Flying with Henry

So some of you have inquired how were our flights from MFR to SEA to KOA - yes, that is a three-legged-flight with a 3-year-old who is in the potty training mode and a 10-year-old who considers everything his little brother does is embarrassing. Are you reaching out to pour me a glass of Vodka right now? Thank you, the boys could've used it.

The flight from Medford to Porland is at 5 a.m. That is five o'clock in the morning, o-five-hundred on the dot... Yeah, it's early. We got on the plane, found our seats, settling down quite nicely and I was secretly hoping for a tiny nap before we landed. While that thought was being processed in my head, I watched Henry picked up his apple juice in one of those flimsy clear plastic cups. Before I could say "uh, oh," he'd spilled the entire cup - mostly on his pants thankfully - and looked up at me and said "I spill apple juice." I wiped much of the liquid with the small squared napkins and resigned to sitting in a sticky spot with Henry.

The screaming did not start until we're ready to land. First was the holler of "MY EARS POPPED!" Trying to be helpful, I told him to say "Ahhhhh...." which was supposed to release some pressure in the ears. Henry, being as logical as a 3-yeara-old can be, decided that if he screams loud enough, his ears wouldn't hurt as much. So he screamed and screamed and screamed. Unexpectedly and quite speedily, the stewardess handed him a package of coloring book and crayons. (Nice thought but useless in this situation.) A lady sitting two seats from us, passed through a piece of chewing gum (Good thinking! Except Henry promptly swallowed it after chewing for about...one second.) I finally put his head on my lap, as gently as I could, massaged the nape of his neck and he quieted down and we landed at PDX.

The next flight was actually exciting. Because this was our plane or according to the stewardess, it's Henry's plane which was painted in our beloved Ducks' colors - bright yellow with a green "O". Look at Henry's face and his UO suit - I couldn't have planned it better! And look at the wings of the plane, courtesy of Ethan's photographic skill. The excitement must've caught up with Henry because he slept after we sat down.

And Henry slept through us walking through SEA-TAC to board the flight to Kona. By golly, he was awfully cute when he was sleeping. The cuteness lasted for about 30 minutes after we were in the air. He woke up to see that his big brother watching a movie on a "com-poo-tur" and he grabbed it from his brother yelling "My turn!" Ethan's reaction was the-best-behaved-child-can-only-be-pushed-so-far anger and he took the dvd player forcefully from Henry. The shrieking and yelling erupted and the tears flowed. I heard the folks murmuring from the back and I was smiling. At the same time my children were causing the ruckus, there was a baby wailing loudly several rows behind us. There is strength in numbers. Come together now, all loud, noisy children.

So this was how the flights went... And we will repeat this route again in June when we fly to Taiwan. Maybe I'll be more prepared and bring that glass of Vodka that you just poured.