Adventure!

I'm going on an adventure. 

It was a long time preparing but I finally have every one's passports in hand. The tickets are purchased, the bags are packed and we're on our way. 

The hobbits and I left in the evening, past any of our bedtimes. Hobbette fought sleeping in the plane during our first leg of the journey much to the dismay of our fellow travelers. She finally gave in about halfway through the flight and passed out. Hobbit made friends with the gentleman who sat with us, cooing at him and smiling. He was a very good baby. 

We made it to Seattle, pick up our baggage and managed to find where to check in for our next flight without too many problems. We got there around 11 pm but had to wait until 2:30 am to check in. Hobbette eventually fell asleep in her car seat again after the excitement of deplaning and I got a chance to make a few friends while waiting in line. Unfortunately most of the people were going to Korea, not Japan. Everyone was on the same flight but lucky we were stopping in Japan first. Families got to check in first which was amazing because the line was incredibly long. Seriously. Think about how long the lines are to ride roller coasters at an amusement park. After check in we had to go through customs again (not cool with a very tired little girl) and hike to the other side of the airport (with a little help from a tram). I had to stop a few times to readjust luggage, change diapers, and feed Hobbit but we made it to our gate. Everyone fell asleep with a little coaxing and life was quiet until 7:30 am. 

I boarded with two children, two car seats and two carry-ons with a lot of help from sympathetic souls. I had the three middle seats all to myself (there were seven seats to a row with two walkways. Two seats on either sides with three seats in the middle)  life was looking good. Unfortunately, for safety reasons, I couldn't sit in the middle so Hobbit was in the middle. That the people behind me laugh when it came to changing diapers. I could pick up Hobbit and truck down one aisle to a bathroom but when I came back to put him back in his seat I would have to walk all the the back to the bathroom so I could cross over to the next aisle to get Hobbette. Then I'd have to do it again to get back to my seat. It made it look like I was making four trips to the bathroom in a 15 minute period. 

Grandma and grandpa got Hobbette a pair of child safe headphones for the trip and it was hilarious to watch her listen with eyes wide then take them off and stare at them for a while before she'd hand them to me to put them back on her head so she could listen wide-eyed again. She never did make the connection that the sounds she was hearing were connected to the screen in front of her playing the in-flight movie. They also had the added bonus of being the only thing I could "recycle." Every other book or toy lost its appeal after the initial playing and was tossed on the floor if I offered it again later but I could get a good 15 minutes of wonderment every time I offered the headphones. 

The last half hour was probably the hardest of the whole trip. I was losing steam, Hobbette was tired, cranky and wanted out of her car seat in the worst way (who can blame her) and Hobbit had a bubble stuck that was making him very loud. 

A rosary was said, saints were pleaded with, and a poor man in the next row was asked to tell my daughter to "knock it off" because she'd only cry louder if I told her to. He said he couldn't... He has a soft spot for little girls. 

We landed and I had three flight attendants help me haul everything down the stairs and into the building because my trick of strapping the car seat to my rolling luggage couldn't handle stairs. We got our luggage and I was mistaken for a commanders wife (apparently there were two Mrs. Williams on the flight with two children. She had a dog though so I missed an opportunity for special treatment when they figured out they had the wrong one). The line to get through customs was long and there was a little play area for kids so I just set Hobbette free and was content to be the last one through customs (they were humored when I asked them to stamp Petunia Bacon's passport by the way...) Shaun was happy we made it and we went home.