Izaak's 1st Plane Trip to Phoenix

Before I forget, I really wanted to record a little bit about Izaak’s first airplane trip, at 10 months old. Izaak and I went to Phoenix April 19-23 to visit my parents and for Izaak to meet some of his extended family members! Joe was out-of-town setting up fireworks anyhow so I figured that it was as good a time as any for a quick trip.

We were set to fly out late in the evening on Thursday the 19^th so we arrived at the airport way too early, got the car parked in the ground parking area, and mentally recorded the parking spot (I-66). We then slowly made it to the ticket counter, pushing Izaak in the 5-dollar umbrella stroller we picked up from Craigslist while pulling the giant suitcase borrowed from my friend, Lori, which contained most all of our stuff, including the gocrib. I had packed a small purse within Izaak’s diaper bag which was fully stocked with his snacks – snacks, by the way, are a very good idea for flying with young ones. We got checked in very quickly, luggage was only 37lbs and we made it through the security checkpoint with no problems. They even let me bring my own water for the baby’s formula; they just had to check it to make sure it wasn’t explosive or anything. We did laps with Izaak in the stroller around the waiting area for about an hour in between letting him crawl around on the gross floor for a very short while and diligently making sure he didn’t put anything in his mouth. His thought process has to be: “This looks interesting or like it’s been here awhile or could be some sort of food substance; let’s see what my mouth thinks of it!” Alright, that might be an exaggeration but he really does enjoy stuffing whatever he can in his mouth, much to my horror. I checked the stroller at the gate and we were on our way.

The first leg of the journey was a little dicey at first; luckily nobody was in the seat immediately next to us because kiddo was very excited about all sorts of new things to look at, he was a flirt with anyone who would give him the time and enjoyed being a wiggle-worm for about 20 minutes until finally settling in for a nap. We arrived at the Atlanta airport on time and luckily the gate for the connection was nearby as we had a short layover. The next flight (ATL to PHX) was totally packed and Izaak was up to his antics again for about the first 25 minutes. The poor guy sitting next to me was incredibly understanding and somehow managed to not complain about the occasional kick or prod by my kiddo. He even let me use his tray table for the beverage/snack service, seeing as a certain sleeping babe in my lap was in the way of me being able to use my own. We arrived without any major calamities, got our luggage no problem and my parents picked us up from the airport. My parents got a carseat for Izaak and my dad had it installed already so with a couple adjustments, we were on our way. We got in around midnight AZ time… which means about 3am our time!

We didn’t really DO anything during the time we were there and it was FANTASTIC! We spent time with my parents and their new kitty, Jack, who got along great with Izaak by the way, my Aunt Jordana and cousin, Alex, flew out from San Diego for the weekend to spend some time with us as well, and we visited with Izaak’s Great Grandma Dorothy (my mom’s mom) too! We had yummy, homemade food, we crawled around on the floor, and we visited. We wandered around some model homes one day nearby where my grandma lives and we took some short walks. Phoenix was having a record-breaking heat-wave during our visit of course so we spent much of our time in air conditioning. I also got to spend a little bit of time seeing some friends from college while Grandma and Grandpa took Izaak to McDonalds where he got to try French fries and soft serve ice cream and Grandma taught him to drink from a cup (most of it ends up down his shirt, but it was a good effort nonetheless!). Grandparents are supposed to spoil grandkids; I keep reminding myself of that. I also got 8 inches of length from my hair chopped off, and though it’s pretty when it’s long, it was getting way too heavy. The lady didn’t quite do the haircut I was asking for but it feels better at least. Now that my hair isn’t heavy, I discovered that it has decided to be curly, more on one side than the other. What the heck?! Since I can remember, I’ve always had straight hair! Well, there were those bad perms back in the day, but we really don’t need to think about that… sigh. I got some cute pictures though I always feel like I don’t take enough pictures to properly catch all of the right moments, such is life! My favorite picture is a 4-generation picture with me, Izaak, my mom, and her mom. Anyhow, the time spent in Phoenix was a nice change of pace and it was wonderful that everyone got to meet and spend time my little snooger-booger.

The flight home was similar to the flight there; a night-flight on a packed plane on the PHX to ATL leg, another poor person sitting next to us getting kicked on occasion. We had a longer layover in Atlanta and wandered across the terminal a couple times. I had a delicious Starbucks coffee for breakfast and managed to spill the granola portion of my fruit and yogurt breakfast thingy and had a less-crowded flight on the way back to Charleston. We got our luggage fairly quickly and I remembered where we parked. It was worth the $40 to not have to bother anyone with picking us up and dropping us off. We got in around 930am and had to be back around noon to pick up Joe, it was tempting to just hang out for a couple hours but I was way too exhausted not having slept much (I took about an hour nap the evening before we left and snoozed a little on the plane but nothing substantial).

It was my experience that people were extremely gracious and kind to a mother flying alone with a baby! There IS hope for humanity and my faith in humankind has been somewhat rekindled. I was shocked at the number of people – fellow travelers – who asked if I could use help carrying anything. And many offered me words of encouragement as they had flown with younglings before and know how trying the experience can be! Izaak was overall very good and flight experience wasn’t a negative one but in the future, I think we’ll bring Joe along for the trip!