Hanging in CA

We are on day 3 of our 21 day adventure! Not sure how much I talked about it before hand, probably not much because I haven't been blogging as much as I should. But, me and the kids are taking an extended vacation. It all started because my sister decided to finally get married. =) So we were planning on doing another trip like our trip in Dec- me and the kids go out for a week or so, then Alann comes out for the weekend. Then when I was going through the worst of my blues, Debbie suggested that we come visit with them for a while too. So we figured since we were already going to be out this way, we would just visit in CA and then go to AZ.
We left MO on the 1st. We had an afternoon flight. I had everything packed and ready and we actually left pretty close to on time. Alex took a short nap in the car. Claire naps after lunch, so she didn't nap. We had planned to eat lunch with Alann at the gate, but by the time we got through baggage check and security, it was time to board. Baggage check took FOREVER! This time, the lady told me that Southwest is not responsible for any damage to the car seats. I asked if that had changed, and she said no, it had always been that way. I think that no one really knows the policies. I've had so many different things told to me as "the policy" that directly conflicts with each other. So if you ever have a problem, call the number, don't believe what the people at the airport say. And then ask to talk to the supervisor. Just to make sure. (By the way, we still haven't received any money or a letter acknowledging the receipt of our broken car seat. We bought a new one because poor Alex was just so uncomfortable in the infant seat. So now we are just waiting for the promised check to pay us back.) Anyway, we finally got our boarding passes and went over to security. We knew we would have lots of stuff, so I told the lady behind us that she could go ahead. I only saw one lady. She wasn't with anyone else. So I figured it wouldn't be a problem. She was apparently with a lady in a wheelchair who had never flown before or didn't bother finding out the rules or something. So she ended up taking forever. She had stuff in her bag she shouldn't have, and we waited about 10 minutes for her stuff to clear the belt. Then it was our turn. We had about 7 trays worth of stuff, plus the stroller. They needed to test our liquids. I had two options- I could open the ready to feed formula bottle and let them test that and Claire's bottle of milk, or they would test everything else, and pat me down. So I opened the formula. I was like, really? I have two babies- you want to pat me down to make sure I'm not bombing the plane? Are people really that depraved that they would steal babies or use their own babies as a cover? So it took another 15 minutes to get us all through security. We checked the gate and they were deplaning the last flight, so ready to board in 10-15 minutes. Alex had pooped, and they both needed clean diapers anyway, so we rushed to the potty, changed diapers in record time, then pretty much boarded the plane. We got over there after pre-boarding was done. I was telling Claire that we needed to wait until they called families (because we had a B boarding ticket) and some poor deluded lady nearby told me that she thought I missed it. I told her that no, families board after A group, which she agreed was ridiculous. We boarded and ate a small lunch before take off. Claire was tired, and laid on the floor a few times during the flight. Alex was also very tired, but wouldn't nap. We had a baby in front of us and a grandma and grandpa behind us. So the kids were fairly well entertained. We watched some shrek and played a bit. That was the first flight. We flew to Phx and changed planes. We had a two hour layover, and our flight was delayed. It was rough. We ate dinner and walked back and forth and back and forth. It was weird being in Phoenix and having it not be the destination. I knew the airport, but couldn't leave. Well, I could have, I had a boarding pass, but then I would have had to do security again. no thanks. And there wasn't really anything out there either. So we finally got to board, took off, and Alex fell asleep almost instantly. The flight was pretty much empty. Alex slept the whole time. Claire was really close to out of control, so I was grateful to only have one of them to deal with.
Grandma and Grandpa were coming in from Florida the same day, and a few hours after me. So we got picked up by Alann's uncle Bill. We got to the house and got things set up. The kids went to sleep and seemed okay, then they both ended up being awake a lot. Alex woke Claire up in the middle of the night and we ended up being up for several hours. Claire kept climbing out of her pack and play and it was just nuts. I finally got Alex back to sleep, and Claire ended up sleeping in my bed.  It was a rough night. The next day was a little better. Alex has a cold, but seems to be healing quickly. Claire still seems healthy, but I've got the cold. We had a better night the second night.
Today we went and played at the park for a while with Grandma. Claire had a blast. She ran around with a bunch of kids and did the slide and swing. She was trying to play with a pack of older kids. She chased them around. They ran to the top of a hill and she went to. They were rolling down the hill. She tried to figure it out. She laid down on the ground and then started scooting instead of rolling. It was hilarious. I went up to help her figure it out. I tucked her arms in and gave her a push, but she kept stopping herself and didn't really want to do it. Alex played a bit on the slides and climbed the stairs some too. We came home and both took naps. After dinner, we went to a farmer's market. It was nice. I love farmer's markets. I love all the fresh produce. We watched a taekwondo demonstration. Claire thought it was great. Every time they broke something, she would say "more!" They bother went down pretty easy. I'm heading to bed now to so as to try to beat this darn cold.