Dallas Day 1

It is 6:00am in Logandale, 8:00am in Dallas. For whatever reason I have been awake since 5:30 and unable to sleep. The rest of the family is still crashed out so I decided to be productive. (I think that I should be reading my scriptures but will get to that) Our day yesterday started out remarkably well. The kids all got up pretty good-well ok we were dressing Cayden 3 minutes before we walked out the door because this little stink has been going to bed extremely late-not for the lack of trying on our part because we do put him to bed but he keeps getting up to say "I have one more question" which usually is a declarative statement or a tattle on his brothers. I think that this wide awake at midnight thing with him started last week when Granddaddy Larry gave him Dr. Thunder to drink for dinner. That one night had mom and dad losing our minds, Caleb crying because Cayden would not stop touching his hair and face while he was trying to sleep and Cayden wandering up and down Grandma Penny's hall until 1:30am. That night has started a chain reaction of staying up late and sleeping in late that has yet to be fixed. So as we had stayed up late the night before cleaning and packing-see previous post about washer mishap-we were able to get out of the house on time. Connor spent the night at Grandma Dottie's because on Sunday night he had to share grandma with the other boys and he always gets his tail feathers rustled when he can't have grandma and grandpa to himself so he gets another night alone with them. Connor called us at 8:00 and asked if we were awake and as I was answering that question out came 2 others about this trip. I told him that yes we were up and would be over to get him in just a few minutes and at that time we would answer all of his questions. We loaded up and after a prayer we were off. The first thing that I said to the boys was that it was my turn to talk as I explained everything that was going to happen when we got to the airport and that when I was done talking they could ask questions. I think that lasted until about the second sentence I said. The whole ride in became the Spanish Inquisition from Connor and Cayden. Caleb who has been the most worried about flying was extremely quiet. Cody is the only one of the boys that has ever been on a plane before so it was quite the exciting event. Don and I had to keep squeezing each other's hand because the questions just kept coming and coming and coming. Here are 2 of the best1. Cayden said "Do they have "pawuking bags" (his word for puking) Where that question came from I am not sure.2. Cayden said something about the co-pilot using fire to make the plane fly in an answer to one of Connor's questions. I think that he has seen to many cartoons that show fire in the engines when the planes take off.3. Connor asked Don if it was scary flying in the dark-here is Don's classic answer. "It's just like flying in the day only darker." Good answer! I laughed about that one for 5 minutes. There is nothing like driving for an hour and answering a billion questions. I will be glad when the airport is closer. I can't imagine my insanity if there had been traffic!So after arriving at the airport, valeting the car, unloading and dragging the kids, their backpacks, my 2 carry on bags, Don's computer bag, 6 8 1/2 x 11 boarding passes, 5 pieces of luggage to check, while at the same time locating and not losing my drivers liscense, keeping Connor from bouncing off the walls because he was so excited, all to the tune of a hundred more questions and Cayden mad because he had to walk, practically stripping to get through security, getting the kids to hold onto their own boarding passes, Connor worried about getting into trouble for his diabetes supplies in his backpack, while maintaining my cheery disposition we arrived a little frazzled to our gate. We had to ride the tram thing out to the C gates-another new experience for the boys. Don used to be so anal about getting to the airport 2 hours early but he has calmed down in recent months so we should have only had to wait 20-30 minutes until they started to let us board the plane. We did not eat breakfast at home because we told the kids that we would get them something at the airport-I do not recommend this as 2 pieces of pizza, and 2 bottles of water from Sbarro and 1 lemon poppyseed muffin and 1 blended lemonade from Starbucks was $27.53. Don and Connor got a breakfast burrito and I don't even want to know what that cost. When we got to our gate we found a spot by the window so the kids could watch the planes coming and going-another ill advised plan as every plane that came into Cayden's line of sight was "our plane" until it turned the other direction and Cayden would get mad and go "AAARRRGGGHHH". There was a nice lady sitting next to us when we first got to the window but mysteriously she was not there when I returned from getting food. Hmmm wonder why she left. Connor and Caleb made a friend while we were waiting. His name was Caleb and he was from Lubbock. He kept saying "ya'll" to them-a prelude of things to come? We did not board the plane until 11:00 which was the time that