The worst hour and half of his life

I just posted about how great our trip to Utah was and all the fun things we got to do, but I failed to write about the horrible experience we had getting there. Since this is our family journal and I like to be as honest as possible I decided that I better document this travesty so in the future we can read about it and hopefully laugh....we aren't to the laughing stage quite yet and I'm not sure Spencer will ever laugh about this since he is still pretty traumatized.

It took me about 4 days to pack for our trip. Kids need a lot of stuff, especially babies. I made a list of everything we would need and made sure that every last item was packed. When Spencer came home from work on Thursday and saw the pile of stuff I had packed he got nervous about how we were going to get all of our stuff on the airplane, I on the other hand was very optimistic, I figured once we checked most of it we would be fine. Just so you get the full picture here is the list of all our luggage:

3 medium sized suitcases (one for me, one for Spencer, and the kids shared the 3rd one.)

1 pack and play portable crib

2 car seats

2 small strollers

1 diaper bag/purse

1 large carry-on bag full of toys, snacks, and stuff for the plane ride.

Spencer's brother took us to the airport and helped us get all of our stuff to the line for curb-side check-in, we figured that would be a lot easier than trying to lug everything inside. When we got to the front of the line we were told that if we had more than one bag per person to check that we had to check in inside. I thought for sure the man would have mercy on us since we had two kids with us, but he didn't. So we managed to get all of our bags inside and we made it through that line without a ton of difficulties. To my disappointment we were only allowed to check three items for free, we would have to pay $25 for any additional checked baggage. We were left to carry quite a bit, which I wasn't anticipating at all.

Somehow we managed to drag our kids and the remaining luggage to security, and what a pain in the butt that was. Do those people really think I am going to hide bombs in my kid's shoes or in their sippy cups?? Getting through security was stressful and Spencer and I were both sweating a little bit, but we did it!! After putting every one's shoes on and getting loaded back into the strollers we headed to our gate. I was looking forward to just sitting down and taking a little rest before we had to board the plane.

So now I want you to picture us walking to the gate. I am pushing Audrey in her stroller with one hand, my diaper bag is shoved in the basket underneath, I have my giant carry-on bag (the one with the toys and snacks in it) slung over my shoulder, and I am pulling the kid's smaller suitcase with my other hand. Spencer is pushing Owen and dragging his giant car seat behind him. (It was my brilliant idea to bring the car seat on board so Owen could sit in it during the flight) At this point all we wanted to do was sit down. We turned the corner to where our gate was and I am thinking FREEDOM, but what do I see??

There is this tiny room filled with people. All I see is people everywhere!! There are people there waiting for 4 or 5 different flights and there are only about 100 chairs and probably 500 people....I am NOT exaggerating!! Every seat is taken and practically every space of standing room is taken as well. This is where I started to panic a little bit. Audrey started to cry and Owen started to whine about something, and I just stood there frozen. My mind started racing, Too many people, not enough air, it's so hot in here, I WILL suffocate, don't pass out, don't pass out, don't pass out.

I aimlessly followed Spencer to where he saw a tiny space of room for us to stand, which ended up being in the middle of the line for Starbucks...I don't know how people can drink coffee in a room that was at least 95 degrees!! Now full on panic set in. My face turned bright red, I started to sweat profusely, I felt like I couldn't breath, and then the tears came streaming down my face, I felt like I was going to collapse right there on top of someone. At this point both of my children are crying hysterically and I can't even think straight, I'm standing there trying not to hyperventilate and I'm sure all eyes were on us.

I can't remember very much about what happened next, but the next thing I knew we were walking down the jet way to the airplane and I was holding Audrey, who was crying, and holding Owen who was screaming and I was also crying. Spencer must of gotten someone to help carry our stuff since it was magically gone at this point. Since we were at the Long Beach airport we had to go outside to get to our plane, and this only seemed to make matters worse. Spencer had disappeared (found out later that he was gate checking our strollers and car seats) and I was left with two crying kids and I could barely even see through my tears. Luckily this kind woman behind me took Owen from me and carried him on to the airplane, all the while he is still screaming bloody murder.

Once the woman helped me find our seats Spencer reappeared, took Audrey from me, and looked me dead in the face and told me to pull it together, I don't think I've ever seen Spencer look so serious. I turned the air vent on full blast and finally felt like I could breathe. Owen was still screaming "I want to go home!!!" and everyone boarding the plane was probably wishing we would just disappear. I held Owen as tight as I could trying to bribe him with candy to get him to stop screaming, this continued until the flight attendants came over the intercom and started showing everyone how to use the seat belts. Almost instantly after hearing the voices on the intercom Owen stopped crying and was fine.

So once the plane took off we were all fine. Audrey, Owen, and I didn't shed another tear while on the flight. We made it to Utah....barely. Spencer was my hero, I couldn't have done it without him. Spencer will tell you that this airport experience was the worst hour and a half of his life and I am to blame for our kids breaking down, but I blame the run-down, over-crowded, too small Long Beach Airport, I wouldn't recommend flying out of there to anyone, even if it is $50 cheaper.

And in case any of you are wondering once we landed in Salt Lake we recruited some people to help us with our stuff and we made it to our car without any melt downs or major complications and the trip home was effortless (my mom flew home with us and was a HUGE help).

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that in the car on the way to the airport Owen got carsick and threw up all over himself, so he smelled like barf until we arrived at my Aunt's house in Salt Lake...lovely.