Tales of Life with a Girl on the Go

I had lots of plans for this morning, thought we could go for a swim in the pool, maybe visit the historic sailboat moored across from the hotel, that sort of thing. It’s funny that after two-and-a-half years, I still forget that kid-time is much different that regular time. We got up and had a bath. We don’t want Daddy wondering about the sand, sticky treats remains and whatever Reid’s braids have dipped in. He’ll love her one way or the other but it’d be best if he doesn’t stick to her when he hugs her. We finished gathering our stuff. Did I gloat in my last message about having done it last night? Man, we had a lot in the bathroom and stroller!

We went to Denny’s for breakfast. Reid and Aunt Karin pointed out “their” construction site as we walked.  It wasn’t the one closest to the hotel as I had thought. I’m not in the “in crowd”, you know. They had lots of commentary to offer as we walked. Reid confidently pointed to the Junior Slam breakfast that she wanted to eat, “again” as she said. I splurged on a waffle with strawberry sauce and some sausages and bacon. Thanks to Karin’s warning, I knew to eat my sausage first so that Reid wouldn’t get it. We don’t have sausages at home. If ever Reid needs extra calories, I’ll know what to serve. After breakfast, we walked back to the hotel and had time to use the bathroom, make coffee and tea to take with us and checkout. I wasted time looking for a luggage cart before asking the concierge. He sent one with a bell man. Thank goodness I’d found a bank machine and had some money to tip him. He called ahead to hold the airport shuttle because all of a sudden it was 10:30 and we had to hurry. If you’re keeping track, we didn’t swim or tour the sailboat but filled our time with “whatever”. Reid had a relaxed morning and that’s important.

We checked in without too much hassle. And got to the security checkpoint with two unopened cans of pop that we’d meant to drink on the way there. It’s too bad that they don’t have a collection box for homeless people as I watched the fellow through them away. We had too many bags – not enough to justify another bag it seemed at the hotel but to do it again, I would check another one. 20/20 hindsight never fails, does it?

I wasn’t able to convince Reid to run her wild out before we boarded but she was pretty tired without it. We weren’t lucky enough to get Aunt Karin moved into a seat in the same aisle but at least Reid got a seat at the window without me having to beg. Reid and I shared a personal pizza that Aunt Karin had purchased before we got on the plane. It was even still warm, a bonus, eh? As soon as she was finished, Reid fussed a bit. I sang Old MacDonald Had a Farm but then switched to storytelling because Reid fought to stay awake to name the animals on the farm. A quick Three Little Pigs and one time through Mama’s Gonna Buy You a Mocking Bird sent Reid to sleep. She slept about an hour and cried a bit in the middle when the evil lady in front of Reid put the seat back, cutting off Reid’s leg room. While Reid slept, I wrote about yesterday’s adventures and listened to the end of a book on my iPod. As soon as she awoke, Reid noticed the iPod and asked to watch Dora. I handed over the headphones and she started to watch the 60 or 90 second videos I have on the iPod. I’d thought about bringing my laptop on the trip just so I could download a couple of full episodes of Dora, Toopy & Binoo, Roly Poly Olie, etc. We can’t get them through the iTunes store. I may break down and try and buy a movie for our trip at Easter. Reid can’t quite change the selection on the iPod and I can’t be pulling over every 60-90 seconds to set up another video. Even if I had thought to set up a playlist so that they would play one after the other, I think we’d have less than 15 minutes of video. I thought National Geographic videos would be good but there are ones about animals eating other animals and I don’t think I have the words to explain that to Reid.

About half way through the flight, I traded seats with Karin. Reid was happy to have Aunt Karin close but would have preferred to have me there, too. After half or three-quarters of an hour, Reid decided she needed to sit with me again. It’s too bad she can’t understand that Aunt Karin will be far way while I’ll be close at hand. The man in the seat next to me, offered Reid a balloon shortly after he sat down and he told me that he made balloon animals as a hobby. Soon, he was making a potato-sized head with a nose, bulgy eyes and moustache. Then, he gave it a necklace and a neck but decided it looked odd and made some arms and hands. That wasn’t quite enough, though, and he made a body with legs and a belt. The people around us who noticed were quite impressed. Reid and I liked watching him blow up the balloons and twist them and, of course, we were even happier with Mr Necklace as we called him in honour of the man who made him, whose last name was also Necklace.

At Detroit, we got to ride the tram. Reid was excited to ride this red train as well. I was hoping for “fell asleep on this train” but got excited instead. Aunt Karin and Reid played a few minutes at the fountain and I got a tea and then, after a couple of quick hugs and kisses, we were off to the our connection. We made it just as they called for general boarding a few people encouraged us to go to the front of the line. One grumpy fellow didn’t look impressed but he either had to let us in first or wait while we boarded. Reid wasn’t inclined to sleep even though I read to her and was as boring as I could be. She stayed awake, though.

As we were getting ready to deplane (it’s a good word, I had to use it), the man across the aisle asked if he could help with anything. I gratefully handed over my backpack and went to put Reid’s on top of her as she sat strapped into the car seat. He suggested that he could take hers, too. I was too tired to think of the obvious but not him. When I got Reid out of the plane, the stroller was set up and our bags were stowed. Reid, who had neither socks or shoes on since she soaked them at the fountain in the Detroit airport, popped right into the stroller and I got the carseat settled in the basket and we walked the few metres to the terminal. Fortunately for me, the helpful man has stayed close because when we entered the terminal we were confronted with a  flight of stairs to the second floor. He asked whether I wanted the front or back of the stroller. I mumbled something about there usually being someone to let me through to the elevator. He said, “Not tonight. Do you want the front or back?” and we carried the stroller up. He ran back down and got the carseat and asked if I needed anything else. I offered a heartfelt, “Thanks but no thanks,” and he hurried off. He, with one lightly packed backpack, who could have been well past customs already if he hadn’t stopped to help me. What a wonderful person!

The Canadian border security agent was most interested in the part of the letter from Ken that said I could take Reid into Mexico, especially since I hadn’t listed any Mexican hotel. I explained Tijuana was a day trip and we were on our way to grab our luggage, talk to one more border security agent and then -finally – to see Daddy. At that point I was glad we hadn’t decide to bring a second checked bag. It’s probably only 25 metres but I don’t think I could’ve managed with the stroller, my backpack and two bags. Or at least I’m glad I didn’t need to. Reid had many long squeezes and a couple enthusiastic kisses for Ken. I patiently waited my turn ;+) She was happy to see “her” purple car in the parking lot especially, I think, since she thought it had been broken when we rented the car in San Diego. Reid stayed awake until we were nearly home – it was 11:30 Ottawa time, at least and stayed that way as we put her in her bed. It was a big day but there were no major meltdowns (by either of us) and so it was a good one.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 30th, 2007 at 9:19 pm and is filed under Barbara's family, Daddy, Uncategorized, Vacation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.