) As for the lost thing, it's find a person in a uniform or a "mommy"-type with kids.
• He and Sis proceded to watch 3 hours worth of dvds, barely eating the sandwiches we had. He also did word searches, his new favorite thing--he can't read the words but he loves finding them letters in the right order, circling them, and then crossing them out. Mama and I watched Up, which was quite touching in parts and quite juvenile in others; but we would recommend it overall.
• We tried very hard to ignore Hangover Man next to us, who declared as soon as he sat down in our aisle seat that he hadn't slept but would on the plane. When I responded that we might need to get up a few times to use the restroom, he just put on his shades and slept. Or tried to. The stench from his stale breath was palpable and his moans of nausea quite nerve-racking when he grabbed the vomit bag 20 minutes into the flight and suffered the rest of the 3 1/2 hour flight! All I wanted to know was whether it was alcohol or infection!
• Sis, who sat with Mama in the aisle in front of us, ate the stuffing out of her sandwich, drank 2 bottles of water, and then ate a whole bag of cookies and a whole bag of chips, plus a candy bar and a tootsie roll.
• Bud lifted up his window shade about every 10 minutes to look out over the clouds, "Nope, we're not landing yet." And then we did. After he finished off 3 lollipops so that his ears wouldn't hurt.
• Okay, the airport in Houston is maybe bigger than our whole town in Connecticut and even after taxiing for 15 minutes we still had to wait to deplane and then walk another 15+ minutes to the baggage claim. By then, some of the fatigue of the adventure was setting in and the kids were grumbling about putting one step in front of the other.
• But then we found Pop and Gommie and Aunt Banana and Uncle Soccer and everything was better.
• Especially because Gommie had lots of candy and a Pez "depressor" for each of them.
• We found the cars, got the seats strapped in, and headed home.
• Where they then played with every single toy Gommie had out, including "Break the Ice" and "Zingo," and bowling and tea party (Sis served "chocolate carrot" tea to herself, Gommie, and Banana, with Amy the Bunny at the place of honor. Later, she had scones for me with clotted cream!) and arts and crafts with foamies. And that doesn't include the souvenirs they got from Gommie and Pop's trip to Glacier National Park (and looking at just a few of Pop's hundreds of pictures of bears and tipi and mountains and such). Later, they went out to play soccer and football with Banana and Soccer and Bud honed his new "stumble" move, which includes running, throwing the ball, and doing a somersault.
• Dinner of baked chicken, rice, gravy, and green peas was mostly a success, though neither kid was hip to the traditional LeSeur peas.
• Then it was off to bed for them, with tuck-ins from the whole family after a quick hairwashing and bath.
• But that was not the end of the evening for us. Oh, no. The kids slept but Banana and I plus spouses headed to the coffee shop and bookstore to enjoy pumpkin spice lattes while perusing hundreds of used books. And guess what I found? The Vegetarian Epicure, original 1972 edition with line drawings, a companion to the second volume that I had picked up last weekend at the church festival. I was overjoyed, particularly because I hadn't been able to find a copy easily online for the price I wanted to pay. I'm still excited about it.
• Home, a little more conversation, then bed for us.
• To be followed on Sunday by the Texas Renaissance Festival!!!! But I'll tell you about that tomorrow.