a VERY bad mom moment

I had been looking forward to our trip to Arizona for my brother Danny's wedding for a long time. I'd made lots of preparations for our family of 6 to get there. I was ready. Except that I didn't manage to verify that the time our plane took off in my head was truly the correct time. So we set our alarms plenty early so we could be to the airport by 7 for our 8:50 (I thought) flight time. We were out of the house before 6 AM and had the car parked at a cheap hotel a couple of miles from the airport so that we could save $50 or so on our long-term parking just after 6:30. We then were on the shuttle to the airport when it dawned on me that our flight that I knew landed in Phoenix at 10:40 couldn't possibly get there by 10:40 if our plane left Seattle at 8:50. I quickly realized that our flight was leaving at 7:50 and that I'd mixed up the times because our return flight home was at 8:50. It was 7:06 when we got to the airport leaving us 44 minutes to get on the plane before departure. I was immediately sick upon seeing the line for Southwest wrapped around the check-in area. After waiting there and not moving for 5 minutes or so I frantically looked for someone that was going to give me some great advice for how to get us checked in quick. I noticed an airport security person and was advised to go to the curb-side check-in where it would be much faster. We relocated our 4 children, 2 carseats, and 6 check-in suitcases outside only to inch our way to the front of that line. Before we made it there I was informed we had to go inside to get a special ticket for Easton since he was free to ride. I went straight to the counter in front of many people and told them I needed some help quickly. The man took my boarding pass and said something like "Maam, your flight leaves in 13 minutes. They'll be giving your seats away in 3 minutes. You are not getting on that plane." I attempted to say things that I felt were very relevant and persuasive such as "NO! I've got 4 kids! I've got to get on that plane", while the man continued shaking his head at me. I then started to lose it and Ryan had to take over. I went and cried in the corner with my 4 kids watching me with very concerned looks, because generally I don't cry. Ryan came back and let me know that we had tickets to fly out at 6 PM. That was the soonest flight that there were 5 extra seats on. I was in and out of tears the entire morning. We couldn't check our bags until 2 PM so we all couldn't go through security until then. There was a play area that I took kids to back and forth, in and out of security, every time. Londyn didn't even want to be there by the third time we walked in. The hardest part of being stuck in the airport was knowing what we were missing out on in Arizona. We were supposed to be there by lunch to meet up with the Nelson's and have our kids play that haven't been together since we moved. We were supposed to be with the whole Searle family for an Easter egg hunt and dinner that evening. But instead, my little "Mom Moment" that I decided to have kept our entire family in the airport for 11 hours! Could we have left the airport? Of course, but we would have been dragging our 4 kids, 2 carseats and luggage back to the cheap hotel a couple of miles away only to wonder if something horrible would happen that would then keep us from getting on the 6 PM flight. Since my goal before leaving the house was to make the 3 hour flight super bearable I had packed Mad Libs for the kids, the Leapster with a new Tinkerbell game for Londyn, the Leapfrog Letter Writer, the DS, books, and a few toys for Easton. But since we had 11 hours in the airport before the 3 hour flight, all of the distracting toys were drained of batteries and the kids were over it. The kids really did pretty amazing considering it all. I couldn't have expected better. Camden and Londyn tried so hard to be comforting to me and say, "Mom it's not your fault." Caiden did give it to them straight though by saying, "Actually it really was." Ryan didn't seem frustrated at all. He reminded me that we were going for the wedding and that it wasn't until Thursday. I'm not sure if I'll really ever get over this (it's been a couple of weeks already and it still bugs me). This has definitely given me a different outlook our airports and just how early you really do need to be there. I certainly don't ever want to be in one that long ever again.




The boys were loving their first experience with Mad Libs!)



I really wasn't as happy as I look in this picture. Londyn was just trying to cheer me up.


The boys were still having a blast with the Mad Libs!


A few minutes before boarding our plane Easton and Londyn were preparing for the sunshine they didn't remember existed.



(all the pictures were taken with my phone)