The flight from...

Hades? Way down under? H-E-Double hockey sticks? K really it wasn't that bad for us at least... I'm not sure what the people next to us would say! All in all they were very good considering we were on a plane for 7 + hours and they were napless.

I took a lot of your advice and we had 2 diaper bags jammed full of small toys, electronic toys, DVD player, lots of snacks, and finally I even did the one thing I said I would never do- a wee bit of benadryl before we got on the plane... they were out before we even took off! So much for sucking something on take off- the second the benadryl kicked in and the whole no morning nap thing they were out cold! It was a huge sigh of relief- until they woke up 20 minutes later! Seriously... I was thinking what the crap????? They were supposed to be out for at least an hour! So the games began!

Thankfully our flight had been delayed an hour due to inclement weather in Cincinnati... so our plane was virtually empty. Our seats away from each other, in the middle seat (YUCK! even without children- with children, pure misery!) suddenly became seats across the aisle from each other with a whole 2 rows all to ourselves! I am SO THANKFUL our flight was rescheduled and over half the people on the plane were moved to other flights! I don't want to image what it would have been like otherwise!

The second lag of our flight was much worse than the first. I finally was able to get Hallie to sleep again at the end of our first flight, but terror-if-i-don't-get-at-least-an-1 1/2 hour-nap-Micah wouldn't fall asleep and was quite cranky for my mom. We weren't so lucky on this flight, there were quite a few more people and even though it was only an hour long flight we had to do the whole deicing thing (dang cold!) so our flight suddenly became close to 2 hours of confinement. The new flight attendants were not friendly in any way shape or form... k snotty and rude is probably a better description. I think they acted more annoyed with Micah and Hallie then the other passengers did! My mom kept her row to herself, but on command of the not-so-nice flight attendants, I had to sit in my correct seat (shhh don't tell, but I sat on the aisle seat instead of the middle seat!) next to a man who didn't look so excited to be sitting next to a baby. The guy across the aisle offered to switch seats with me, which I said would be great, but me being the good patron I was :) said lets wait until we're in the air... not wanting to upset the already cranky attendants (really I kept waiting for them to be nicer, but wow! I'm hoping they had an excuse like working too many hours, but really they we're based out of Cincinnati so I'm pretty sure they were fresh!) So it ended up taking a LONG time to get in the air, and in the meantime, we have 2 cranky tired babies. I finally got Micah to sleep, so never switched seats. Sleep was good, but Hallie cried every time she saw me sitting behind her... not fun! They were SO done with the plane, which in the future I'll probably do another shot of benadryl in a circumstance like that, but really I've never had rude flight attendants... so next time rude flight attendants or not, I'll be a little more demanding and a little less accommodating! The whole time I was worried about doing something else to upset them! You know those movies and stories you hear about flight attendants WAY overreacting and FREAKING out, I really felt like they could be one of those flight attendants! Anyway we made it safe and sound, were so excited to see Tyson waiting for us, and we all survived the 45 minute drive to our new house!

OK wow! again, I managed to make a not so long story really long! So if you made it this far congratulations! And if you skimmed like I probably would have :) The flight was just ok, could have been A LOT worse, we had some fun, we had some screaming, some wonderful flight attendants, some not so wonderful flight attendants, more benadryl next time, and looking on the upside- flights can really only get better from here right!?!

enjoy the one picture my mom managed to snap at the beginning of our flight! :)

Different

So after reviewing my recent posts, I realized that I am coming across as being really negative! Which is so not me... I realize that I have really focused on the things that I "don't like" about being here, but after thinking about it, it's not that I "don't like" here... it's just different, and different is not always easy to like. Hope that makes some kind of sense- it made sense in my head (and that's what counts right?!?) Anyway like I said at the end of my last post I think I've got most of the negative differences about here out in the open and I can focus more on the positives. Thank you all so much for the suggestions and positive comments, this is definitely the place to come for a pick me up!

So with that said, I AM excited to be here and I have complete faith that I WILL enjoy our time here, I WILL meet lots of friendly people, and I WILL learn my way around! Now off to take some pics before it gets any darker outside!

Reality.

Reality is my mom left yesterday...

She was my last tie to family and home. I have greatly enjoyed living so close to her the last couple years. It has been so nice to spend so much time with her, she has truly become one of my best friends.