we were supposed to leave. We did not leave until almost 11:45. Cayden must have inherited his patience gene from his mother. He was not quiet or still until we were in the air. As soon as possible we plugged him into the DVD player. He kept wanting me to open the panel where the oxygen masks pop out of because he thought that there should have been a TV in there that folded down like the one in the car. He would not let that go and kept saying "please just open it" so he could make sure that I was not lying to him. I was really sleepy at that point because I had taken a 1/2 a Dramamine because taking off and landing make me want to puke. I think that once we were airborn I dozed for 10 minutes until they started the drink service. Traveling with kids is EXHAUSTING!!!! We flew Southwest and we had a short stop in Lubbock. Hooray for taking off and landing twice. By the time that we got to Dallas which really was only 3 and 1/2 hours later although it felt like 10 the kids were frantic to get out of that plane. I was too and I always think that if I don't get out of that plane soon while everyone is standing in the aislea and getting their luggage out from the overhead that I am going to freak out with clausterphobia. I maintained my composure while trying to keep Cayden from shoving everyone forward. He kept saying "why don't they just go" quite loudly. The people on the rows around us wisely stayed in their seats while we got out first. I don't remember a day when I have ever said "excuse us" or "I'm sorry" so many times. I think that it has been a wise decision for us to not have taken the kids on any long airplane trips before. All in all I think that the boys had a good first flight. After exiting the plane and getting our luggage from baggae claim-again while Cayden fussed that his feet hurt and he was tired from walking-mind you we had been sitting for the last 4 hours-we got on the bus that took us to the rental car place. We are driving a spiffy Dodge Caravan. We rented Cayden a carseat and were reunited with Garmin, our GPS. Right out of the gate we made a wrong turn-against the directions of Garmin, and you can totally tell that men designed this gadget because when you make a wrong turn she says in a clearly exasperated voice "recalculating". Don and I laughed because it was reminiscent of our trip last month when we disobeyed Garmin's directions and thought that we knew better. She recalculated numerous times on that trip until we decided that she probably knew where she was going and it just best that we not try to think that we knew where we were going in a totally unfamiliar city. Don made a great comparison between Garmin and the Liahona and spirit. How each guides us and directs us but we have to listen and believe that we are not smarter than a digital, talking, satellite directed unit or more importantly not smarter than Heavenly Father. We decided to listen to Garmin and not argue. She did take us on an entirely different road than we had been on before but she was helpfully directing around traffic on the freeway. This other road happened to be the Mexican hood and was quite unsavory with the numerous bars and "Gentlemen's Clubs" yeah right! Think of Industrial and or Western in Vegas. It could have been the stolen goods or knock off purse and perfume capital of the city too. We stayed in Lewisville which is closer to where we are looking to move because we were a little more familiar with the area this time. We checked into the lovely Homewood Suites by Hilton and were pleasantly surprised to find a large 2 bedroom/2 bathroom with kitchenette and family room suite. It was after 6:00 (here) by this time and we had only eaten snacks on the plane so we were all pretty hungry. Don and I made the decision without consulting the kids that we were eating at Bennigan's. Mm mm mm-Monte Cristo's. After dinner we drove around Flower Mound to show the kids the area and the high school. Then we expertly located a house that we are interested in so that we would know the location. After that, we went and visited Jessica and her kids. Russell was out "Rockbanding" with his buddies. The kids played Rockband and bowling on the Cook's Wii. Cayden had a good time playing with Garrett and his cars. He was just glad to be able to move around. Connor and Caleb had a good time with Jackson. I know Bailey was a little disappointed that we did not bring any girls. We stayed there until a little after 9 and then made a quick trip to Target for some PB and J, Fruit Loops (my current midnight munchy) and bottled water. Don took the boys to A and W for root beer floats while Cody and I speedy shopped. We returned to our lovely accomodations to wash the airport funk off the kids and ourselves. We are on the 2nd floor and so we have to keep Cayden from running and stomping on the floor. After showers we actually had the kids asleep by 11:30-while that seems late it really isn't because that was only 9:30 in Nevada. That is the earliest they have been to bed in weeks. It is now 9:15am here and the free breakfast is over in 45 minutes so I must blog off to awaken my darling children for today's adventures