My dad dropped us off at the airport which meant we had an extra set of hands to get all of our luggage checked at the curb. With the boys being under 12, we were also able to go through the "pre-check" line in security which meant we all got to keep our shoes on and we didn't have to take half of the stuff out of our carry-on bags, so that was pretty awesome. Our flight from Detroit to Atlanta was rather uneventful, other than the fact that we were flying away from Los Angeles but what can you do?! We had to switch planes in Atlanta, but we had enough time for everyone to run to the potty first so that went smoothly. Then we got in line to board and we discovered something wonderful and awful all at the same time. There are days, sometimes even weeks, when Jon and I feel like we are somehow raising the most obnoxious, annoying children on the face of the earth. So imagine our surprise when we realized that no, we are not raising the most obnoxious and annoying children on earth- because that child was standing in line in front of us to board our plane! Woohoo! Our excitement quickly- very quickly- faded when we realized that we were going to be trapped in a flying tube of steel with this kid for four hours... and of course he ended up sitting one row behind us! Luckily the kid fell asleep shortly after take-off but unfortunately by that point we had come to realize that the kid behind us wasn't going to be as problematic as the three kids in front of us. Just an FYI- if you give your infant something to drink or eat or even just chew on while the pressure in the cabin is changing during take-off, it is much less likely that said infant is going to scream bloody murder while clutching her poor ears for the duration of the four hour flight. Also, after careful and detailed study, I have come to the scientific conclusion that hitting- yes hitting- your two and four year old children is not the best way to make them stop crying on an airplane. I'm not sure this works when your feet are planted firmly on the ground either, but I can definitely say it doesn't work on an airplane. Needless to say, it was a bit of a long flight- but the boys were champs and we all managed to make the best of it. We landed at 10:15am California time after seven hours of travel and we were all so happy to be back in Los Angeles!
It was a bit of an adventure all in and of itself to get our luggage- two giant car sear bags, two big suitcases, four carry-ons, two strollers, and two kids- from the baggage claim to the car rental shuttle but we managed somehow (that somehow was mostly Jon!) Of course Jon refused to rent a foreign car but since they didn't have a Ford we ended up with a Chevy- a minor moral setback but we were on our way in no time. We made it to our apartment by 12:30, but not before a little drive down memory lane- past our old condo that we rented two summers ago. It was crazy to remember the total and utter fear and exhaustion we felt pulling up to that place for the first time- and crazy to think that though we were exhausted, this time the area already felt like home. Our apartment- a friend of a friend's and home of a fellow child actor going back to the Midwest for the summer- will be perfect. The boys have their own bedroom each with their own bed and best of all, there isn't anyone living below us which is kind of a big deal when you have two four year olds. Being that the apartment was a last minute scramble when we had to change our travel plans (and budget), we couldn't be happier.
After unpacking a bit, we decided we needed to venture out for some lunch (dinner?) and some groceries. One of our favorite spots is literally a mile down the road so we were all excited to have Poquito Mas for our first official meal in California. After lunch we drove around a little bit before finding the nearest Ralph's for groceries. By this point it was nearly 3:00 in the afternoon. California time. We had been up for 14 hours, traveled seven hours, across three time zones. The boys got a short nap on the plane but Jon and I were completely wrecked. So of course the boys decided that now was the time to study the inner workings of the field of astrophysics. From the back seat... "Mama, why is the Big Bang called the Big Bang?" "Mama, was the Earth here when the Big Bang happened?" "Why not mama?" "How many years ago was the Big Bang?" "How many months ago?" "Just do the math mama! How many months ago?!" "Dada, what is a proton?" "What's a particle?" Do people work IN the large hadron collider dada?!" "How did they build it? How did they build the large hadron collider?!" "DAAADAAA!!!!! Why aren't you answering me?!?!" Our brains were literally about to explode. Halfway through Ralph's, I had to stop the cart, look Caleb dead in the eyes and in my best attempt not to scream, mutter the words "JUST. STOP. TALKING."
After coming home to all lay down for just a little bit- and by all I mean Jon and I- we decided that falling asleep at 5:00pm probably wasn't the best of ideas, so we dragged ourselves out the door for a trip to Johnny Carson Park just down the road. The boys were elated to find their California sand at the playground again and Jon and I were even more elated that they were no longer talking directly into our ears. We played a bit then walked around the park where we found a handful of lizards, a nest with the tiniest baby birds in it, and two very exciting ant roads that captivated our attention for a solid ten minutes each! By then we figured we could go to bed, so we came home and did exactly that :)
Airport- 5:00am!
Ready to go!!!
Matthew's obligatory "Mama- Why is that plane floating?" conversation/photo
New coloring books
Made it to the shuttle with all of this!
Johnny Carson Park
Little lizard friend
Exploring
What do you get when you pack a suitcase with a three-person sling shot, four bottles of maple syrup, 10 pounds of LEGOs, and a book titled "Eruption" laying right on top?!
Why a notice of baggage inspection of course!! LOL!!
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