(Composed throughout yesterday)
I am heading back to Pullman today from my Weekend Away, and boy, I sure did pack in as much as I could while in Reno.
To start, for those of you who read my last post, A Weekend Away, I thought I’d give a little update of how the travels actually went down.
First off, I told a little fib. I told the hubby that my flight was at 10:00 am, when really it departed at 10:15. Those extra 15 minutes could have been very crucial, so I thought being vague about the time was in my best interest. Sorry, Love!
My plan was to be out of the house between 7:15-7:30. So, I got up with enough time to get myself showered, ready to go, Gwyneth changed and the both of us fed.
I KNEW we would be stopping for breakfast on the way for the hubbs, as I know him well enough that when he has to be out the door that early, he wants that drive-thru meal-in-a-bag. But, I was pleasantly surprised when he suggested a spot on the way to the airport, instead of McDonalds (his fave), which we would have had to back-track to get to.
About ten minutes to the airport, Hubby says, “Your flight doesn’t leave for an hour. Why did we leave so early?” Aha! Actually, my flight didn’t leave for an hour and TEN minutes, which meant I would be there ONE hour before departure, meeting my goal. SCORE!
I long goodbye to the hubby and daughter and I was on my way.
Check-in went super fast. Hardly a line and no one to worry about except for myself. Security was probably one of the highlights of the morning. Cranky Pants Old McGee, who was a few spots ahead of me in line was giving the old security guard a hard time about why his wallet had to go through the scanner even though it didn’t have metal in it, and he then refused the body scan machine and had to get the pat-down. So, when it was my turn, super-sweet old security guard asked me if this was my first baby, in which I flashed a big smile and kindly told him no, this was my second, and he then waved me past the body scan area and I was allowed to just go through the regular metal detector WITH NO PAT DOWN!!! And on my way through he gave me a congratulations and a big smile too! Yes! No awkward pat-down feelies today!
I glanced at my phone and I still had 45 MINUTES until departure! So, to sum up the rest of my time in the airport…
Pure heaven. 🙂
My flights were both on time, and I even arrived in Reno 15 minutes early. My only complaint about the whole experience is that the plane in Las Vegas was incredibly warm, and this pregnant girl was sitting by the hot window sweating hedge hogs about to pass out. Using the “In-Flight Safety Manual” as a fan, I asked the stewardess for some water in which I quickly downed and began putting the ice-cubes all over my body to cool down. Whatever it takes, I say.
Okay, I lied again. I just thought of another complaint. I needed to use the restroom in the airport, so I opened one of the stalls (which was already three-inches ajar, I must add) only to find a very large lady, on the pot, with her head between her legs. While mentally screaming, I shut the door as quickly as possible and ran away. I don’t think she saw me, but can’t stop wondering what the heck she was looking at down there!?!?
That evening was filled with a visit with my wonderful Grandpa, a Target raid, and dinner at the Olive Garden with Mom.
Saturday consisted of a pampered hair appointment, attending a beautiful baby shower honoring one of my best pals, in which I even made a few new friends at, ordering the dream stroller from BB&B, in which I received all of the coupons I needed (THANK YOU SO MUCH MEGAN AND STACEY!) more baby errands and a fabulous sushi (all cooked, of course) dinner with Mom! (P.S.- I also found out this weekend that you can get mobile offers from BB&B if you text OFFER to 239663. You even get one coupon right away for signing up!)
I’ll save my baby shower details for another post this week (probably tomorrow) once I have time to get settled, but let me just tell you, it was faaaaaaabulous, and SO much fun! I then went out to dinner with a few pals that night and caught up, which is always a blast.
My airport travels were pretty uneventful on the way home. NO pat-downs… AGAIN! I have concluded that when flying with the hubby, the airport security must assume he is using me to hide the weapons and bombs under my shirt, therefore guaranteeing a pat-down. But when flying solo, I am just a poor, single, knocked-up young Mom trying to make it in this world, and skipping the pat-down is giving me a break in life.
Everything was smooth sailing…that is, until I took my seat. I landed an aisle seat, but next to the window sat Chatterbox Chet. From the moment I sat down, I was greeted with a “Nice to have you aboard,” followed by a few minutes of awkward chit-chat about how if I gave birth on-flight, he didn’t have his knife on-board and would have to take other measures. He then told me it was my responsibility to recruit a “sweet smelling, thin person” to sit in-between us. And every time a thin person came through the door, he loudly whispered, “small person alert!” in which I awkwardly tried to avoid eye contact with said small person. He then went on about his seven grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, how he should get his plastic vomit out to repel anyone from sitting in-between us, how he is in big trouble with the blonde lady at home for being away over Valentines Day, the many tennis tournaments he and the Mrs. have won in the 70+ League, and before we took off, he asked me to guess how many seconds it would take until we were in the air. His guess… 31. He was wrong. It was 23.
We had just taken off and I was exhausted. My only hope of survival was to get busy and act like I wasn’t capable of multi-tasking, so I got out my thank-you cards and wrote those for the next two hours. Thankfully, in silence. When I was near being finished, I could sense him watching me, waiting to pounce at the opportunity for another chat-sesh, so I threw out a few big yawns, enough to be noticed, and took a fake nap until the plane hit the ground.
I felt a little bad, as sure, the old guy was a nice man… but I could not keep up with that kind of energy for the entire flight, so I did what I had to do.
While away, yes, I had a fantastic time with my family and friends, but I sure did miss my hubbs and daughter. I found myself day-dreaming about our Little Monkey’s laugh, her smile, about her saying all of her new words, and wondering what they were up to on their father-daughter weekend.
I quickly made my way to baggage claim where I was hoping to find my hubby and daughter, and once I turned the corner and started walking down the stairs, I was greeted with the best surprise a mama could ask for.
BIG, BIG SMILE! And some squeals (from me) too! She did as Daddy had asked her to and promptly handed me the balloon, followed by a bouquet of flowers from the hubby. The best greeting home from my family I have ever received.
A few rides up and down the escalator and we were on our way home. I was one super-happy Mama.
From what I can piece together from texts, phone calls, and the chat home, while I was away they had McDonalds for breakfast one morning, ate at Quiznos twice for lunch, and ate at two different pizza joints for dinners.
They played at home a bunch, and even took an outing to the mall in the next town over.
Gwyn also went to Daddy’s championship basketball game and had a blast there too. They not only survived, but really gained some quality father-daughter time together, and probably a couple extra pounds too. 🙂
Heart melt.
