Bemidji Or Bust, 2009

Ahhh, travel with small children. You never know how it’s going to go down, do you? I had never done it with more than one until the weekend before last, and it was an experience. Our flight left at 9:00am on Friday. We had hoped to be at the airport by 7:00am. While that did technically happen, it wasn’t quite as planned. Robert dropped me and the girls off at the departures curb a little after 7:00, and we got all of our bags, carseats and stroller into the lobby. Then, we waited for him to go and park the car in long-term parking and take the bus back. By the time he got back, we were pushing 8:00, and still had to check in. By the time we checked our bags, got our boarding passes, went through security (where we had to take a sleeping Jillian out of the carseat and put that and the stroller through the x-ray, AND take Katherine’s shoes off), we made it to the gate just in time to gate check the stroller and carseat and pre-board. Whew! The problem? Neither Robert nor I had eaten anything. At least Katherine had munched on a granola bar while we were waiting on daddy to park the car. Oh, and Katherine had nothing to drink because we hadn’t had time to buy anything before boarding. Awesome. Thankfully, the flight attendant was able to quickly get us a bottle of water, and we had at least stopped to get cash, enabling us to buy overpriced airplane food.

Jillian did quite well on the flight. Katherine actually did pretty well, too. We were close to a tantrum a couple of times, and had to keep reminding her not to kick the seat in front of her, but with the help of a portable DVD player, a couple of Nick Jr. magazines and some fun snacks, we made it work. We even had an assist from the parents behind us who were also travelling with a toddler. Since he had finally fallen asleep, they shared one of his toys with K toward the end of the flight.

Once we got off the plane, diapers needed to be changed and Jillian needed to eat. Once the cleanup was complete, we found a place to sit in front of an in-airport toy store. While I fed Jillian, Robert bought Katherine a toy for being such a good girl on the plane. She ended up with a funny-looking Diego doll, and daddy bought a toy similar to the one she had played with on the plane as a possible distraction for the flight home. It was immediately hidden in the diaper bag. With all that done, it was on to the rental car. We had to take the train to the other terminal, and K thought that was pretty cool. Once everything was jammed into the car (a Chevy Impala that I’m guessing had never had a carseat installed, judging by the insane tightness of the LATCH system in there), we were off. We only got a few miles away from the airport when we decided it was time for lunch. It was rush hour, anyway, so a little extra time wouldn’t hurt. We stopped at Burger King for a bit, and then it was off again. We didn’t even make it out of Minneapolis until around 5:00pm (we still ended up dealing with rush hour, even after our stop).

It didn’t take long for me to end up in the back seat with the girls. All the way out of the city Jillian kept getting fussy after continually spitting out her pacifier and I kept unbuckling my seatbelt (illegal alert!) and turning around to re-binkify her. It finally became a pain enough that I just decided to get back there. Squishy and uncomfortable, but practical. Eventually, she got tired and passed out. I gave Katherine her binkies and tried to get her to take a nap. It worked a little. Sort-of.

Our second pit stop came near St. Cloud at McDonald’s. I fed Jillian & changed her diaper, and Daddy & Katherine had ice cream. Don’t worry, mommy got to have a cone when Jillian was all done. J Katherine got to do a lot of running around on the grass. After it was all over and we were on our way again, I tried again with Katherine and the napping. It worked a little. Sort-of.

The rest of the ride was spent placating one girl or the other. We had to stop and change Jillian’s diaper once, and that was awful. We pulled over on the side of the road by a forest and I got her out and put her on the front seat. I had to do this with the passenger-side door open. I can’t even begin to describe the swarm of mosquitoes that was present and hovering around that door. Miraculously, nobody got bitten, even after we quickly discovered a stowaway made after we were on our way again. I handily dispatched it with a baby wipe, and came away with only a serious case of the heebie-jeebies. Have I mentioned how much I loathe mosquitoes? Because, for reals? HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE.

The portable DVD player got some more use on the car ride, but not as much as I thought it would. The Diego doll was a hit for sure, though, and the Nick Jr. magazines went over pretty well, too. I got to read the story about Toot & Puddle several times, and cannot repeat the name of the town in which they reside without behaving like I’m about 12 years old. Seriously, who would put a name like that into a children’s story?!

