How long is this flight?!?!?!

It’s Hawaii day! My first alarm went off at 6. We were taking the 7:30 shuttle. For some reason I thought we could lay around til 6:30. I seemed to forget that my kids  are slow as molasses. Quentin counts as a kid when talking about that.

By the time everyone was dressed and packed up to go, it was 7:35. I figured we would just uber to the airport. As luck would have it, the shuttle was still waiting. We were the only ones going at 7:30! Yay!

It was a very quick ride to the airport, but the shuttle drop off was definitely not as convenient as our All Class Limo drop off in Wichita. Not curbside, and no help getting all our junk in. Somehow we managed.

We got inside and I was faced with a filthy touchscreen to check our luggage. Pre corona, not a huge deal. Now, big deal. Checked the luggage, sanitized, headed to the gate.  Aria wanted to push the stroller.

We had an hour till boarding so we went in search of breakfast. Turns out this was a big mistake!

I found a bar that had a tasty menu and a table that wasn’t in a crowd. I ordered a breakfast burrito, oatmeal, and a yogurt parfait. Q went across the way to get coffee for him and a chai latte for me.  Our food came, me and the kids ate. Q never came. We now had ten minutes till boarding. I boxed everything up and got a bag so Q could eat on the plane. Then he showed up. By the time he was done eating boarding should have been starting with group A. We had C. I was hoping to board between A and B with families.

When we got to the gate, it was empty. They called C when we walked up. Crap. They boarded early. I should have thought of this. The kids and I head on and Q stops to get a tag for the stroller. The kids were in front of me. Another mistake. Antonio kept walking looking for an empty row. I kept telling him to stop as there were no more. I said just take any row with 4 seats left out of the 6.

I finally found 2 open seats with a man in the aisle seat. Two rows back was the same setup. I threw Antonio in the back one. Aria in the front one. I was on the struggle bus and wondering what was taking Q so long. Both kids were whining they wanted to sit with me. Fun fun!

I sat next to Aria, Q next to Antonio. The man next to me didn’t talk. I turned around and told Q that if that guy would move Antonio could sit by me.  I didn’t want to ask the guy. Then the flight attendant came on and said we wouldn’t be moving for 15 more minutes due to us boarding early. Then I was kinda mad because it was their fault I had dumb seats for a 5.5 hour fight. I asked the man if he was really wanting an aisle seat. He said yes. I said there is one right there across the aisle one row back. He looked at me like he wasn’t gonna move. I said my other kid is back there and he’s going to want me to let him trade off with my daughter. We will be annoying you if you are in the aisle seat of our row. We will probably get up several times. He moved, Antonio came up, all was right with the world.

The flight started out easy. I finished Crazy Rich Asians that I had started on the last flight. Antonio finished Abominable. Aria watched live Disney channel in the southwest app.

They  brought a snack pack by.

Then Aria wanted an activity. She did some manga doodle, dry erase board, sticker collage, and a dry erase game book

After that it was a blur or trying to keep both kids entertained and not fighting. Antonio had his switch out. That would make Aria mad because she couldn’t play. He would want me to play. Blah blah blah. After about three hours I couldn’t take it anymore and went and tagged Quentin in.

Now I’m in the row two behind listening to him deal with children. Ha ha ha! I took a short nap till we hit turbulence, them I updated this journal. Another 90 minutes to go.

Time to go!

I got off work around noon and went home to finish packing. I thought I’d have time for a nap. I thought wrong. It took me every bit of time that I had to finish the packing, back up memory cards and shower Aria and myself before our driver arrived. Quentin picked Antonio up from school around 3. We left the house a bit after 3:30.

Check out that pic of all our luggage. It was a sight. What can I say. I’m an overpacker. I like to be prepared. It was slightly better after we checked 4 bags and the car seat. 

We made it through security pretty easily. Really no line. Aria was touching everything. This corona virus crap is going to be hard to deal with when you have kids who touch everything!

We made it to our gate which was right across from Chick-Fil-A.  I got us a 30 piece nugs to share and a large fries. After we ate we moved all our stuff over to the gate and left Q to watch it. I took the kids to the play area.  Antonio realized yesterday had a loose tooth and promptly started to be all weird about it. He was worried it would fall out on the plane. Hopefully he either forgets about the dumb thing, or it falls out painlessly because he was immediately driving me nuts.

I walked the kids back to the gate a half hour before our flight should have taken off. Then they announced our plane was late coming in.  The kids watched for it for a few minutes.

Then Q took Aria back to the play area till time to board. It was the quickest turnaround ever. The plane landed and like five minutes later we were getting on.

We were two in one row and two in another. We had a row between us and the lady offered to let us have her row so we wouldn’t be separated. Of course both kids were fighting over who got to sit by me. I’m the coolest. For real though, I just wanted the kids to sit together and I could sit with Q!