I was hanging on to that last tie to get me through and when she left, well let's just say yesterday wasn't exactly the happiest day I've had in awhile. I'm coming out of it little by little, and don't get me wrong I am happy to be here for 2 big reasons, to explore the area and all it's treasures and to be here with our little family. It will be so good for us to grow as a family. But boy is it out of the comfort zone! Not knowing anyone, not knowing the area, looking out my window at the freeway, the metro, and skyscrapers- way different then what I'm used to! And to top that all off, people are different here. I realize I haven't been here a full week yet, but using my quick judgement- people aren't as friendly as they are on the West Coast. I fully realize that may totally change once we get to know people, but on a day to day stranger basis- not as friendly here.

And the fast food/service WOW! weird. First of all you can't understand half the people so you say yes and hope you're saying yes to something you really wanted! And when they give you your food or whatever, most places say thanks, or have a good day, or there you go, or do you want ketchup with that... or something to let you know you've got all your food and you're all done. SOMETHING! It's weird, when you get to a window, they'll tell you the amount while hardly glancing at you, give you your product and then... NOTHING!!! absolutely nothing, they nonchalantly kinda walk away so you stand there waiting... am I done now? did I get all my food? WEIRD! So you leave with the only interaction being someone barely mumbling out your total. Again- WEIRD!

And while I'm on a rant... what about the road systems/signs! Talk about CONFUSING!!! There are seriously at least 3 names for every street, and those names can change at any random point they feel like. So really when you need to turn somewhere you have to be looking for 3 different names or you may miss the street you were supposed to take! And then turning around- ha! Half the time you can't! There's a divider or you turn around to go the way you came and it totally takes you another way! Oh and for example my directions to Ty's work told me to take Mill Rd, which ok simple just follow Mill Rd, but no not so simple they don't tell you that you have to take a left at the stop light to stay on Mill Rd and of course there are no street signs to tell you which road you are on, so instead you follow the Rd you are on, which should continue to be Mill Rd right? cause you haven't made any turns, right!?! NOPE! It takes you onto a dead end... which is actually a good case scenario, cause then you don't get entirely lost! Long story short... the road systems here make absolutely NO SENSE!!!!!! Maybe that's why people take the metro... that and absolutely no parking. Weird.

So I think I've finally got all the negativity out, so hopefully tomorrow I'll try to fill you in on some more of the positives about being here :)

Where's your booty?

Most parents teach their children to find their nose or eyes or mouth, you know the common things... well daddy taught Hallie to find her booty today. I'm such a proud mommy! :)

Sorry... but you'll have to turn your head I spaced when I was taking the video!

Thanksgiving Day

Looking back I already posted a little about Thanksgiving, so here's the random pics that were taken over the weekend! We had lots of fun despite Tyson being on the road (they enjoyed a nice roadside meal somewhere in Nebraska I believe!) It was a little bittersweet since we had to say goodbye to a lot of Tyson's family and my sisters, not knowing when we would see them again. But I'm not gonna go there today, at least not yet since yesterday was full of tears! Ok I am going there... it was a great weekend and reminds me of just how much I love our families. I am so sad to be away from them, we have so much fun together! I am so happy to say we are lucky to have families we really truly love spending time with. We laugh often, play much, and most of all enjoy each others company. My SIL Kristen wrote a wonderful post describing my exact feelings about our hubbys family. She put it so perfectly I'm not even going to try it on my own... and thank you Kristen for the kind words, I really don't think I deserve half of what you said, but thank you!

Ok enough of the sap, back to Thanksgiving weekend. Thanks to my wonderful sis Kenny, I was even able to get out with my mom and Shelly for good old black Friday specials! I LOVE that day, although I'm a little sad cause I really wanted to run for something this time, but the opportunity never presented itself- guess I'm not a true die hard :( Anyway it was fun, I love the rush of a good sale!!! We waited in line at kohl's for over an hour, which my mom stood in a majority of the time- thanks mom! So we got some extra shopping time in, and found some good toys for the plane trip/Christmas. Overall it was a great weekend with lots of eating, shopping, game playing, ie all the good stuff!

We made it!

A quick update. We have all made it to DC safe and somewhat sound... long day of traveling yesterday, not a lot of sleep, and of course trying to learn a new city and new home- aka... not a lot of spare time! So I promise I will update you all soon on thanksgiving, leaving, the flight, and our new home! Until then we love you all and miss you!

Advice for flying with 1 year olds!

I need your advice and tips! I have 2 ACTIVE 13 month cuties who don't like to sit still for long AND who will miss both of their daytime naps! (they don't sleep well- or at all in public!) Our flight leaves at 11:30am and lasts for 6.5 hours. So help! Give me all you got!