When we finally made it to Bemidji, we were greeted by Grandma and Auntie Christa in the hotel parking lot. They immediately took charge of Katherine, and proceeded to get her riled up with grapes and a soccer ball. After we got everything into the room, Robert went and got dinner from the Pita Pit across the street (Katherine hardly ate any, of course). We hung out with the family (Auntie Jenn & Uncle Jeremy were already crashed out upstairs) until we were all totally exhausted, and then there was a mass exit from our room. We tried to keep Katherine’s nighttime routine similar to what she was used to, but I think the whole day had just been so off-kilter that she had a tough time.

That night was………….not fun. Jillian slept OK (if noisily, as usual), seeing as how she was inches from my face, just like she likes it. Katherine, however, had a terrible time getting to sleep, and woke up several times just howling and howling and howling. Usually, she’s very good about telling us what’s wrong if she wakes up crying (she’s hot or cold, she’s lost her binkies, she wants a drink of water, etc.), but she was so hysterical that she just couldn’t articulate what was the matter. We’re still not sure what her deal was, but she had done this a couple of times during the previous week, too. SWEET FANCY MOSES, can that kid scream. I’m amazed that Jillian did so well throughout that ordeal, but again with the whole right-up-in-my-face-breathing-my-air thing. Desperate times call for desperate measures, yo. Kudos to Robert for taking point on Katherine. He did a really great job with her.

The next day we were totally wiped, but surprisingly chipper. We slept in late (by Bemidji time, anyway, since we were trying to stay on our AZ schedule, which meant staying up late and sleeping late), but were up in time to catch the tail-end of the free hotel breakfast and get ourselves together before heading to Great-Grandma’s party. It was great to see the family, and Katherine had lots of fun mingling with her cousins, singing Happy Birthday to Great-Grandma and playing in the woods with daddy & mommy & Auntie Christa. Jillian got passed around like a hot potato and finally ended up snoozing in the sling. Lots of pictures were taken. When it was all over, we went back to the hotel and crashed in a mass family nap. When we woke up, it was time to go to dinner at Uncle Steve and Aunt Vicki’s house. Again, Katherine got to run around with her cousins, and Jillian got passed around like a hot potato. Food was eaten. Small-person crankiness was displayed. Time-outs were assigned. Books were read. Toys were shared. And then it was time to go back to the hotel and crash. This night was mercifully quieter than the last.

Sunday was pretty chill. Again, we slept in, but got up in time for breakfast. Daddy took Katherine down to swim with the family in the hotel pool while I took care of Jillian, and we eventually joined them in time to see Katherine experience the insanely powerful jets in the hot tub. Homegirl likes the bubbles! Then, it was off to lunch with Great-Grandma at Applebee’s. Food was eaten. Tantrums were averted. Toddler discipline was discussed with Auntie Jenn. After that, there was a quick swing by Paul Bunyan & Babe for a family picture before heading off to the lake. A princess fishing pole was used. Worms were examined. “Chew weeds” were discovered. Camouflage and a pink raicoat were worn. Hills were run down. Good times. Then, it was back to the hotel for family naptime, followed by dinner at Perkins. I decided that breakfast for dinner sounded pretty tasty, and that I would share it with Katherine. Now, K has had pancakes before and enjoyed them. She really went for the bacon this evening, and mostly ignored the scrambled eggs, which she usually devours. When I offered her a piece of pancake with blueberry syrup, she was not interested. We KNEW she would like it if she tried it, but she was not budging, even though we told her to eat it. This is where the discussion of toddler discipline came up again. We knew this was a battle we could win, so we took it on. We made her eat a piece, despite her screams of protest (have I mentioned that, SWEET FANCY MOSES, that kid can scream?). Her response, after the bite was eaten? “I want some more.” Of COURSE you do. Geez, kid, can’t you just trust mommy & daddy when they tell you that you’ll like something?

