Wow, all I have to say is - AMAZING! and totally worth the hellish travel mayhem it took to get here. I'll start with the day we left, Saturday.
The morning went pretty smoothly. DH and I were up around 3:45, and woke the boys at 4:30 - a.m. We'd prepared the boys well, explaining that we'd be waking them up before the sunshine was awake, that it would still be dark and would feel like nighttime. I gave them their new dinosaur "travel buddies" which they loved and have kept close almost the entire trip so far. We left the house before 5 a.m. (our goal). We parked in sattelite parking and had a shuttle waiting for us. Our check-in was a little lengthy due to the international travel but American Airlines has a new system that's all automated. We had a very nice customer service rep walk us through the entire process, I was definitely impressed. We got through security with no issues, and were at our gate in time to relax for a while before the flight started to board. The boys were happy with cereal bars and juice in their new Spiderman sippy cups.
The flight was seamless, not full - though there aren't many people crazy enough to travel that early in the morning on a Saturday. We didn't even have to really tap into any of the "new" toys, books or activities we brought. The novelty of being on the plane and watching all of the activity was plenty enough to keep them entertained for the 57 minutes.
We should have known it was too good to be true. Once we landed in Chicago, things went very quickly downhill. Our next flight was delayed 4 hours due to a mechanical failure, which meant we were going to miss our connection in Miami. My family didn't arrive until we'd already been waiting for an hour. So, we got a little bit more substantial breakfast (I'd had yogurt at 5 a.m.) and tried to keep the boys occupied.
Thomas was great, just a little whiney at times, but overall, obedient and in good spirits. Andrew was, well, Andrew. The first gate we were waiting in opened into a large atrium with the American Airlines logo on the floor. Andrew thought this was a great opportunity to lay face down, head resting on his new dinosaur buddy, and wet his pants. He was wearing a Pull-Up, but leaked right out of it. I got him changed and cleaned up, and we headed back to the gate. I pulled out just about every activity we'd brought trying to keep the boys entertained. Andrew kept running back to the atrium, dropping to the floor in a spin reminiscent of true 80s style breakdancing. There was another much younger toddler that was watching him, with fascination and pure glee. Andrew was the picture of freedom. He loved to lay on his back and stare straight up into the atrium, or just run in circles and then try to tackle Mommy.
We did finally get our flights figured out. We ended up flying to New York, spending the night then flying direct to Aruba on Sunday morning. This was the best deal and we only lost about half a day. The boys really were troopers, despite the fact that Mommy and Daddy were totally wiped and very short on patience. They watched a couple of movies, Andrew slept on my lap through the first half of lunch, then they both crashed on the flight to New York. Every time Andrew slept, it just upped the spaz factor. By the time we got to New York, he wanted very little to do with the stroller. He just wanted to run!
Our bags did not make it to New York (big surprise), but most of us had brought an extra change of clothes, and I actually had some travel size toiletries. None of us had pajamas, however, but I was wearing my cotton sundress which nicely doubled as a nightgown ;)
We got to the hotel where the airline was putting us up on a packed to the gills shuttle bus, only to find yet another incredible line of people waiting to check in. My mom and I took the boys right to the restaurant and ordered them some dinner. Andrew would sit as long as there was food in front of him, but he was finished well before we ever got our food and refused to stay in his seat. He polished off a giant piece of cake (after M&Ms, iced animal crackers and plenty of apple juice throughout the day - ugh, sugar overload!) and wanted to run laps around the restaurant. The boys were both pretty slap happy at that point, so DH took them up to the room and popped in a Thomas the Train movie. When I got up to the room about 20 minutes later, the lights were off, and they were totally engrossed in the movie. DH hadn't gone through any part of the bedtime routine, so I got them all settled for bed. We read one of their new dinosaur books, went potty, had to skip the teeth brushing, said prayers and lights went out.
Andrew was convinced that there was more yet to do with the day...he wanted to read books, and I could tell he was trying to settle down, the poor guy. He was driving Thomas nuts, and though DH and I drifted in and out of light sleep, Andrew was up for at least another 20 minutes. Finally...all was quiet.
We started the day Sunday at 5:20 a.m. I showered, then woke up DH and the boys. We met the rest of the family in the lobby to wait for the shuttle back to the airport. It was another sardine-can-like ride, with very nice people, however, and it was quick. We got our boarding passes, went through security and made our way to our gate with little struggle. We pretty much have the security thing down, with DH and I dividing and conquering between getting ourselves, two young toddlers, and several bags through without completely holding up the line. The boys are old enough now, too, to walk through the security gate by themselves and wait for us on the other side.
We had breakfast together, I bought a package of $20 size 3 Pampers (CRAZY!) because we were out of Pull-Ups. I prayed there wouldn't be a blow out!
The flight to Aruba, while long, went fairly smoothly. We used up the batteries on both laptops while the boys watched two movies each. Andrew got really into the Color Wonder paints and Winnie the Pooh book. Thomas napped briefly, ate a good lunch, and was pretty easy. I have never been so glad to see land, though, as I was when we landed in Aruba. Even being smacked in the face with the hot, humid air was luxurious.
We got through customs and had yet one final snafu with our bags. Most of ours were waiting for us when we got there, and the last one came off with the rest of the bags on the flight from New York. My dad and brother had to wait in line for a while before learning that theirs were simply being stored behind the desk.
Finally, we were boarding two taxi-SUVs/minivans and were on our way to the resort.
