Melinda woke up easily - just the lights turning on got her out of bed and excited to start the trip. Jacob had to be shaken around a bit before he was up enough for us to get him dressed and going. Alex woke up as soon as I got him dressed. Amazingly, all three of them stayed awake the entire trip down to the airport. And the only ones who slept ON the plane were Jesse (I admit I was furiously jealous of that for a little while), and Alex... for only about 45 minutes or so. On a 4 hour flight. Alex fought sleep and wanted to run and play the rest of the time, and Melinda and Jacob didn't even look like the were tired. Out the window went my ideas for airplanes putting young, sleep-deprived kids right to sleep!!!
Our arrival at the airport was actually pretty stressful. Since we were running behind, we were rushing to make up lost time. There was no traffic, but we still had to park at the long-term parking, remove all three car seats, grab a bus to the airport, and check in. We were banking on short lines due to the day and time of the flight, and we didn't have to wait long to get to the check-in counter, but security wait was longer than we anticipated, and our agent that checked us in was as slow as molasses. And this was AFTER she chided us for being so late ("so late" being only1.5 hours before departure), earning us no boarding passes (I didn't know I could actually CHECK IN online a whole day before!), and told us that we needed to hurry to the gate to get seats, or they'd give them away. So we're like, THANKS, lady--- could you maybe hurry it up a bit?? I swear I could have checked the luggage faster than 3 versions of her working together. So anyway, we finally got checked in, and waited through security anxiously, and then really booked it down to our gate, as best as we could while trying to urge the kids along. Jacob likes to stand completley still on moving sidewalks, so getting him to run was a joke. But we made it, and got our boarding passes easily, like there was never any question that it would happen. And then we had to wait around for a while... all while realizing that our planned "breakfast" of leftover Arby's burgers was sitting back in the van between the front seats, and would have to stay there for 10 days. We had snacks, at least, but no real breakfast.
It was a full flight, but because we had young kids, we got to board rather early, and picked out a row of seats, with Melinda at the window, Jacob in the middle, and Jesse on the aisle, and me with Alex on my lap in the aisle just across from them. An older couple sat next to me, and helped entertain Alex a little bit (because, no matter how many toys you bring, they simply aren't interesting to your own kids). But they started to make me uncomfortable after a while, offering food to Alex, wanting to hold him, and walk him up and down the aisle. I'm sorry, but I'm uncomfortable enough with Alex's safety while he's sitting firmly locked in my own lap, on the off chance that there's some crazy bad turbulence that rips him out of my arms and kills him. I am certainly NOT going to hand him over to a perfect stranger and let that responsibility pass from myself. I would never ever forgive myself if he got hurt on a plane because someone besides myself was holding him, at the wrong time, you know?
Anyway, we arrived in Denver bright and early at 10am Mountain time, where Rachel met us and took us home in the van. All three kids fell asleep on the drive back to the Newson house, thankfully. I was worried about them being so low on sleep! We ate some lunch back at their house, and said hello's to Grandma and Grandpa, and Sarah and her kids (Meredith, Max, Jack and Luke), who had already been there for a few days. Once the kids looked good and distracted with playing, I crashed on the couch, fast asleep. I was so exhausted, after only 3 hours of sleep, a busy morning of travel, and wrangling with Alex to keep him happy on my lap on the plane. I woke up much happier and feeling more energetic, which was a relief.
The day was spent mostly by me watching after the kids, while the others kept getting the house ready for more guests. Jeremy and Heidi's family would be coming the next day, with their 5 kids, and Tobin would be flying in as well. It's hard to believe it, but a good 24 people stayed in the same house for more than a week!! The time change for us made it easier to get the kids to bed than it otherwise would have, with such a noisy, busy house. But the downside, of course, was that they were getting up at the crack of dawn, while we kept on going to bed late so we could stay up and visit and play with the adults.
We had a delicious birthday dinner that day that we arrived, to celebrate Jesse's birthday that day, and mine a week before. Rachel had made dessert for us, and we even got to blow out candles! My mom had sent a birthday card to Jesse at his parent's house, and it arrived in time for him to open it that day. That was a surprise!! And then we got to open up some presents from the family after dinner. Jesse's always been a hard one to give gifts to, but they had found a big collection of Calvin & Hobbes comic books to give to him, and Crocs brand swim trunks and sunglasses. And cousin Meredith (9 years old) made for a good laugh when she wrapped a single tic tac in a giant pillowcase for Jesse to open! I got a couple small kitchen gadgets, a great hand-made tote bag from Sarah, and a needle felting kit, which was fun, because it's something I've been wanting to try! It's easy to feel a little spoiled when we get together with the Newson family.
The first few days we were there, we mostly just hung out at home and let the kids entertain themselves... and with so many cousins available, and Grandma's ample supply of toys from the 70's and 80's, and the giant sandy "beach" in the backyard (thanks to the unfortunate septic tank issues they had recently, and new regulations about drainage systems), entertaining themselves was generally very easy.
Sunday we had another birthday celebration for Rachel. I think it's really fun having a sister-in-law the same age as myself. Of course, as she reminded me, I'm SOooo much older than she is. A whole 8 days older!!! Gasp!! But after her birthday dinner (which, in Newson tradition, the birthday girl or boy gets to choose, and Rachel chose homemade Chipotle! Yum!!), we had more birthday dessert and singing and gifts. Alex had his first ever ice cream cone, which he thoroughly enjoyed, and everyone else got delicious ice cream and brownies. What a weekend!! ;)
On Monday, Jesse and a couple of his brothers helped clean out Ron and Nedra's gutters, which were overgrowing with little plants. They actually did quite a bit of work around the house, which I'm sure was a big help to their parents. Jesse also helped install a screen door on one of the doors downstairs.
It was so, so, so good to see everyone again. All those cousins had grown up so much since the last time we all got together, 2 years ago! And being in Colorado itself was just wonderful, too. Even though it was chilly the first several days, and raining with thunderstorms every single afternoon/evening... it just felt good to be there.
More to come later.... if I don't split this up, I'll never finish it!! ;)