That night was, unfortunately, a repeat of Friday night, except with the addition of a very fussy Jillian, and a much earlier wake-up time. One of the biggest problems with travel like this is that you’re all in the same room at night. No good opportunity to let baby work her lungs a little without disturbing big sister, which means that mommy & baby end up in the bathroom trying to mitigate the noise a little while, rocking, bouncing, and substituting Mylicon for Gripe Water. This, after big sister has bawled and bawled and bawled for no discernible reason and with no acceptance of comfort (have I mentioned that, SWEET FANCY MOSES, that kid can scream?), and finally dropped off to tentative sleep, probably out of sheer exhaustion. By the time everyone got to sleep it was late, and minimal sleep was going to be had.

Early the next morning, we got up and packed all of our stuff, jamming things into the suitcases as best we could. Understandably, Robert was pretty cranky, but only had one serious outward moment of frustration while trying to get the stroller into the already crammed trunk of the car. Good thing it’s sturdy! You get what you pay for, y’all. I ended up riding in the backseat for the vast majority of the drive to Minneapolis in order to keep peace in the car. Both girls slept quite a bit for the first part of the car ride, and that was a blessing. We made a pit stop in St. Cloud again, where daddy bought mommy some coffee, and couldn’t resist buying Katherine not one, but TWO Wild Things monsters in Barnes & Noble while I fed Jillian in the car. Diapers were changed, and then K promptly pooped. Good thing we were going across the street to Target. Diapers were changed again, and then we bought K some new shoes, as the ones she was wearing were a wee bit too small with her socks on and were hurting her feet (the back of her heel is still healing even now).

Finally, it was off to the airport. We made it within a reasonable time, thank God, because seriously? If you are ever running late at the Minneapolis airport and have to return a car and then get to the Lindburgh Terminal? FORGET IT. We had to walk foreeeeeeeeeeeever through the parking garage, and then take a bunch of different elevators to an outdoor platform where we waited at least 5 minutes for a light rail to take us to another spot where we had to take several more elevators to the spot where we waited for the train between the terminals (two train rides for Katherine!). THEN, we still had to check in, check our baggage (one bag was 7 pounds overweight and the guy at the counter mercifully checked it without charging us—God is good!). This was all before we even got to the whole security ordeal, which actually went pretty smoothly, considering. We made it to the gate with time to spare for lunch. The lady at the counter was completely unsympathetic to the fact that our seats were NOT ALL TOGETHER, and wouldn’t even give us the tags to fill out for gate checking the car seat and stroller. Bah. The other gate agent, when Robert finally talked to her, was like, “Uhhhh, we could have given you those gate check tags at any time.” Yeah. It all worked out in the end, though, and we made it onto the plane in one piece, and even in reasonable spirits.

The plane ride was amazingly uneventful. Katherine slept a little, we barely had to use the DVD player, and we didn’t even have to pull out the emergency back-up toy. Jillian did fantastically, once again. By the time we de-planed, though, she decided it was time to eat (despite being totally disinterested in eating while we descended and landed). So, we took some time for that while daddy & K got a treat. By the time we got down to get our luggage, it had already been taken to the office, so Robert had to retrieve it. Then, it was wait, wait, wait again by the luggage carousels while daddy went to get the car after waiting waaaaaaaaay too long in the heat for the long-term parking bus. It was so good to finally be home. On the way home, we stopped at Fresh & Easy to get some salad for dinner. It tasted phenomenal after so much fast food and whatnot over the weekend. Unfortunately, we made the mistake of leaving the opened raspberry dressing packet sitting upright in the salad bowl on the table. After dinner, we turned on the TV for a few minutes before beginning K’s bedtime routine. Suddenly, I noticed that Katherine was just a little toooooo quiet behind us. Anyone can see where this is going. A precocious toddler covered in bright pink vinaigrette. Clothes were quickly stripped off and soaked in OxiClean. Pictures were, alas, not taken. A bath was given, and K was put to bed. Jillian was bedded not too long thereafter, and essentially slept through the night. God is good!

As of this writing, Katherine’s clothes are stain-free, including the light pink t-shirt (after two OxiClean treatments and washings). Unbelievable!

So, there you have it. A difficult trip with regard to sleep, but otherwise not too bad. The travel portion was actually considerably better than I thought it would be. The family all got along and Great-Grandma finally got to see her granddaughters. We survived.

The end.