I was in the air traveling for about eight hours yesterday (heading back from Blissdom – and don’t forget to check out quite possibly the worst photo of me ever to grace the internet), and today, we travel again as a family.  It’ll be a slightly shorter trip this time – six hours, more or less – but this time will be with wrangling kids.

Chickpea is now easy on the airplane.  She knows the drills, she knows (mostly) how to entertain herself.  The child has been to seven countries and I-don’t-know-how-many airplanes by the ripe age of four – so she’s fine.

Garbanzo’s at the difficult age.  He won’t sit in your lap and snuggle, but he won’t entertain himself, either.  Every little button, gadget, and zipzorp is interesting, and he MUST touch it.

I’ve learned to just go with it.  If I fight him to sleep, I’ll lose a sweaty battle.  If I let him touch most everything within reach that won’t electrocute him, I’ll be exhausted but sane.  His age – around 12 months to 2 years – is the hardest age for flying, in my opinion.  And it’s just a stage we’ll have to plow through.

In a few weeks, we fly back home overseas again.  That 29-hour journey is loooong, and if you board that plane with any expectations of sanity or sleep, you’ll be disappointed.  But I’ve learned that if you plan on not getting a wink of sleep, if you assume the kids’ll be insane, you might get a few shavings of grace when they sleep for 30 minutes, or happily play with keys in their lap for a bit.

Our time in the States has been good but long.  Next time, we’ll come back to visit more frequently but for a shorter length of time.  Living out of a suitcase with little kids for this length of time is just too much.

Looking forward to seeing you again in Austin!

posted: 09 February 9
under: family