this crazy little life of mine: memorial day weekend

Last weekend the kids and I packed, loaded up the stroller and our "pack-packs" with activities and necessities and we headed to North Carolina for a short, three day vacation. To say that I was a little nervous about flying alone with both kids for the first time and with Harper's first plane ride is an understatement. But, as I was packing our suitcases and carry-ons I made the decision to ignore any nasty or annoyed looks from other travelers, to stay calm and just do what I need to do in order to get myself and the kiddos from point A to point B. And I actually managed to do just that. I didn't worry about the people behind us in the security line that were annoyed because I had so many items (including my huge double-stroller that saved my freaking sanity by having it along). I didn't care that all the looks I got from other travelers, both on my planes and in the airports, were a mixture of pity for the Mama traveling alone with two young kids and annoyance that they have to occupy the same space as my kids. It just didn't matter to me and I did get help from some very nice people when I needed to get Harper, a dead asleep Cayden and all of our stuff off the plane. What did matter is that we were going to see Pop, SuSu, Uncle Addy and Unci Bun.

Cayden and I had been counting down the number of days until airplane day and when it finally came, it did not disappoint him one little bit. He was so excited to get to ride on the airplane and was his usual ROCKSTAR self while traveling. I swear I can take him anywhere, any time, by any means of travel and he will keep himself entertained or fall asleep. It's awesome.

Harper really didn't understand much of what was going on other than we were in all kinds of new places and that she got to ride in the stroller with Cayden a lot. She used our time in the Chicago airport to practice walking and it paid off. Our baby girl is an official walker and she looks pretty cute doing it because she's so little. She made eyes at all the other travelers and did pretty well on her first plane trip despite the fact that she HATES sitting still for any length of time. She also decided that there was too much going on for her to sleep and so she cried for the last 20 or so minutes of our last flight into Raleigh and then proceeded to fall asleep as soon as we got off the plane and into the stroller.

In between all of the traveling craziness we got to have an amazing weekend filled with swimming, playing on the beach, fondue at The Melting Pot and a trip to the NC Aquarium. The kids had a blast. Harper LOVES the beach and Cayden wasn't afraid of the waves for the first time. The aquarium was great and just getting to see the kids' faces with all these new experiences made my heart burst.