The week after Rowan's birthday we took a family vacation to Folly Beach, South Carolina. Matt's parents rented a beach house for his whole family to stay in. Matt's Nina lives out there so it has been a vacation spot for our family for years. We are about thirty minutes from downtown Charleston which we also frequent when we're there. Even though we have been multiple times, it is always an exciting get away. This trip was especially exciting because it was Rowan's first time out there and on a plane. Here we are all happy at the start of our trek. I was running on about 2.5 hrs of sleep since I worked the night before and our flight was at noon.
Rowan was really curious of the airplanes and happenings outside. We let her roam around and explore while we waited to board. She looked so cute carrying her little backpack with her toys and snacks in it. Such a big girl.
We met a friend who was also waiting and wanting to explore.
We finally boarded the plane, carrying on everything. We checked the car seat and stroller at the gate. Then we proceeded to wait on the tarmac for 45 min before take off. Lucky for us, the seat next to us was open and she had a little wiggle roam to explore. We busied ourselves with reading books, playing with toys and feeding her snacks. When it was time to take off we strapped in and tried distracting her with food. I picked the wrong snack to try first and within 2 minutes she was a mess with sticky banana cookie fingers. She got it all over herself, on my shirt and all over Matt before we finally took it away and replaced it with puffs.
In Atlanta, we rushed to the next terminal and got settled. Then Matt ran off to find a burrito from Qdoba for Ro to eat. Here is Mr. Bag man carting around all our carry-ons. He refuses to pay a bag fee and check any bags.
The second flight was delayed on the tarmac as well...for two hours. Shoot me. I think we would have done fine without that delay but waiting that long made everyone stir crazy. I was exhausted and running on steam, Rowan hadn't napped and was crazed and hyper and Matt was trying to rally the spirits. We were sitting next to someone who wasn't a kid person trying to keep Rowan confined to a two seat box. Once we were up in the air I nursed her and she fell asleep finally. I'm glad we didn't start weaning until we got back from vacation because she nursed a lot! I think it was mostly for comfort being all out of sorts and in new places but I felt like every time I turned around she was tugging on my shirt again throughout the trip.
The flight from Atlanta once we got off the ground was annoying too. They didn't serve any drinks because of "turbulence" that never really happened. Then the crew acted like the 2 hr delay was no big deal and were all, sorry for the slight delay have a fantastic day...insert super cheesy smiles....as we got off the plane. If 2 hrs is slight delay, I'm never flying Delta again.
Take away points from flying with a one year old
-The bib and an abundance of accessible wipes were smart planning
-Squeeze pack food is a lifesaver, between sucking on these and nursing we had no ouchy ears during take off or landing.
-Boarding ahead of everyone else because we are a family with small children is silly, you just have to wait on the plane longer
-Bringing milk on board was not a problem, no need to freak out about it next time
-There is no good way to organize your carry on bag to easily get to everything you need, it will all be dumped out and repacked in some fashion.
-You are constantly at a heightened sense of awareness and slightly anxious hoping you will not be those people with the screaming child.
-Plane rides are not really fun and relaxing anymore but the drinks are still the highlight....when you get them.
S.C. Trip posts to be cont.....
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