We've Landed

We arrived at the El Paso airport right around 10:30am (Wednesday). Our plane was set to leave at 11:55am. It really wasn't a long wait until we got our tickets and headed to the security check point. Once it was our turn, we put all our belongings in the bins and took off our shoes. My only regret, I dressed my poor little girl in an adorable yet metal top. So yup you guessed it, she set off the metal detector with her big buckle on her top and of course for security purposes had to be wanded and patted down, which she did just perfectly with.

Once it was time to board the plane, the kids got the very awesome chance of wearing the pilot hat. In fact, Emma was able to sit in the pilot's seat! Guess that was Emma's special bonus for having to be wanded;)

The kids did just awesome when the plane took off, which I was a little worried about. Once we were in the air for a little bit I got out some snacks for them and then at the same time they started to bring the snack cart through. We still received complimentary drinks and little snacks. I will tell you, Coke for the drink, bad idea. At least not thinking ahead I should have just ignored the seat belt light and gone in the plane while we were waiting to taxi up because man I tell ya, I thought I was going to die trying to make it to that bathroom. And of course when I got there, there was a line.

View from the plane when we took off.

My complimentary drink and snack. The kids had the same snack but the boys had oj and Emma had water (smart kids).

Isn't it beautiful!?!

Here we are getting set to land in Dallas, TX.

Once we were out of the bathroom, and yes I made the kids go too, we headed out to find our next gate. I didn't want to take a chance of missing our plane. By this time we were all quite hungry as well, since we did leave right around lunch time with no real time for lunch. We had passed a McDonald's on the way but it was too far back to try and trek with 3 small very hurgry cranky kids so I opt to go to the closer TGI Friday's To Go. Yes, so not a very cheap lunch, but considering they didn't feed us on that next flight, ever so worth it.

Once aboard the next plane we received notice that our flight was being delayed due to some bad weather we had to fly through. So I promptly took out our lunch and we ate while we waited. Again when it was time for the plane to take off, the kids did great. During this flight I took out the kids special coloring books and let them color. On this flight we also received complimentary drinks, however the snacks cost and since we had just ate (and I had some with me in case) I opted not to get any. Although I took the chance of giving myself just a little treat to 'fly in style' and bought one of those little bottles of wine. I knew it wouldn't do much to me, just a tiny calming affect, and after dealing with 3 small children through a couple of airports and planes thats quite needed (the bit of calming that is).

Isn't is just the cutest little bottle?! I felt so high class, haha. And yes, I had ice water too.


Oh yes, we had turbulence:)

Chicago skyline.

When it was getting time to land, I put all our activities away and got us set to be able to grab our bags and go. This time I was also sure to go and use the bathroom before we landed, just in case. Once we landed, since we didn't have another connecting flight like some others on the plane did, we let most leave before we started to get off. Which at that point, Emma told me she had to use the bathroom which then left us being the last ones off the plane.

Our view of the plane pretty much from where we sat.


In case you actually haven't seen just how small the bathroom is.

Once out, we ventured off to find luggage claim. Wow, let me tell you, you have to walk forever, at least we did. From where our plane parked, we had to walk all the way around, like in a U until we got to the escalators. Once down the escalators, Grandma and Grandpa Jones were waiting for us. We walked over and got our luggage and were off. We drove for about an hour or so before stopping for some dinner. Then we hit the long road ahead of us.

We didn't get in until almost 2am. First thing was to get our stuff in then get ready for bed. I was able to sleep in a room by myself so I got the sleep I needed. Grandma Jones stayed in the room with the kids. In the morning each of them slowly got up, later and later, Matty the latest at 11:30 (yes me ever later then that :) ). The kids played quite a bit and then had lunch. After lunch they played some more and we got set, loaded up and came over the Grandma and Grandpa Hand's.

The kids played, watch part of the movie, had dinner and played again. Bed time rolled around and they all got tucked in. With that said, I am going to wrap this blog up now since it concludes our day. I will be sure to get more pictures of the kids playing and having fun with all their grandparents soon and will continue to blog through our stay here in Michigan. Good night everyone!