To the Airport Jeeves

We get up at 2 a.m. to head out for the airport in Reno. It is an hours drive and of course we have to be there like way too damn early just in case there is a line at the security gate.

The night before we made sure that everything was packed. We had Kenny sleep in a sweatshirt and sweatpants so that we wouldn't look too pathetic walking around with a kid in a fuzzy red firetruck sleeper. Our clothes and shoes and such were ready to go, so that we simply had to get up, get dressed and head out the door. We grabbed Kenny out of bed last and tossed him into the truck. We were off.

We arrived at the airport early, which was a really good thing. We parked in the long term lot which means that we would have to walk like six hundred miles to the terminal. Now, I consider myself a pretty good "think-of-everything" kind of mom. I did my best to keep our "stuff to carry" at a minimum. I followed all the rules in packing. The liquid stuff was in a small amount in a plastic bag. All the way down to Kenny's diaper ointment. I left my lighter at home and brought matches that I can toss on the way in. Our shoes were easy on and off etc etc. Smart mom, huh?

This is where I want you to use your imagination. Picture it. One very pregnant woman who doesn't like to fly. One healthy man with only two arms who wants to make this trip easy for his pregnant wife. One 16 month old boy who needed to be carried since we were walking along and then across a four lane road in front of the terminal. Two large suitcases, one carseat, one large diaper bag, one carry on bag, one purse, three jackets (it was too warm to wear em at this point) and a cup of coffee. ( I must have my coffee).

This entourage slowly made it's way across the parking lot, onto the side walk, down the sidewalk, across the crosswalk, up the little incline, through the front doors, halfway to Siberia to find the check in counter, back to the baggage drop(lost the suitcases at the drop thank God), back to the check in counter where we checked in the carseat, then back out the front doors so that I could smoke a damned cigarette before I went postal. Along the way Kenny wiggled with excitement. I spilled half my coffee and poor Jason got a muscle cramp in his arm.

We are off to a good start huh?

The security gate was our next destination. We stood in line, Kenny wiggled and giggled and wanted to play, but we breezed through without much of a hitch. The only problem we ran into was while we were pulling our stuff out of our pockets and putting our shoes into the little tubs, Kenny took off. Oh Joy. Those in line behind us were mostly understanding. One lady gave me a dirty look and made a snotty comment. Jason saved her ass by grabbing my shoulder and pushing me through the detector thingie. I would like to think that I would have just made a comment back, but honestly I was more likely to punch the chick in the face. On the other side we put ourselves back together. Kenny again, took off. Luckily a young lady with an airline uniform on caught his attention and she chatted with him until we caught up. By the way. I forgot to toss my matches. They got through. :)

We had about an hour and a half before our flight was due to take off. I couldn't leave to smoke since we had already gotten through security, so I drank more coffee and ate a muffin. Kenny snacked with me and we did our best to be relaxed and ready. I didn't want this experience to be scary for Kenny, so I kept a fairly decent check on my nerves. Luckily they had a tv mounted on the wall so we handled the waiting thing pretty well.