We flew Southwest and I feel like they handled things well. They kept middle seats open. The plane felt very clean (who knows if it actually was but it FELT like it was).
The hardest part was traveling ALONE with a wiggly/mobile/active 18 month old who just wants to go and see and do... constantly.
We booked this trip last minute so Mike wasn't able to get the time off from work. I tried my BEST to wipe down every surface my toddler might touch but that's actually impossible because no matter how quickly I wiped, he would touch something and put his hands in his mouth before I could possibly stop him. Ugh. We did the best we could.
He didn't have to wear a mask because he's under 2 which is a good thing because I worked with him on it and he just couldn't tolerate it. He got very good at allowing us to put it on him, but then he would promptly rip it off his face as soon as we let go.
So my strategy was to keep the hand wipes easily accessible and to just wipe him down as frequently as possible. Let's hope it worked!
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| UP EARLY AND READY TO GO! |
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| WATCHING THE SUN COME UP |
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There are no direct flights from Reno to Raleigh so this is how we killed some time in the Denver airport... please notice that I have to stop him from putting his mouth on the probably COVID covered chair...
And this is what I had to deal with for basically 6 hours of flying time...
Thank the GOOD LORD that flights weren't full and we had rows to ourselves. I literally can't imagine the hell that would be sharing a row with strangers and this wiggly toddler. Oh. My. Gosh. It would've been so much harder!
Anyway, once we landed things were just peachy. My parents picked us up from the airport. Mom walked C around while I waited for our stuff at baggage claim. It was so nice to have help after traveling all day without any!
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| PRETTY BLUE EYES |
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| LEARNING ABOUT THE WATER HOSE |
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| WATERING THE PLANTS |
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| HYDRATING |
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| SHARING THE HOSE WATER WITH JUJU |
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| HE RODE THE TRACTOR AND LAWN MOWER A LOT! |
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| RIDIN' WITH PA |
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| KRISPY KREME FOR SNACK! YUM!!! |
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| AWESOME RULER FROM MIKE'S MOM'S CO-WORKER! WE MEASURED HIM THERE BUT WE WEREN'T SURE HOW TO GET IT HOME. |
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| WE WENT SWIMMING AT BABCIA'S |
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| A POOL INSIDE A POOL |
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| HE CLIMBED IN THIS DOG CRATE ALL BY HIMSELF |
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| SNUGGLES WITH BABCIA AND TITAN |
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| FELL ASLEEP WHILE OUT AND ABOUT WITH JUJU. HE RARELY SLEEPS THIS GOOD. |
We also visited with Grandpa Madden but I didn't take a single picture! Gah.
Well, that pretty much sums up our week in NC. It was hot as the surface of the sun but we played in the sprinkler and the pool a lot and we were able to stay cool. It was probably our most relaxing trip to NC since we did minimal running around to visit people. In fact, we didn't even get to see cousins Fin and Lainey this trip and we didn't even tell any friends we were coming home. We wanted to minimize our exposure to others and their exposure to us. We skipped out on going to Mt. Gould to see family which made me so sad but I would hate to bring any NV or Denver germs to the entire family. So, go away COVID so we can get back to seeing other people who we miss dearly!
Before you know it, we were back at the airport to head home. The week went by SO fast. It's always hard to leave but so nice to get back home.
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| CHECKING OUT THE PLANE BEFORE WE GET ON |
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| A GLIMPSE INTO WHAT OUR FIRST FLIGHT LOOKED LIKE... AND WE DIDN'T HAVE A ROW TO OURSELVES UNFORTUNATELY (BUT AT LEAST THE MIDDLE SEAT WAS EMPTY). |
Clayton napped a little on both flights home but he fought it hard and it was WAY past his bedtime. Grand scheme of things: he really was a trooper. But in the moment, it was hard. Am I eager to hop on another flight anytime soon? NOPE! Will my husband be joining us next time? YOU BET!!!
And I've included this last picture because I feel like it perfectly sums up this phase of our lives. Clayton is always on the move but can't tell us what he wants yet, so he's just constantly pulling us around to show us what he wants.
And due to technical difficulties, all the videos ended up at the end of the blog. Oh well, better at the end than not at all I guess. Here are some videos from the week:
Running around in the airport to get wiggles out before we have to sit on a plane (I had to stop the video abruptly to prevent him from opening an emergency exit).
