Alaska - Installment #4

Here goes the not so pleasant final stage in our trip to Alaska:

Sorry if this turns into a LONG venting session for me. Hopefully you'll understand where all my ranting and raving comes from when I'm through!

Back tracking just a tad...When I went through the security checks in Portland, I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew that security was high, and that they were very particular about what is allowed in your carry-on. Due to that fact, I made sure that any scissors, clippers, tweezers and the like were in my checked luggage, and that my carry-on was free of contraband...so I thought. Well, getting up to the line I realized they were being very particular about liquids. You needed a clear bag with all your "liquids" in it, and there was a volume amount that was allowed. Being that we had such long layovers, I had all our bathroom things, shampoo, lotions, etc., etc. in my carry-on.

The line in Portland was really long, I had the stroller, a restless kiddo, our bags, and I definitely looked like I had my hands full. The security lady looked over my bag of bathroom goodies, kind of gave a funny look and said "these things are borderline". I told her sorry, I didn't know, and she let me through...no big deal. Well...Fairbanks, not so nice.

Here I am, saying goodbye to my friends, and anxiously awaiting the flight home to see one very missed husband and daddy. "Shoes, coats, blankets, things for the baby, and anything liquid in the tray please." Sure, no big deal, we've been through this before. Then came the problems...shampoo & conditioner, garbage, lotions, garbage, garbage, garbage, garbage. Gee, thanks for leaving the toothpaste and toothbrush at least! Fine, I understand, just let me get on the plane. "uh ma'am, you're going to need to come with us...we need to thoroughly check your bag." What...what do they need to check my bag for, because I'm carrying a toddler, my arms are full, and I just want to get home. Fine, check away. Out comes a sealed Apple juice box, my liquid foundation, and a sealed cup of mandarin oranges. "Why didn't you disclose that you had these things in your bag ma'am. These are liquid items, and we asked for all liquids." Are you kidding me...um, because I wasn't really thinking about it, and quite frankly I forgot. "Well, we need to confiscate them, and we need to bomb sweep your entire bag, stroller, and any loose belongings. Ahhhhhhh, fine...sweep away.

All clear, big surprise...Now we board the plane. Once again on the flight from Anchorage to Fairbanks we had an entire row to ourselves, which was a blessing from God as it turns out because of the roughness of the flight. Let me tell you...I haven't been on a lot of airplanes in my life, but this was the worse flight I've ever heard of. The turbulence was so bad that the flight attendants never left there seats, and the plane didn't stop rockin' and a shaken' until we landed. We had multiple "bags" (the little ones in front of everyone's seat...catch my drift) passed to the center isle, and the paramedics even had to be called for one lady because she was so sick, and so weak they were afraid to let her get off the plane. Thank you Lord we were on land!

We found our trusty Anchorage nursery room, laid Kallen in the crib, took a cat nap myself, then headed to our final plane. Plane number two also had major turbulence issues, but nothing like the seat mates I had next to me. I'm already rambling enough, so I'll save that little story for another time...it's a duzzy. Needless to say, we didn't have an extra seat next to us, because the entire flight was full, so that was an interesting dynamic to add to the flight! Kallen did fine, slept on my lap almost the whole time, and woke up just in time to see the lights of Portland. Remember I mentioned this earlier...Here's the daddy story. It's 5:00 am, the entire plane is silent and everyone is asleep. Kallen finds the window shade and thinks it's funny to open and shut it, open and shut it. Fine, he's being quiet, and he's not disturbing anyone. Then we see the lights and I simply say..."look Kallen, we're almost home. My precious son blurts out in almost a scream "dadda". Wow...that woke everyone up around us. Then he proceeds to lift the shade up and down, and every time he pulls it up, he yells "dadda" again and again. I tried to get him to stop by distracting him, but all he wanted was his dadda and he was going to let everyone know!

We landed safe and sound, Kallen got to see his daddy, and we climbed in the car headed for home sweet home! It was a great trip, but we were glad to be home!

Thanks for listening to my rambling during these Alaska installments. We hoped you enjoyed reading all about our trip.

Alaska - Installment #3

Okay, now onto the good stuff!

We finally landed in Fairbanks, and it was time to get on with our vacation!!! Yes!!! Dylan, Ashley and David all met us at baggage claim, and proceeded to help us get our luggage into the car. It seemed as if we brought everything but the kitchen sink with us, though somehow we managed to cram it in! Hey, in my defense I didn't know what to expect, and I wanted to be prepared!!! Besides...Kevin needed a sink at home, so we thought we ought to leave that for him.

Anyways...We drove to their house, and that's when the fun began. If I haven't said this before, David and Kallen are 6 weeks apart, and it was so much fun watching them interact. There were lots of hugs and kisses (especially from Kallen), tongs of giggling, and more "showing off" than you can imagine! Both boys had to show each other all they could do, and it was rather amusing.

