Really? Has NOBODY invented teleporting yet? How hard can it be?

I survived a three hour flight to Minnesota with the kids Friday night despite the fact that our Northwest Airlines flight was delayed TWO HOURS. Never did I think a flight would be delayed TWO HOURS – twenty minutes, maybe, but TWO HOURS did not cross my mind – so the kids and I were at the airport promptly, which is to say TWO HOURS prior to our scheduled departure.

What do YOU do in an airport with two small children for what has now become FOUR HOURS?

We rode the subway between terminals several times, we ate dinner, we went to the bathroom more times than a male dog and checked out various drinking fountains, and then BLAM – a kids play area appeared before me somewhere near the B Gates and we were in energy-burning heaven for over an hour.

Thank you SeaTac airport: you saved my life and the lives of all those unsuspecting passengers on flight 168.

The good news in all of this was that our now 7:45 departure time would put the majority of the flight after the kids’ regular bedtime, which is roughly 8:30 or 9 – and they did indeed sleep for over an hour.

The bad news in all of this is that my poor mother had to pick us up at the Minneapolis airport at 1am. By the time we were the last ones off the plane and took all the late-night janitorial detours through the airport to the baggage claim, installed the car seats, drove home, had a snack, and got everyone into bed, it was 2:30 in the morning here (after midnight for me).

Poor mom. She’s a night owl like me, but this was stretching it. What a trouper.

I nearly threw Ruthie off the balcony when she woke up at 6:30am Seattle time on Saturday morning. She completely bypassed me sleeping on the sofa bed outside her room and tried to make a run for grandma’s room, but I just HAD to stop her since grandma really WAS up until 2:30am. Ruthie was so devastated to be intercepted from her beloved Gamma that she threw a total fit of heaving sobs which woke her up anyway so I was feeling like a total shmuck.

(paranthetical observation: giving a spirited child what she wants disrupts others (waking up gamma), yet setting boundaries and toeing the line ALSO disrupts others (throwing fits that wake up gamma) – so what the hell is a mother to do???).

But my mom, the ever graceful Marge, simply crawled into bed with Ruthie and me and we all got what we wanted in the end: a little more sleep, and a whole lotta snuggle.