Beach Bound

It's Saturday morning and I've been awake for about five minutes. The kids are occupied at the moment and the computer's available, so this is a fine way to get the morning cobwebs out.

We're beach bound today after our first day of travel. Everything went smoothly, all things considered. It only took two days or so to pack our bags and get the house relatively clean for some friends who will be staying at our place while we're gone.

We got to the airport early with both kids in good spirits. I remember when Cora was young I thought we would never be one of those families you see at the airport with a luggage cart full of a teetering pile of bags. We are one of those families now. It's unavoidable. One extra kid really tips the balance. The luggage increases, but there are still only two adults to carry it all. We checked both car seats, three bags, and had four carry-ons to boot.

As we stood in the ticket line we saw a prime example of how not to behave while traveling. A guy in military fatigues stormed to the ticket counter without waiting in line. He started yelling at the counter agent from about five feet away: "We gotta get going here!!" We couldn't hear the conversation from behind him, but his head bobbed and changed color in a way that we knew violent things were coming out the front. The Southwest people knew just how to treat him--they made him wait. After we checked our million bags he was still standing there about to implode. Our ticket agent admitted that, had he been nice, they would have sent him straight through to his gate.

We moved on to the security checkpoint next, and the metal detector beeped when I went through. I was moved into a holding pen until a security guard could come over with the metal detector wand. On the first pass the wand beeped right over my groin. Ahh, yes...my belt buckle. I took the belt off and set it aside. Second pass, it beeped again, right at my groin.
The guard: "Sir, I need you to lift your shirt. You may have a metal button on your pants."
Me: "I think I should tell you about my penile implant."
He appreciated that. Sure enough, I had a metal button in my pants. Before he patted down my legs, he advised me to hold up the waist of my pants so that we wouldn't "expose your penile implant."

The plane trip was smooth--Oliver was due for a nap and conked out right after takeoff. He slept until we landed. Cora had the window seat and stayed glued to it, watching the clouds go by and admiring the clouds.

G'ma Carol swooped us up at the airport and we headed to Mary Pat's for a wonderful evening of Afghani food, conversation around a backyard fire, s'mores and a pomegranate margarita nightcap.

Cora was delighted to see Cousin Elise, her hero. She slept in Elise's room last night on an air mattress slumber party style.

A few hours in the car today, and then....beach!!