4 times zones and an ocean

Three months ago I decided that I wanted to fly to Utah with the kids to surprise my mom for her 60th birthday, and 2 weeks ago we finally got to do it!

I was a little apprehensive at the idea of flying with 2 kids by myself, but it actually went better than it could have. Wait, I mean the kids were better than they could have been--we actually had about 10 more hours of travel than I planned on and an extra flight, so that was worse than expected.

Basically, our first flight was late taking off, causing us to miss our connecting flight. So, instead of having just two flights and getting in to Salt Lake at 11:40, we had three (and got to fly through all 4 time zones!) and got in at 8:20.

 P.M. 

Which was 10:40 PM eastern time. And we woke up at 4:30 AM eastern time.

It was a very long day.

But let me back up.

Mostly we passed the time on the plane with two things: Snacks and games/videos on my tablet. There was a smattering of new coloring books, stickers, and toys, but those really didn't hold a candle to the almighty Electronic Device. 

But hey, it was effective! And that freed me up to make sure Miriam wasn't screaming like a banshee, and occasionally I even got to look out the window!  

Sunrise? I think? It's place in the order on my phone suggests it is sunrise, not sunset, though we saw both from a plane that day so it's hard to be sure.

Anyways, our many flights and long layovers meant we got to see several things I had not intended to see that day. 

Exhibit A: Super impressive George H.W. Bush Statue in the Houston Airport, with Bush striding confidently into the future, jacket slung over his shoulder and a book under his arm (the Bible? Do they have bound copies of the Constitution? WHAT IS IT).

Exhibit B: The Pacific Ocean. Though I didn't really want to see it, it was definitely lovely.

Thankfully, by our very last flight poor Nikolai was pooped and was more than willing to put his little fox neck pillow on his neck and fall asleep. Though, funny story, beforehand he kept wanting to turn on the overhead light and I told him he had to wait until Miriam fell asleep. While he waited to be able to turn on the light, he declared that he was sleepy and grabbed his pillow. When he was almost asleep, he turned to me and blearily noticed that Miriam was asleep, and muttered "you forgot to turn on the light Mama." "Just a minute" I whispered back and BAM! He was asleep. Silly boy.

At last, we made it to Utah! I had been texting my mom for a few days, telling her that I had mailed her a present and to be on the lookout for it. Even though we got delayed, I stuck with the original plan and texted her that the package was out for delivery (along with "what? this late at night? that's weird") and then texted her to say it had been delivered when we knocked on her door at 9:30 PM. She has a good poker face so she didn't look that surprised, but she was glad to see us and we were sure glad to see her!

This post is long enough so I will post more about the trip in 2 more posts!