What do you do when you wake up early in a hotel (5:30 am), from the fire alarm going off (seriously!), and you know you have quite a few hours to kill before even leaving for the airport?
Have a dance party and build a blanket fort! We had plenty of extra pillows and blankets from the kids sleeping on the floor, so it was perfectly cozy in our fort. Also, we were lucky to run across a pretty fun local station that at one point commented, "this is jazz, with a dash of picante!" Yes, that is what the man said. Jon follows up with, "If I've ever said what I like in music, it's jazz with a dash of picante!" We had a good laugh!
While we waited in our hotel room we kept close tabs on the weather in MN. The news commented that it was going to be bad as the day rolled on and our flight was scheduled to depart at 2:45 pm San Francisco time - arriving at MSP at 8:25 pm. That's with everything still On-Time. We were a little nervous for what we'd be flying into.
We decided to wrap up our time early in our hotel room, frankly we were quite ready to get out of the room, and head to the airport early to try to catch the earlier flight leaving at 12:45. We were so grateful for our ticketing agent who was able to switch our flight and get us out early. I saw online that in certain situations, like inclement weather, they would modify your flight without a charge, and thankfully once I mentioned that, she managed to do just that. Hooray!
We breezed quickly through security, thanks to another fabulous TSA agent who directed us around and through a short line. We stopped at the gate to check-in and let them know we still needed a seating assignment, then Jon went off to find us some lunch. The terminal we were in only had a handfull of options, which makes it kind of difficult with kids and with sensitivities, but we found some sandwich meats that the kids could enjoy. This was actually the same terminal we came through on our trip to Hawaii and had the one restaurant that accommodated us. I was tempted to do the same thing, but we didn't have as much time.
The kids ate and waited patiently to board our plane home. They had fun watching the action out the big windows!
We boarded and without much hassle were on our way. It was a much shorter wait for take off than when we left Minneapolis for San Francisco. It had been a really fun trip, and we were glad to be heading back to our own beds. Both Brianna and Carl napped on the flight home. It worked out well to be on the plane during nap times. They were both worn out from a long trip and waking up early to a noisy fire alarm.
Once both were awake they situated themselves on one seat and watched a little video on the ipad. We had enough yummy snacks, thanks to pre-planning and Betsy having popcorn, peanuts, and other delicious items, that they were pretty content until we landed. I think every child gets restless on an airplane at some point, so I'm thankful for the restraint both of our kids displayed while on the plane. They weren't perfect, but content!
We landed, disembarked, and had our bags in no time, even for being in the very back of the plane. My dad (thanks again!) was standing by to pick us up and was right there by the time we walked out the door. To our disappointment, the storm really hadn't started yet, but it did give us a smooth ride home. The kids ran around the house for a little bit, then as it was practically bedtime (according to MN clocks), they shuffled off to bed. It worked out much better than if we would have still been on our original flight.
This was our last trip flying with an 'infant in arms' and I can say I will be grateful for an extra seat. Although, our next trip is probably a ways off!
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