Elizabeth’s Journal

Trip to Kansas Went Well

As Dale said repeatedly in his blog about their just-completed trip to England, Jonathan is a great traveller. (I had already known this.) When we arrived at the Austin airport last Monday morning, there was a *long* line at the American Airlines desk—never a good sign. Apparently there had been a “security breach” at the Huntsville, Alabama, airport that morning—and that’s where our plane to Dallas was coming from. Thus our departure to Dallas was delayed by at least an hour, we were therefore going to miss our connection to Kansas City, and we had to stand in line to get rebooked on a later flight. As I told Dale, I was using up all my sling time with Kayleigh, because we stood in that line for an HOUR. Ugh. She did well, although she did start wanting to get down, but she coped. As did Jonathan. We finally got up to the counter and I gave the lady a big smile and said, “Good morning” very politely. It paid off because my bag was 15 pounds overweight, but she didn’t charge me anything, although she did say I should pack differently for the trip home so that I don’t get charged then. We got booked onto a flight that didn’t leave Dallas until 4:13 p.m.—and we were originally supposed to land in KC at 2:15 p.m.! Boo hoo, I thought, and a lot worse too. But, being a good role model and understanding that these things happen when one flies—and being thankful that I wasn’t in Dale’s shoes and facing spending the night in Dallas instead of winging my way across the Atlantic—I was very adult about the situation. So was Jonathan.

When the plane took off for Dallas, I nursed Kayleigh (as I had always done with Jonathan) so that she wouldn’t get pressure buildup in her ears. She was fine with that, but once we were up in the air she was done with nursing and ready for something else. Now I had plenty of things in my bag for her to do, trying to anticipate all eventualities, but she did something I had not expected. She climbed right off of me and over the seat arm into Jonathan’s seat! So our poor boy is all squooshed up against the wall (he’s in a window seat) with his sister contentedly tucked in next to him, admiring the pattern on the seat cushion and then fidgeting about but not in a bad way. Jonathan was quietly listening to his iPod shuffle when Kayleigh commandeered most of his seat, but he didn’t mind, just giggled and moved over and then kissed her on the top of her head.

The Dallas wait was a big pain in the butt. We had a hot lunch at Chili’s Too, which was fine, and then we waited at two different gates to try to get on earlier flights to KC, but no luck. We played the “Follow Kayleigh” game to let her stretch her legs—she charged up and down the hallways, never looking back at us, just grinning at everyone else. She took the nap that I had been hoping she’d take on the plane between the first and second stand-by gates, and Jonathan played in empty seats in the waiting area and listened to the iPod shuffle some more. Finally we went to the gate of the flight that we had confirmed seats on and Kayleigh charged up and down the seats, trying to get people’s water bottles and generally charming them all. This flight was on time, but I did feel sorry for Jonathan because our seats were in the very last row of the plane. The window on the other side of the aisle was blocked by the engine, and there was not a window at all on our side of the plane, so he couldn’t see anything. And we were right over the engine, so it was very noisy the whole way (about an hour and a half). But he didn’t complain, just took it in stride. Kayleigh was a good girl too and amused herself nicely. We did not have a single instance of loud unconsolable baby, which I was most relieved at. With Jonathan I never worried about that too much, but she’s much more fidgety and less apt to be soothed by nursing than he was, so I wasn’t quite sure how it was all going to go. But before I knew it, we were starting our descent in Kansas City, and then we were there! A successful trip.

Of course, upon arriving at the farm, Kayleigh immediately got into mischief. Within 10 minutes we were all standing in the kitchen talking, and we heard a little noise of triumph. We looked over at the den only to see Kayleigh standing with the look of the conquering hero on her face right on top of one of the footstools of the recliners! Then five minutes later she’d made it up to the 3rd stair on the staircase as we hadn’t put the gates on yet. My, she’s quick! She had also figured out what the handles on the cabinets were for, so the next day Mom & I found some good cabinet locks that don’t require any drilling and applied them appropriately.

Anyway, the trip was 100% successful as far as I’m concerned, and it was wonderful to see Daddy waiting for us as we exited the gate, and to see Mom at the front door of the farm as we drove up. The place looks beautiful, and the new Morton building looks much better than I had imagined. Daddy finished off the bookshelves in the library very professionally—definitely something to be proud of. Mom has made the “little old house” (as Jonathan calls it) very comfortable and homey, and the grounds continue to grow and improve. I do love it here!

Posted by elizabeth at June 24, 2005 09:52 PM