Kallen is our little monkey, and found it necessary to climb on each and everything he could. David hadn't yet learned this wonderful feat, but since we've been home, Ashley has now informed me that he too is climbing on the furniture. Sorry about that!!!

One of the funniest things to watch, was Kallen climbing up, and standing on David's little trike in order to sit on it (his little legs just weren't long enough). Then, when Kallen was done with his turn, David would saunter on over, and throw his leg over the seat as if to show Kallen how "it's really done". David is 6 weeks younger, but actually bigger in size than Kallen, so that was an interesting dynamic! Here at home, Kallen hardly eats, but when we were up there...he ate everything that was put in his face. Ashley joked with me that we could "plump" him up if we just stayed a little longer!!!


We had such a great time, seeing the sights and just hanging out! There were times we stayed home and let the boys play, and times we got out and about!

We went glow-in-the-dark miniature golfing

sledding

shopping in Fairbanks

and David showed Kallen a thing or two about drumming on his daddy's drum set!

The boys had a great time with each other, and we only had a few minor injuries to speak of! One time in particular, we were at Chili's having lunch...Kallen had gone with me to the restroom, and when we came out, David was there to greet us. Kallen saw him, and immediately ran full speed, wrapped his arms around him, and gave him the biggest hug/tackle ever! David wasn't quite expecting it, tried to back away, but to no avail. Kallen's momentum took them both down, and David hit his head on the tile floor. He started screaming, which scared Kallen enough that he started screaming, and we lost them both from there! Poor little guys! I'm happy to say that David was a-okay, and his goose egg was nearly gone the next day! Needless to say he tended to run the other way when Kallen came at him with a hug.

Bath time was a hoot

and coloring Easter eggs went much better than we expected!

Whew, was that enough for you!!!

Anyways, all that said and done...after a long and eventful week, it was time to say our goodbyes. We got some dinner, and headed to the airport for our 7:58 pm flight!

Alaska - Installment #2

So here we are at the airport; It's 7:00pm, we're all checked in and killing time before the dreaded moment when Kallen and I walk through the security checkpoint, and leave Kevin behind. The good ol' Portland airport has a nice little play structure for kiddos awaiting arrivals or departures, and that's where we parked ourselves for the next hour or so.

Then it was time to go. We said our goodbyes, gave our hugs and kisses, and went on our way! Being that it was now 8:30 or so, I put Kallen's PJ's on, set him in the stroller, and walked from gate to gate until it was our time to board the plane!

I had gotten some wonderful advice from my friend Laura who told me not to board with the usual "early boarding for people traveling with kids", but instead to wait until that last possible moment to board. If you board early, you end up waiting another 20-30 minutes for everyone else to arrive, before the plane actually begins to move. The 3 1/2 hour flight turns into 4, etc, etc.

We boarded the plane, waved goodbye to daddy, and settled in to our seats. It was merely 2 minutes or so before we began to taxi down the runway, and we were off to Alaska.

Let me backtrack, just a minute. I've never flown with kids before, so I don't really know the ends and outs of family travel. I didn't buy a seat for Kallen because I figured he would sleep on my lap the whole flight, and it wouldn't be worth spending the extra miles. The thing I didn't realize was that the airlines try to accomodate families by blocking out seats when the flights arn't full. Sure enough, they had done that for us. We ended up with two seats, and plenty of room to move around.

The engine noise at take-off, put Kallen right to sleep, and he didn't wake up until the plane touched the ground. Thank you Lord!

We're now in Anchorage, and begin looking for a place to crash for our 7 hour layover...yes, 7 hours...but remember how much I saved on the flight, and it is 12:00 am, so it's bedtime!!! Well, this nice lady, pointed me in the direction of the "nursery". Okay, we'll check it out. Let me tell you how wonderful the Anchorage airport is. They have a nursery room, for parents traveling with kids, that had a crib, two leather couches, toys, and even a private bathroom! Thank you again Lord. I let Kallen play for a few minutes, laid him down in the crib, found my place on the couch, and went to sleep. Sleep isn't really the right word, since the announcer kept coming over the loud speaker telling us all that the local time in Anchorage was 1:00 am, 1:30 am, 2:00 am , ect., ect.. Kallen slept through the noise, but it was just enough to keep me alert!


We woke up, went to our gate, boarded the plane for Fairbanks, and once again we were off!

Daddy's Boy

I've come to the conclusion, that I'm rapidly losing "my" baby boy! Here's the deal...for the past 17 months, Kallen has been quite the mamma's boy. When he's hurt, he wants me, if he's fussy, only I can calm him, I'm the last hug he wants at night, and the first face he wants to see in the morning, etc., etc.!!! Well, all of that is now changing, and not very slowly might I add.

