The Flight

I was pretty worked up thinking about our flights to Hawaii and back. Miller is a decent flier but the thought of taking a kid on a 12+ hour flight, keeping him entertained and happy, and me being pregnant just about put me over the edge. Luckily, we all did ok.

We were up around 4am ET and off to the airport. Miller was excited and ready to fly. He had his new Lightning McQueen roller bag packed with goodies. Best purchase I have made in a long time.The first lag to Phoenix he was into flying, snacking, reading, playing, etc. but had a tendancy to push off the seat in front of him. In his defense, he wasn't kicking. He literally is at the height where his outstretched legs just touch the seat in front of him and every time he slipped down, he wanted to push himself back up. The last hour or so of that flight was a little trying but could have been worse. I had an aisle seat so going the bathroom was easy and I actually enjoyed Miller's need to use the bathroom as an excuse to get up a few extra times.

The next lag to Hawaii he did pretty well. We didn't have 3 seats together so that put a damper on the situation. We had two window seats and one middle (aka me). I didn't get up enough so I was feeling rather icky by the time we landed. I should have walked more and drank more water. Miller had one outburst where he cried for me to sit by him (no idea why) but he calmed down once we switched seats. Our neighbors on the flight were very understanding to our shuffling. He was pretty much over flying the last 1.5 hours. We all were but again, he wasn't terrible. Just whining about wanting to get off the flight.

Here he is enjoying his movies (Fireman Sam of course!).

Grandma, Grandpa, Sean , and Erik met us at the airport. We grabbed our luggage and headed out to the house. With the time change (6 hours), we arrived in Hawaii around 2:30pm local time (8:30pm ET). The drive from the airport to the house was about 45 minutes to an hour. We were wired even though we were tired so we tried to stay up and get onto a schedule. We were up at 4:30am Hawaii time the following morning. More to follow on those adventures tomorrow.

As for the flights home; we left at 9:45pm Hawaii time. Miller was a brat in the airport but good on the plane. He slept but Ryan and I were not well situated to get any rest. We dozed off and on. My back was bothering me and we were in the seats next to the bathroom so my trips to the restroom were futile for walking. We ate breakfast in Phoenix and then hopped back on for our next flight home.

Miller slept most of that flight too. He was really good once he woke up. Too bad we didn't have a red eye on the way over too. I was completely over flying at this point. There is a reason they don't want pregnant women flying. It's down right uncomfortable. Ryan also agrees, we are done with flying for a while. Of course Miller has been asking "When can we fly again? Can we go to the airport?"

Kudos to my little trooper on doing the best darn job an almost 3 year old can do on a plane. It was heavenly to fly without a diaper bag and have him potty trained. We also went sans stroller. He helped carry his own bag and kept up with us. Same kudos to Ryan for helping entertain Miller and letting him sleep on him.