We got settled in and Aria wanted an activity. Antonio hooked her up with her letter magnet board.

She was quickly ready for another activity and I realize Q put her bag in the overhead bin. Whoops. It’s gonna be a bit before we can get that. Now she is laying on my arm making it fall asleep while playing games on her phone. We did some coloring, then moved on to bingo dauber painting. Unfortunately, they were too wet and weren’t a good choice. She is getting good at making A, i and hearts though!

Antonio had to go to the restroom so Aria thought she needed to as well. Omg, I forgot how small the bathrooms are on planes. I had to stand  her on the toilet seat while I pulled down her pants.

Aria sat with Q for awhile and I got to sit with Antonio and play some Mario on his switch. Then Aria wanted to sit with Antonio. Can you say musical chairs? As soon as she sat with him she got mad that he had his switch and wouldn’t let her play. I grabbed her and put her on my lap. One round of hush little baby and she was out like a light. Of course with only 30 minutes to go it’s nap time. Kids. I laid her down with Quentin and went back to sit with Antonio so I could buckle up.

When we landed we were the last people off the plane. There’s a chance we had too much crap to carry and it was difficult.

We didn’t have much time, but the kids had fun on the moving sidewalks.  Antonio bought a $5 sucker with a scorpion in it.  He has his own money so I can’t argue with dumb purchases.

We settled in by the gate and I sent Q to get the kids some dinner. He got a yogurt parfait and some Chinese food.  In the meantime I sat and looked around at the people in masks and felt like I was in the beginning stages of The Walking Dead. One lady had one three masks and was wearing gloves. Most people had nothing, but it was still weird.

The flight from Phoenix to San Jose was so empty. We had whole row of 6 seats across to ourselves. Of course, both kids wanted to sit with me. Check out Quentin's nice empty row.

It was a 2 hour flight.  It started off with flying in to a storm. Worst turbulence I’d ever experienced. I was terrified. Antonio told me to pretend it was a roller coaster. Aria held my hand and told me it would be okay. I just kept thinking I was glad my mom wasn’t on this flight or she would have flipped out. If I was crying, she would have been so much worse.

 Both kids fell asleep pretty soon after the plane calmed down. Aria moved over with Quentin so they could both stretch out.

Soon, we landed and struggled again to get off the plane with our junk. Our sleepy baby was no longer interested in moving sidewalks and just wanted her stroller.

We got to baggage claim and our driver was there waiting on us. Our luggage was already there except the car seat. The lady said it was probably stuck and would push out with the next load. It sure did.

Up to our super nice chauffeured car and made the drive to a hotel right by Oakland Airport which we would fly out of the next day. We stayed the Courtyard by Marriott which was a fine location. It was about a half hour drive, but in my opinion the driver could have driven way faster. We kept getting passed.

Check in was quick and easy. Soon enough we were in our room. Everyone passed right out, except me. There were loud people in the hall. I woke up at least once an hour. Oh well, Hawaii tomorrow!

I won a grand prize vacation.

About a year ago, on April 23, 2019, Quentin sent me this text.

Of course, our gut reaction was to think it was spam.  People don't really win free trips.  This has to be a scam.  I searched the name of the bank that said he won, and the bank really exists, he does have a credit card through them, and they were having a contest!  This might be real!  

As the reality sets in that this is a real possibility, Quentin feels bad that he didn't act excited for the girl who called to tell him he won.  He called her back and gave her the over the top reaction she deserved.  

Then we moved on to the hurry up and wait phase of winning a trip.  I researched the official rules and read them over and over.  It appeared we would have to travel by April, 2020.  We already had quite a few summer trips planned, so we couldn't really go this summer.  Since I'm a teacher that narrowed it down to Thanksgiving, Christmas, or spring break.  We waited on the travel agency that we had to book through to contact us.  This part killed me!  As a travel agent myself, I didn't want to leave things in somebody elses hands.  

The company finally contacted us in June.  We were on vacation at Disney World.  We had to fill out an affidavit and start narrowing down where we wanted to go.  We were all over the place.  Europe, Disney Parks around the world, a cruise, Hawaii, a baller style trip to Disney World.  

Quentin and I went back and forth on where we should go.  We had finally decided on staying at the Contemporary for a night, then a four night Disney Cruise, then a club level stay at Universal Studios.  This is what Quentin really wanted.  Since we already have annual passes, I didn't want to go to Disney.  I was pushing hard for Hawaii.  Q finally relented and we agreed on a week at Disney's Aulani resort in Hawaii.  

I won't go in to how difficult is was to work with this travel agency.  They were slow.  They didn't return calls or emails.  They missed out on the best Southwest rates the day they dropped.  They were so frustrating.  However, it was a free trip and if we have to use this agency, we will just have to deal with it.  Finally we were booked!  Flying to California, then a week in Hawaii, followed by a weekend in San Francisco before returning home.  We would travel over spring break 2020.