Candy bars courtesy of Santa

Nice kiddie TV place where they ate lunch during the layover


Cool big brother entertaining cool little brother on the plane

Waiting anxiously for the plane

Vacation Day 2


What a day this has been! Waking up at 3:45 am to get kids ready for the 4:30 am shuttle to the airport. Whose dumb idea was that anyway? Oh yeah, it was mine. It was great to see that while I showered and fixed my hair, Bob swung into action and dressed all of the little kids, woke the big kids, and got luggage from the van. My super hero.

We made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. I hate to think of waking them all up so early. I’m always sure it will not turn out well at all. Strangely enough, waking them up so they could ride on an airplane, on the other hand, was wonderful! Everyone had great attitudes, and was very excited about the upcoming trip.

We have managed to gather numerous stares and comments as we, in our matching bright red American Flag shirts, march through the airports. They seem to range from pitying glances to unbelieving open mouth stares. Very often, these are accompanied by a certain bobbing of the ogler’s head. I may have once thought that this rhythmic up and down of the head as we marched past was a tic, an unfortunate outward sign of some health problem. Now, however, I know the look well. The person first thinks “Are those ALL their children?” Then progresses to “one, two, three”…….and on to the magic number of 8 accompanied by the bob of the head.

It was so much fun to see my children to react to being on an airplane. Everything was new to them. Even the ones who had flown as toddlers had almost no memory of it. The trip was full of looks of wonder, gasps of delight, and even quiet shrieks of fear as the planes lifted off or landed. Sometimes, I wish I still had the ability to react to new things like they did. It all seemed to be part of a grand adventure and they truly seemed to enjoy every minute of it.

At this point, I will definitively say, taking an airplane across country is hands down better than driving the entire way. Yes, we did have to be up early in the morning and stand in a few lines. Yes, we lost some of our yogurt at the security checkpoint. Yes, we had to find ways to get the wiggles out at the layover airport. And Yes, the rental car people almost succeeded in making me go postal. The three hour drive from Boston to Vermont was long. Evan did not much appreciate the time in the carseat after being in the carseat for two plane rides. I just reminded myself how much worse it would be if it was 4 days of the seat instead of just one.

Besides the joy and the wonder of this experience, there is one happening that I want to remember from today.

I had taken my children on all of the people mover walkways in the Midway airport. We happened upon a corridor with only one boarding gate at the end. The best part is that there was hardly anyone down there. We saw a shopkeeper and a hotel employee shooting the breeze in front of a small store. I decided that this was the perfect spot to get the wiggles out. I lined the children up in front of the little shop, then had Leigh Ann go down about 20 feet and hold out her hands. The kids ran a few races with each other. The shop lady was delighted with the children’s running, so much so, that she promised a full size candy bar to the winner of one of the races. The children ran hard, trying to earn that free candy bar, and only one of them won. Before they went to pick, this cute lady decided to run a few races with them. Who would have thought that kids could bring so much joy to people! Really, this woman could have been perturbed that kids were running up and down the hallway.
When the last race was finished, the other airport employee, who had also been enjoying the sights, stepped forward. He said they all ran so well, he was buying them ALL a candy bar. He had the biggest grin on his face watching them pick from the rack of chocolate. I tried to pay, and he assured me it was his pleasure. When the purchase was completed, this big man with long curly white hair and a brown bushy beard pulled something out of his wallet to show me. It was his Santa ID card. I know it is the card he uses to play Santa during the holidays, but made it a point to show my little ones the card and tell them that Santa must be in disguise, checking to see if they were behaving well. This man got such a kick out of their open eyed, jaw dropped, reactions, that he went so far as to get a card of himself as Santa and sign it for them.
This may be one part of the vacation the kids never forget. The kindness of a stranger. The happiness this man and woman got simply by being kind. I will never forget that there are so many good people out there in the world.
AND

I will always believe in Santa!