Ever since our trip to Alaska, Kallen has been on a daddy kick. When Kevin would call to say hello, it was all I could do to get the phone away from a couple of little hands who didn't want to let his daddy's voice go away. Then on the plane ride back, Kallen saw the lights of Portland out our window, and at the top of his lungs yelled "dadda" (I'll tell you more about that story later). When we walked to the area of the airport where your friends and family can meet you, Kallen saw Kevin and I've never seen his little legs move so fast. He was in Kevin's arms before I could blink my eyes, and we finally had to pry his little fingers lose when we got to the car and it was time to go home!

So began the daddy saga. Now, for those of you who don't know, I'm a stay at home mom, and Kevin works. As a result, Kallen generally only gets to see Kevin from around 5:30 when he gets home, until 8:00 when it's bedtime. Then, on Wednesdays they don't get to see each other at all because Kevin bowls in a bowling league, and Kallen goes to bed well before he gets home. Well on Wednesday night (the first Wednesday since we've been home) Kallen had a REALLY rough time. From about 4:30 on, he basically didn't stop crying, and was continually looking around the house for his "daddy". I muddled through the fussiness, and put Kallen to bed like usual. Well...his attitude hadn't changed any, even when he woke up. He was still fussy, and looking all over for "daddy".

About 5:00 tonight, he began walking to the front door, calling out "daddy", then coming back to me with the saddest look you've ever seen. I kept saying...he's almost home, just hang in there. 5:20ish roles around, and the front door opens...Kallen's eyes got as big as baseballs, and his smile went from ear to ear. He stood paralyzed in anticipation for that one face he had been longing to see for the past day or so. Then came the "hello"...it was Brandy, coming to pick up Dawson. "oh" said Kallen, and what sounded like "it's you" in his eawok jibber jabber. He then gave Brandy the polite "hello" smile, though you could see the disappointment on his face. From that moment on, our little man decided to park himself on the front porch, and wait for his daddy to come home.

When the oh so familiar truck finally pulled in the driveway, it was all I could do to keep Kallen from leaping off the deck and running to greet him. All my little boy's troubles were over, his daddy was home!

Alaska - Installment #1

Here we are; the boys are down for a nap, and I've got a few moments to spare...so, there's no time like the present to start telling you all about our trip! Oh, and I've decided that since I ramble so much, I'll break it down into different parts. That way you don't have to read it all at once...you can have a break from my jibber jabber!!!

Anyways...We started looking for tickets back in February, and realized it was going to cost at least $850 for me alone, and $1200 if I wanted to get Kallen his own seat. Huh...So thanks for the deals Travelocity, Expedia, ect, ect. Next step, look into using our airline miles. Perfect, we've got a lot of miles built up, and never fly anywhere, so why not? Here's the deal with our miles...In order to fly a regular, leave in the morning, arrive in the evening type flight, it was going to take 45,000 miles. If we flew "red-eye" and had long layovers in Anchorage, it would only be 20,000 miles. Huh, decisions, decisions. Well, we decided to go the "red-eye" route, and although you may think I'm crazy, I'll explain myself later!

Since we were leaving at 9:25 pm from Portland, I thought it would be best if we just hung out in P-Town during the day Sunday, so we were already there, and Kallen would get tuckered out. I didn't want him sleeping all the way up to Portland, only to get on a plane a few hours later and try to get him back to sleep again. Makes sense, right!!!

Well, the sky in Portland that day was threatening a good ol' fashioned Oregon rain storm, but we had planned to go to the zoo. Kallen had never been to the zoo, and what better way to get him tired out for the trip then to walk around and look at a bunch of cool animals. We went ahead and braved the odds, and paid the ridiculous $9.75 each to traipse through the wildlife!

Great decision on our part! The sky's parted an hour or so into our quest, and most of the animals were actually quite active. Kallen was content hangin' out in his stroller and being pushed all over the zoo... although the whole point was to get him out walking. Oh well, what are you to do. He loved the animals that were actually moving around and he could tell were something other than a great big rock (aka the hippos), and most of all he loved the train! We heard the train a few times driving around the park, but on our way out, we decided to take him for a ride! That was the highlight of his day, I'm sure! Trying to get him off the train when our ride was over, was quite an adventure, but we managed!

We followed the crowds out the gates, got some dinner, then headed to the airport.

Helping daddy push the stroller!

Sittin' on the train with mommy.

Lookin' at the Elephants

We're Back!!!

Well, we made it safe and sound, but this picture of Kallen sums up our day. After our rough red-eye flights, and long layover in Anchorage, we've been trying to catch up on some much needed sleep. I've got so much to tell you all, and lots and lots of pictures to share, but you'll all just have to wait!

We hope you have a wonderful Easter tomorrow!