Brave Flyers

Wifey thought she was being 

brave when she went on the metro to the zoo 

with the boys all by herself! 

WELL 

She must have gotten a HUGE boost of confidence because 

she decided to get up INSANELY early 

and fly literally across the country with the boys 

ALL by HERSELF! 

At the Airport in D.C.

Walking down the walk way to board the plane! 

The boys did AMAZING!!!

They slept for a good part of the ride all the way to 

LONG BEACH!

When we got there we were already up for a 7 hour layover  

but Lucky for us we arrived an hour early and the flight leaving 

already had an hour delay; do the math and that is 9 HOURS!

(a 9 hour layover after a 5 1/2 hour plane ride and an early morning!)

What was WORSE was the airport was under MAJOR 

construction!  We've heard it's already a smaller airport 

but with all the construction is was TINY! 

Two small boys with a ton of energy in a 

quiet (think church chapel) airport was NOT happening. 

Mommy called daddy to figure out a solution! 

She tried to call hotels to maybe hitch a ride with their shuttles 

but no one was willing/understanding.  

The next idea was taking a bus to a mall 

and letting the kids roam. 

So we made our way out of the airport

to the bus stop.  

While waiting for the bus 

the boys loved dropping rocks down the man hole!! 

Whatever keeps them happy!

When we got to the mall 

we discovered a Disney Store!! 

Luckily the ladies in the store were nice 

and understanding to our situation

and brought the boys coloring pages and crayons! 

We hung out there, colored and watched their TV 

for a little while.  

Then we ventured off to burn more 

energy and roam the mall. 

We had to head back and check in at a certain time 

so we went back and ate some food while waiting.

The airport was SO Small 

we had to walk down a ramp and up a zoned off walk way 

to get to the "terminal" that was made out of those 

make shift office double wides that you see at construction sites.

We were waiting for a while 

and then our name was called... 

Oh did we mention they were flying STANDBY!!! 

Yup all the way across the country standby with a 4 and 2 year old! 

So they called our name but they only had 2 seats available! 

They asked if C could stay behind and wait for the next flight the NEXT day!! 

Wifey quickly looked down at him and then at the lady at the desk and said "UMM No!" 

She had seen us around the "terminal" and asked a few questions 

then said I might be able to get you on but we've got to RUN!! 

Wifey was just so grateful for Heavenly Father watching over them she said "Okay!" 

The lady ran with us to the plane they opened up the nose shoved the stroller 

in and they boarded the plane! 

There was some confusion because another woman 

flying stand by was told she'd be making the flight as well. 

So the flight attendants were counting us and we heard them talking: 

One said "They can't sit in the exit row!"
and the other said
"Their not she is, they have the 2 seats here and one on the lap!"

Wifey didn't say anything she was just happy to be on and not 

stuck in Long Beach by herself with the boys over night.

She quickly text Hubby to say she was on and to let everyone know 

and they were off! 

The boys quickly fell asleep and slept the whole way over to 

Salt Lake City. 

They made it in one piece!! 

(We were SO grateful for the cheap flights but flying standby is too much stress for Wifey!

Especially when Hubby was flying out about a week later and he got STUCK in Long Beach.

When we had the worker looking at the chances of him making it to Utah

via standby and they

were slim we ended up buying his ticket from Long Beach to Utah!)

We'll tell you about the trip home via standby after all the posts about 

the Utah trip.  Let's just say it didn't end up saving us any money to fly standby but cost us 

way more stress in the end!!!