Monday, September 16, 2013

Traveling to Florida with a toddler...

After two and a half weeks of traveling from California to all over Washington state, it was time for Daxton and I to join Dallas in Florida.  As you can see Daxton was very excited to pack our bags and see daddy again.  He had been missing his buddy!

Continuing my mother's sainthood, she decided to fly with Daxton and I to Florida to help unpack and get us settled in our new home.  I have no clue what I would have done without my mom for the month of August!  She helped so much with our transition and her generosity and love was such a support.  

The only direct flight to Fort Lauderdale was a red eye out of Seattle, so we decided to drop mom's car off in Auburn at my oldest brother's house.  Heather was sweet and had a yummy dinner waiting for us before our flight was to leave.  Just before eating, Katrina took Daxton on a super fun ride in their jeep.  It was so fun to see his excited face as they drove down the driveway and back.  He adores his cousins and could have spent all night just playing with them, especially Max!
Such a happy boy!

I love this picture below!
It shows perfectly how much he loves his cousins.
I love how he can't take his eyes off of Max.

Katrina's the best!

We made it to the airport safely, got through security quickly, made it to our gate a little over an hour before it was to leave at 10:30pm.  Within a few minutes Daxton had made friends with another toddler boy and they were racing cars up and down the walkways.  I love how much he loves other children and wants to get along.  After the plane started boarding, we got settled in for our 6 and a half hour flight.  We brought his car seat so he would have his own space to sleep.  Grandma was in charge of the iPad and earphones.  It started out well and he fell asleep an hour after take off.  Sadly, though, he woke several times during the flight screaming at the top of his lungs.  You could tell that he never quite got comfy enough to sleep well.  We had to rub his legs and try and rock him back to sleep every hour or so.  I just felt so bad for him and also uncomfortable for the people around us.  Even though his screams would only last a couple minutes, it felt like forever each time.  Poor little guy.
He cheered up the last hour by sitting on Grandma's lap and looking out the window at the rising sun and then the landing.  By the time we got off the plane, all three of us were exhausted!  We flew in around 6:30am and were immediately greeted by the thick warm humidity of southern Florida.  
The best sight came as we rounded the corner and saw the exit.
Daddy was waiting there with the biggest smile!
It was so good to hold him and kiss him again.
And of course Daxton wouldn't let daddy go.  He raised out his arms, hugged him tight, and then rested his head on his shoulder for over five minutes.  You could tell he had missed his daddy! And was also SUPER exhausted.
As we were walking to get our bags, Daxton still clutching his daddy, I couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude that we had arrived safely and we were with daddy again.
That and "holy cow, there are live palm trees growing in this airport!"

1 comment:

  1. Glad you made it to your new home! Can't wait to come see it.

    ReplyDelete

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