Day 1: CHO to LAX

I'm sure there's a proverb or a saying or some such about how every adventure begins with a single step. In our case, every adventure begins with a lot of packing. Extra special thanks to Jill, the Keshet teachers and all of CBI preschool for helping to make sure we had time to get all we needed done for the trip.

Emily and Michelle Wong graciously dropped us off at Charlottesville airport so we didn't need to leave our car there for three weeks. We arrived with plenty of time, though it took awhile to get our one piece if luggage we were checking actually checked, and getting checked in and boarding passes printed. Turns out this part of the waiting is particularly objectionable to Amity, and she was a big fuss. Cleared security with nary a hitch (nicest TSA agents on the planet at CHO), and enjoyed a bit too much time waiting at the gate, according to the under 8 set. Once we were boarded around 3pm, the short flight to Charlotte was pretty uneventful. Kids snacked and played with play foam a bit, but mostly just talked and looked out the windows. Amity started to fall asleep just as we were landing, having not napped earlier in the day. Keeping her awake when she really wanted to sleep was kind of a necessity but not our smartest move. She was pretty grumpy and the trek between the terminals for our connecting flight was miserable.

On the plus side, we made it in time, actually with enough time to spare that we completely randomly ran into our friend Neal from our U of M TKD days. He lives in NYC now and was flying through Charlotte on his way to Indianapolis. Small world. Also helps that Wes is pretty recognizable. We caught up for a few minutes but Neal had to run to his next flight. Still fun, and funny, too. Also, likely due to the lack of naps Ami was a real bear while waiting to board. Actually had to bust out an iPhone to tame the beast. Very unusual.

Flight to LA was also pretty good. Our captains, Mr. Bill and Mr. Al, were very friendly towards the kiddos and let them into the cockpit. This was cool for them, but also strategically helpful to us as it gave Wes and extra few minutes to install Amity's car seat, which we have schlepped with us all the way on this trip. I sat with Z and Wes sat with A for most of the trip. On this leg, there was more eating, iPad/iPhone game playing and movie watching, book reading, sticker book doing, model clay modeling, and some wiki stick creations. It gave us a good sense of what worked well, what things needed to be more accessible in our packing, what we still needed to procure before the long trip the next day, and in general how the kids seem to take to flying. Amity fell asleep (still no nap) around 9pm EST which is crazy later for her. She woke up as we were descending, in a somewhat dissociative state, which is typical of when Amity is sleeping badly. She wouldn't tell me what was wrong, and since I was concerned her ears were bothering her I gave her a lollipop. That seemed to chill her out though I don't actually think there was any ear problem.

Landed 8 something PM local time, which was past 11 in Charlottesville and for everyone's body clocks. Got bags from baggage claim pretty quickly, easy shuttle ride to car rental place, fairly easy rental process, and one more car seat install later we were off to our hotel. Arrived at the Inn at Marina del Rey with little traffic, got settled quickly, and all went off to sleep. Long day, a bit tiring. Kids were major troopers, grumpiness not withstanding. But tomorrow will be oh so much longer! Bring it, Australia!