Flying The Friendly Skies

Hey y'all - 

Your dad was assigned by the Navy to attend a special course at Hurlburt Field in Ft. Walton Beach last month. He was going to be there for almost three weeks, which is a long time to go without seeing him, and a long time for me to be a single parent. [Side note: I have NO IDEA how the spouses of service members make their lives work when faced with a "real" deployment - one that's more than a few weeks long and doesn't involve staying in a beach-front condo. Can't imagine. God bless them.] 

Your dad and I decided it would be fun if I flew down with y'all to join him for the middle week of his assignment. Most people would think it an insane idea to fly alone with two small children, but they don't know Team Burbach. 

Our first brilliant move was to send our luggage and car seats down to Florida with your dad in advance. Then, on the day of our trip, the only thing we needed to take with us was a backpack of activities and snacks. Brilliant Idea #2: Everyone had just gotten new headphones for Easter.

Yep, he even rocks this hat on the way to a sunny beach. His head, his rules. 

We had a crazy itinerary that had us flying from Missoula to Denver to Houston to Pensacola...three flights, two tight layovers, twelve hours of travel time.

May I say, not ONCE did either of you cry or even whine. You watched your movies, you colored in your activity books, and you ate eight pounds of animal crackers. Hagen read the safety brochure on each flight because: 1) We love logistics and 2) It gave us yet another chance to talk about how the plane has an emergency slide. A slide! On a plane! For emergencies! There - that's all of Hagen's favorite words in one place. 

Laney's such a pro that on flights where there were two seats on each side of the aisle and we couldn't all sit together, she had no problem at all sitting next to a stranger.

Laney carried her own backpack with her own activities, and led the way most of the time.  She got so far ahead of me as she was boarding the plane on one of our legs that I heard a flight attendant stop her and say, "You need to wait for your mom!" I jogged up and assured the flight attendant, "Nah, she's got it." Laney didn't need my help to find any of her seat assignments, and was usually waiting for me in our row by the time I got there.

This was not our first (or second, or even third) cross-country trip, just the three of us. I have a guideline I follow when we travel: As long as you're being awesome for me, I'll be awesome for you. So stopping for a chocolate milkshake at Ruby's Diner in the Houston Airport was a given.

Hagen said a lot of things out loud that entertained the general public - he was a real comedian of the jet bridge. As I was holding him in the crowded hallway while we waited on our gate-checked stroller, he was poking around on my chest when he suddenly remembered, "I know! I know! LEAVE MOM'S BOOBIES ALONE!" "Yes," I agreed, "Leave Mom's boobies alone."  And on our next leg, waiting for our stroller to come up in the baggage elevator, he said, "My stroller is in 'dere wondering where I am. 'ERE'S HAGEN,' my stroller is saying! Come get me!," etc etc as he performed The Monologue Of The Stroller.

Your dad picked us up from the airport and we checked into our condo, just in time to catch this view from our balcony:

No filter here - it really looked like this. 

 You guys are the best.

Love,
Mom