arrival in NJ!

So Friday was a whirlwind day, followed by very little sleep (as you imagined by looking at my late night blog post). We managed to finish everything up and get on the road for the airport. Trip there went smoothly, but we arrived to find an absolutely HUGE line for checking baggage. Due to time constraints I didn't want Al to bring us in the airport, so I was left to deal with 4 bags, 2 carryons, and 2 children all by myself at curbside check-in. Thank goodness for the Baby Bjorn and a 4-year-old who is very cautious in these types of situations and stayed right by my side. We survived that aspect, with the help of some very nice ladies in line behind us who helped me wheel some of the luggage through the line. Also heard their story of how they were back at the airport after their flight the day prior had been cancelled. When I actually checked in I asked if my flight was on time and I was told "so far it is". Not encouraging. When we arrived at our gate, barely 30 minutes before take-off, the outgoing flight before ours hadn't even arrived yet. Also concerning. Believe it or not though, only 5 or so minutes before we were supposed to have left they announced that they would begin preboarding our flight. I quick got Tyler off the play area to make a last pit-stop in the bathroom. Lo and behold I hear from his stall "uh oh, eeyore fell in the potty". Lovely, a stuffed animal IN a public toilet. Only to avoid the inevitable tantrum that would have ensued, I reached IN the nasty toilet and fetched the beloved Eeyore and kindly asked a woman who was cleaning the restroom if I could have a trashbag for it. Apparently she did not speak English, so this took a while.

By the time we boarded the flight there were no rows left that were completely open. I finally asked a nice looking lady if we could sit next to her. Nearby a very sweet gentleman offered to give up his seat and find a new one so that we could have a row to ourselves. The boys were WONDERFUL on the flight. Tyler watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on my iPod, ate some food, read the flight manual (AGAIN), open and closed the window shade 57 times, and took a small nap. Jason was wide-eyed for most of the flight, only falling asleep briefly after eating, waking after he pooped. I have to tell you, it's not easy changing a diaper in those tiny bathrooms on an apparatus that they manage to label a changing table. The 2x3" flimsy plastic surface hardly qualified as such. I finally got him cleaned up and was putting on the new diaper when he then urinated all over himself and his clean outfit. So then I had to carry him back to our seat in his clean diaper and wet clothes and change him into new clothes in our seat. It was fun.

Anyway, we survived. In fact our flight arrived EARLY. Wahoo!