We made it...

        On Saturday, March 19th,  Paige, Claire, and their obviously crazy mother woke up at 3:45 to make it to the airport to fly out to Colorado.  Daniel and I unpacked the bags from the car in front of the airport and then took the carseats out and spent at least three trips getting everything and everyone into the airport so that he could go park the car.  Then all 4 of us and our stuff finally made our way to the ticket counter.  They tagged our bags and then told us that we need to take them right over to the TSA bag drop off location.  The whole process taking about 30 minutes.  We then had to go through security.  To explain...first we removed belts and shoes.  Parents taking their shoes off first and then taking the children's shoes off.  For Paige this could not have been a worse idea.  In Paige's way of thinking you should wear shoes at all times unless you are going to sleep in your bed.  So anyway we take everyone's shoes off and then we move to taking off a backpack and a carrier and a purse and pulling all of the liquids out of the bags.  We then position the carseat on the conveyer belt.  I think we ended up using at least three of the trays.  All of this to walk through one metal detector.  :-)  On the other side we put everything back together.  Daniel went to get us some juice and water for the flight and when he got back we said goodbye and boarded the plane.  So much for arriving 2 hours prior to give ample time to gather thoughts before getting onto the plane.  ;-)  Paige and Claire could not have been more perfect on the flight.  It was as if they had flown before.  They sat and looked at books, the dvd player, and napped the whole way.  When we touched down in Denver Audrey was there to meet us at the gate!  This time we decided to get a cart to wheel everything out to the car on...this was comical in itself.  We must have gotten the one cart that doesn't wheel straight.  But slowly but surely we made it to the car.  We drove to Colorado Springs. 

   While there we visited a couple of parks.  We saw the Garden of the Gods.  We even went to an Apple store.  I had never been to one and it was quite interesting!!  Paige had lots of fun with Daadwey and E-ic.  Though she liked to say Ducie's ( lucie) name she was not a big fan of her being anywhere near her.  Claire absolutely adored Stella though.  Stella was a bit unsure at first but slowly warmed up to this little thing that squealed in her face and always touched her nose! Paige's favorite thing of the week was probably being puched around the apartment in a diaper box by her Uncle E-ic!  She was most upset anytime he would stop.  Each time we would leave to go anywhere Paige would say Cuckoo Cuckoo clock.  She thought that Audrey's car chimes where a cuckoo clock.  Like I said it was a wonderful time!  We enjoyed some fresh air and some sunshine since Dayton's springs are really rainy.  We loved being able to see mountains and not just hills!  And last but certainly not least we loved hanging out with E-ic and Daadwey! 

      On Saturday we all drove to the Denver airport.  We waited in an incredibly long line to check-in and get a gate pass for Audrey and Eric.  Audrey walked us through security where again we have to remove everyone's shoes and belts and this time we not only have a car seat, a backpack, and a carrier but lets throw in a stroller too.  We took up the whole belt.  After we had walked through the TSA guy came up to me and said he was going to have to search my backpack b/c there were liquids in it.  I said okay.  He starts pulling out everything that i had nicely packed in the inside pocket.  I told him that honestly I could have liquids in there and forgotten.  I told him that we had taken some Germ-X to the zoo in the front pocket.  He opened the front pocket and sure enough there was the Germ-X.  He gave me a pass and then I got to pack everything back up.  While all of this was going on Paige was mad because she couldn't see Dadwey and Claire was upset b/c she wanted to get down and run.  Great time had by all.  I was so glad that Audrey was there otherwise I am not sure what would have happened!  We finally make it to the gate.  We grabbed a sandwich, changed everyone's diapers and sat as close to the on ramp as we could.  Audrey said her goodbyes and we stayed to wait for the plane...for about 10 minutes before they announced the the gate had been changed to the one at the other end of the terminal. 

      With all of the horrible things going on in the world and all of the people you have to watch out for being everywhere your trust in people sometimes can't help but be lacking.  On Saturday it was given a boost.  As everyone stood up to walk to the other end of the terminal a few people looked over and asked if I had everything.  I didn't want to be a bother and I knew how heavy everything was so I said I had it.  I put Claire on my back in the carrier and my bulging backpack on my front.  I picked up the carseat and started to push the stroller with one hand.  Then this older man and his wife come over and the man takes the car seat and says I've got this.  I asked if he was sure and he said yeah.  He and his wife walked me all the way down to the other terminal.  He then helped me onto the plane.  The flight went well aside from some serious silliness towards the end by a couple of little girls...one named Claire and one Paige! :-)  When we landed Daniel was supposed to meet us at the gate but security had already left for the night so he couldn't make it.  We got off the plane and I loaded everything up to make the trek to meet Daniel by baggage claim and I walked up the ramp.  When I got to the door the man and his wife were there waiting to take the car seat and make sure that I had the help that I needed.  It turned out that his mom was a military wife and traveled a lot with her two children by herself and he wanted to make sure that I had all the help I needed.  I don't think that I was able to thank him enough!

Fun was had by all last week!  I know this was a bit long and parts were a little hard to explain but I hope you enjoy! I also know I have left so much out...

Have a great day!