It's Showtime!

I don't know about you, but I'm already tired of this story. But I already said I was going to give you the rest of the gory details of our trip. So, here it goes...

We reach the security check point (or whatever the hell else it's called). After travelling with our little one a few different times, my husband and I have mastered the craft of breaking down our carry-on: the stroller, my laptop and case, his dvd player and case, the pillow I use to hold the baby on my lap with, our jackets, the diaper bag, and our shoes. Then quickly compartmentalizing it all into 10 different tubs and managing it onto the conveyor belt. It's quite a show. As I'm holding my daughter, and having to go through the security doorway thing a 3rd time, for it not to beep (remind me to never wear cargo pants clad with buckles and snaps), hoping to get through this without causing too much more attention, my mom yells from her wheelchair from the end of the assembly line - "you have a lot of liquids in your bag!"

For someone who had spent the last 2 weeks preparing for this trip, with a 5 page, double-spaced, packing list which had been through 3 different revisions from the past 3 trips, and a carefully thought out quart-sized ziplock for the essential carry-on liquids - those words did not sit well. As the words "nooooo I dooooon't" exited my mouth, I flashed back to the skycap guy mouthing in slow motion "Miss, yooooouuuuu wiillll neeeeeeed tooooo taaaaaaake fiiiifteeeeeen poooouunnds oooooouuuut of your suuuuuiiitcaaaase". OH - MY - GAWD. The cosmetic bag! I rushed to the security guy who was unapolagetically emptying the private contents of my cosmetic bag. "Sir, there's been a mistake..." and I explained to him how I had to lighten up my suitcase etc. Surprisingly sympathetic, he exclaims how the skycap guys are great about telling us how overfilled our suitcases are, but fail to remind us about the liquids, when emptying our suitcases.

My husband then had to run back to baggage check-in on the other side of the airport, and checked it in with the rest of our luggage. Needless to say, we made it to the gate with a good 1/2 hour to spare. thanks to the men and their 3 hr. rule we wouldn't have needed if it wasn't for their input in the 1st place!

The 1/2 hour before the flight was smooth. All the kids, my daughter, husband and dad, quietly munched on their airport snacks. We then pre-boarded and settled into our seats. While everything was seeminly o.k - it started...a little whimper here, squirming in my lap, a little whimper there, escalating into full-blown screaming crying. As the passengers mumbled obscenities under their breaths while contemplating ways to get rid of us boarded the plane, we luckily managed to calm her down before the actual flight. Even though she only ended up sleeping the 1st 20 minutes of the flight, we kept her busy the rest of the time, pulling everything under the sun out of our hats to keep her entertained. In comparison to the rest of our trip, the circus act we had performed up until this point in our journey - was NOTHING.