Utah Here We Come!

The time had finally arrived, Gavin and I were heading to Utah for a week! After a lot of preparing and packing (and very little sleep on my part), we were heading to the airport at 4 am. A completely ridiculous hour but much better than the alternative, 4 pm, which I was sure would be an absolutely awful idea and guarantee I was the person everyone hated with the child that screamed the entire flight. So we were on our way to the airport at 4 am for a 6 am flight. Gavin had just woken up when I went in to get him from his crib, so he was awake the whole ride there. I figured that couldn't be a good start to the day.

We unloaded and got checked in fairly quickly (the nice thing about that hour is that there are very few people at the airport) and headed toward security. I had done a little bit of reading to see what was allowed when traveling with a child and to prepare myself for what we might encounter. I had packed two bottles (just in case Gavin wouldn't nurse during take off and landing), Tylenol and Advil as well as snacks for Gavin and per the rules, they are all allowed, in excess of the 3 ounce limits and you don't even have to deal with the ziploc bags! As we approached the security line (which was thankfully very short), we were waved through and they opened the other side for us to pass through without having to deal with everyone else. It was SO nice! Even though the regular line wasn't long, it was nice to not have people in front of or behind us waiting for me to get situated on either end. It was also nice because the extra security/TSA people even helped me to get out the bins for stuff and get everything loaded into the bins. I am not sure if it was because it was really early, a tiny airport or just a really nice group of people, but I was really grateful for their help. On our way to the gate, we picked up a water and bagel to share while we waited. I let Gavin get down and walk around and hopefully burn any energy he might have before we were confined to a plane for about an hour and a half (probably more like 2 hours between boarding and deplaning).

Before too long, they were starting to board the plane and we were one of the first people to get on (because I took full advantage of the extra time they allow you when traveling with kids, I wanted time to get our bags stowed and get comfortable before we are stuck in our seat). Gavin seemed to enjoy taking in all the new sights and happily explored both our gate and the airplane. Once everyone was boarded, there was a wonderful surprise, even though it was supposed to be a full flight, there were several people that did not show, so there were extra seats. Even though the person that was to sit next to us was very nice and I am sure would have been great company during our flight, I was grateful when she wanted to move elsewhere so we had the two seats to ourselves! As we were taxiing and getting ready to take off, I got Gavin settled and before long he had passed out! What a relief! I was sure that even him being tired, he was going to flight sleeping and everyone would hate me and my screaming child! He slept the whole way to Detroit, he woke up as the plane stopped at the next gate. That meant that I even was able to relax and get a few minutes of sleep as well.

I have been to quite a few airports but Detroit is one I have never visited before. It is a very nice airport however the mode of transportation from one terminal to the next is very lacking. We had to walk all the way from the end of C to the other end of A (it was like walking a giant C). Between the backpack of Gavin's toys, the diaper bag of medicine, bottles, blankets, diapers, etc, the camera bag with the video and digital cameras and Gavin, I had to be carrying 40-50 pounds of stuff. Even with rushing and using all the moving walkways, it still took us at least 20 minutes to make it there. We also had to stop at a bathroom when we got closer to our gate because I needed to change Gavin and I didn't want to have to do that on the plane. We were in luck and found a family bathroom which made changing him so much easier!

We made it to our gate just in time to sit for a minute before they started boarding. We quickly got up and while I stowed our bags on the plane, Gavin explored the plane. I was hopeful that we would end up with a little extra space again, but that hope was quickly squashed. A completely full flight. Oh well. At least everyone around us was very nice and understanding. Gavin was a huge hit. Everyone around us was loving all his smiling and talking (good thing!) and were encouraging it! There was even a family in front of us that had a sweet little girl that was sharing her toys with Gavin. It ended up being a good thing that I brought bottles with us. Gavin didn't want to wait for take off to nurse (we had to wait in line for a bit before it was our turn) and so he wasn't interested when we were actually taking off. So I convinced him to take a bottle until we were in the air to hopefully prevent any ear popping issues. Once we were in the air, Gavin was awake for maybe another 20 minutes before he nursed and passed out again. He was asleep until we had landed in Denver! Awesome. I was so thankful he had been so good and then slept again!

Our gate in Denver was only a few down from where we had gotten off, so we walked around to find a bathroom (hoping for another family bathroom, no such luck) so I could change him and then set up camp at the gate. We had a lot longer here because we didn't have such a long walk to eat up all our time. So Gavin had a lot of time to walk around and explore. He made several friends and was entertaining everyone waiting at the gate. No one seemed to mind him walking up to them and using their luggage to cruise around. For a kid that was terrified of strangers not too long ago, he was being awfully friendly! Gavin even worked on his independent walking and managed to walk a few feet a couple of times. Before too long we boarded our last plane for the day (thank goodness!) and we off to Salt Lake City. Gavin did really well on this flight as well. He wanted to nurse before take off again, so he ended up using his other bottle (I am so glad I packed two) but we weren't in the air too long before he wanted to nurse and passed out again. He slept until we were on the ground and was a trooper as we got off our last plane and headed for the baggage claim.

Our suitcase came out fairly quickly and we headed out to meet Matthew who had just called and said he was there to pick us up. He was nice enough to come get us and deliver us to Andrew and Andrea's house where we would be staying the first few days of our trip. Despite having slept most of the morning/day and being confined quite a bit, Gavin even did well in the car. By the time we arrived, he had had enough but lucky for him, he wouldn't see another car seat (or plane) for a while!

I couldn't believe how well Gavin did during our flights out. I was worried that having two layovers would be terrible but if I wanted to fly out of Stewart we didn't have a choice, at least one direction we were going to have two layovers. Lucky for us, it ended up being a great thing and allowed Gavin to have enough awake time in between flights that he could sleep on the plane. A much more relaxing trip than I had prepared myself for (especially considering the way I packed toys in the backpack in preparation for needing lots of distractions). We were safely in Utah, enjoying family and looking forward to more arriving for the reunion!