Three a.m. That's 30 minutes before the alarm...Audrey wakes up with a dirty diaper and hungry, Sophie wakes up with a dirty diaper and ready to play. Quickly get ready and in the car by 3:45a.m. and on our way to Toronto, 15 min before we planned to leave. Maybe this trip will be relatively smooth. Rookie thinking.
Sophie's awake until 5:45a.m. in the car. Audrey sleeps or plays quietly all the way to Toronto. Sophie takes a 2 hour nap and then plays calmly in the backseat. So far, going ok. But don't get ahead of yourself.
Arrive at Sheraton to drop off rental car. Called ahead for taxi to drop us directly at our terminal instead of the shuttle drop to save some time. Very smart. Feed Audrey in Sheraton lobby and get lots of looks. PS - Breastfeeding women don't want to talk to you about how fast your kids grew up. No time to change Sophie, only Audrey. So Sophie goes to the airport in her pajamas. At least they are cute. But she has crazy hair and won't let me touch it. We look like hillbillies all day.
Get to airport and check in. But only 1 child is listed so we have to go from Air Canada counter to United to pay tax for additional child. Thirty minutes later we get ticket from Air Canada. But large bag 55 lbs = $75 fee. Try three times to get under 52 lbs to avoid fee. Success. Get to customs to discover ridiculously huge line. Have 1 hour until flight and line will take at least 50 minutes. Against all odds, the kids are reasonably happy. But Benoit and I are not.
Make it to bag drop off and security line with 10 minutes to spare. Have to toss my fraise and bluet syrup I bought as my souvenir. Was really looking forward to using it on waffles from my new waffle maker Santa brought me. Now I'm running (or at least jogging) with 2 girls in a double stroller and a really heavy diaper bag. Pass a lady who exclaims "Look at that girl's hair!". Hillbillies we are. Make it to gate, which is the last gate down the terminal and get in line behind 4 people. We're the last ones on the plane. But we made it!
Flight is not bad, relatively empty and we got four seats to ourselves. Girls do really well and we make it to Dallas just fine. Even get to split a chicken wrap and pringles for $10. Then we discover that although we made our flight, our luggage did not. No biggie since we are coming home. Except that the car seats didn't make it either.
No Air Canada baggage claim desk. No Air Canada ticket agents upstairs. Only an 800 number, which is not helpful at all. They say to come back to the airport for the 9pm flight from Toronto (which Benoit is doing right now) to get our bags. Desperate and stressed, we head to the parking spot. On the shuttle, Benoit asks another mom what she would do in our situation. How do you take two kids home with no car seat? She and her husband suggest buying one for Audrey and just strapping Sophie in and driving slow. But after a few minutes, she offers to let us borrow an extra car seat they have in their car. Amazing. We take them up on this incredible offer and use the borrowed seat for Audrey. We put Sophie in the backseat with me and just strapped her in as if she were a big kid. Don't judge. We feel terrible about doing it, but had very few options at this point. She pitched a royal fit and it took all I could muster to keep her in her seat. She fell asleep about 5 minutes after we left...she had not slept since her short nap that morning. Try to call Luigi's to order a pizza and have the number programmed in my phone incorrectly. Give up and use 411.
Wake Sophie to come inside to eat. She explodes into a tantrum. Can't blame her because I know she's tired, but could really use a break at this point. Audrey is a peach, so that's nice. Eat in near silence...only Dora singing in the background. Bathtime begins only to find that Benoit had turned down the water heater to conserve energy while we were away (I'm sure that saved us $5) and there is no hot water for baths. After 3 rounds of boiling water on the stove and 2 pitchers from the microwave, we have a bath warm enough for the girls. Everyone is finally off to bed and the house is quiet. Benoit is off to pick up the luggage. I had hoped for a bath but that's not in the cards for tonight. So, I'm about to settle in with a Blue Moon winter ale (worth a try if you're looking for something new) and I'll call it a day. Maybe tomorrow will be a better one.
Sophie's awake until 5:45a.m. in the car. Audrey sleeps or plays quietly all the way to Toronto. Sophie takes a 2 hour nap and then plays calmly in the backseat. So far, going ok. But don't get ahead of yourself.
Arrive at Sheraton to drop off rental car. Called ahead for taxi to drop us directly at our terminal instead of the shuttle drop to save some time. Very smart. Feed Audrey in Sheraton lobby and get lots of looks. PS - Breastfeeding women don't want to talk to you about how fast your kids grew up. No time to change Sophie, only Audrey. So Sophie goes to the airport in her pajamas. At least they are cute. But she has crazy hair and won't let me touch it. We look like hillbillies all day.
Get to airport and check in. But only 1 child is listed so we have to go from Air Canada counter to United to pay tax for additional child. Thirty minutes later we get ticket from Air Canada. But large bag 55 lbs = $75 fee. Try three times to get under 52 lbs to avoid fee. Success. Get to customs to discover ridiculously huge line. Have 1 hour until flight and line will take at least 50 minutes. Against all odds, the kids are reasonably happy. But Benoit and I are not.
Make it to bag drop off and security line with 10 minutes to spare. Have to toss my fraise and bluet syrup I bought as my souvenir. Was really looking forward to using it on waffles from my new waffle maker Santa brought me. Now I'm running (or at least jogging) with 2 girls in a double stroller and a really heavy diaper bag. Pass a lady who exclaims "Look at that girl's hair!". Hillbillies we are. Make it to gate, which is the last gate down the terminal and get in line behind 4 people. We're the last ones on the plane. But we made it!
Flight is not bad, relatively empty and we got four seats to ourselves. Girls do really well and we make it to Dallas just fine. Even get to split a chicken wrap and pringles for $10. Then we discover that although we made our flight, our luggage did not. No biggie since we are coming home. Except that the car seats didn't make it either.
No Air Canada baggage claim desk. No Air Canada ticket agents upstairs. Only an 800 number, which is not helpful at all. They say to come back to the airport for the 9pm flight from Toronto (which Benoit is doing right now) to get our bags. Desperate and stressed, we head to the parking spot. On the shuttle, Benoit asks another mom what she would do in our situation. How do you take two kids home with no car seat? She and her husband suggest buying one for Audrey and just strapping Sophie in and driving slow. But after a few minutes, she offers to let us borrow an extra car seat they have in their car. Amazing. We take them up on this incredible offer and use the borrowed seat for Audrey. We put Sophie in the backseat with me and just strapped her in as if she were a big kid. Don't judge. We feel terrible about doing it, but had very few options at this point. She pitched a royal fit and it took all I could muster to keep her in her seat. She fell asleep about 5 minutes after we left...she had not slept since her short nap that morning. Try to call Luigi's to order a pizza and have the number programmed in my phone incorrectly. Give up and use 411.
Wake Sophie to come inside to eat. She explodes into a tantrum. Can't blame her because I know she's tired, but could really use a break at this point. Audrey is a peach, so that's nice. Eat in near silence...only Dora singing in the background. Bathtime begins only to find that Benoit had turned down the water heater to conserve energy while we were away (I'm sure that saved us $5) and there is no hot water for baths. After 3 rounds of boiling water on the stove and 2 pitchers from the microwave, we have a bath warm enough for the girls. Everyone is finally off to bed and the house is quiet. Benoit is off to pick up the luggage. I had hoped for a bath but that's not in the cards for tonight. So, I'm about to settle in with a Blue Moon winter ale (worth a try if you're looking for something new) and I'll call it a day. Maybe tomorrow will be a better one.
