back in da hood

back in Philly. arrived at Ronald McDOnalds house around 330 this afternoon. after a crazy hair raising car ride where a guy yelled at us(well not US but the driver) we finally got to see Tara and RMH. What a trip it was.

We got up at 330am to get a shower and get to airport for our 630 flight. My brother said hour and half before the flight so we got there around 5. and sat. and sat. and sat. and waited. and waited. and waited. Finally around 6ish they opened the security screening. I was worried about having to train in a whole new airport crew about sophie and ben but man that was so not necessary. so after we went through security, which goes directly to the gate(our smalltown airport has a whole 4 gates)I was given a stroller tag and ushered into preboard. where I had all of 3.2 seconds to board get the kids in and collapse the stroller before everyone else was boarding behind me. While in line for security I noticed a young mom clearly pregnant with two little girls in tow. The girls were waiting until mom was at the front of security to say goodbye to her. so off we went to Chicago. It was still dark out and I wanted them to sleep but they didnt. which means I didnt. oh look! landing already!

announcement: thanks for flying with us and be careful departing the plane as we do not have a walkway but stairs. My ears perked. STAIRS? sigh. ok. I will somehow get two bags and a boy who doesnt do stairs well and a girl who doesnt walk at all down the steps. So I took Ben leaving Sophie on the plane. put my bags and Ben next to the mom, whose name turned out to be Terri. I asked if he could stand next to her and I could leave my bags there while I ran back in to get sophie. oh look they just unloaded my stroller. I opened it up and was told you need to carry that. there is no elevator here. you have to go up the stairs to get into the airport. PARDON? wth am I gonna do now? well you guessed it. I did what I always do. I cried. seriously what else could I do? I went back to get Sophie who was charming the socks of the stewardess. She could see my tears and said she would help me. Terri also said she would help me. Being pregnant I didnt want her to have to carry my stuff and employees cant carry kids so I had no choice. I carried sophie and one bag. one employee carried my backpack. one employee walked ben up the stairs and Terri carried the stroller. WTH? NO ELEVATOR? what is with this country? Another time I encountered a similar situation and the PILOT helped me and they found a service elevator for us.

The kindness of strangers is often the only way I would get through these trips. thank god for their kindess because clearly the stupid airlines dont have a fecking clue about accessibility. So Terri and I and the kids went and found some breakfast. then we parted ways and we went on to our gate.

When I asked about changing seats to closer to the front I was told no. not possible. but they could order an aisle chair for her. so I went to my gate and she not only ordered an aisle chair but changed our seats as well and let us on well before anyone else to get settled. she told me to call and request it in advance and it would save time. It was funny when we got to PA the guys who came to put her in the chair lifted her as a team lift. huh. 31 pounds and I toss her over my arm to pull her pants off no problem and it took two of them to lift her. lol. Ben said to the one guy that he sounds like raymone from Princess and the frog. he thought ben was saying he sounded like a frog. I explained to him and he said now it all makes sense because another kid a couple weeks ago said the same thing. lol. sophie kept telling everyone to SMILE! SMILE! dont forget your SMILE FACE! as she yells across the airport.

on the ride between chicago and philly a man who said his name was Ollie sat between Ben and Sophie. He was very kind and friendly. My kids really like Harry Potter and she started talking about magic and there really is no magic but it would be nice if there was magic. Ollie didnt understand. He said yeah its magic, the plane goes along them goes up and goes down again to the ground(all the while moving his hand to show up and down and moving along.) Sophie snorted and said THATS NOT MAGIC! THATS JUST YOUR HAND! we both cracked up and Ollie said wow! cant fool you! kids today are too smart! it was very much needed comic relief. Somewhere over Ohio Sophie was saying BEN! BEN! and he wasnt responding. remember he is several seats away. I said he cant hear you. She asked why but my response tht he was too far away wasnt good enough. She formulated her own hypothesis. Oh! I know why he cant hear me! she said. Its because my ears are plugged!

well its time to go to dinner and let teh kids play awhile. they were so good on the planes. they need to scoot around and play awhile. Tomorrow off to see Dr VanBosse!