Sunshine state

There's no way I'll get to all the stuff that transpired last week in just one post, but I wanted to get something written before heading off to bed.

We got back yesterday morning at around 11 am, which was great except that it necessitated being on a 7:50 am flight, which necessitated being at the airport at 5:30 to return the rental car, get the kids and ourselves through security [and in case you're wondering, we did have to take Jane's shoes off], and settle our traveling circus of two kids, three carry-ons, a stroller and a carseat at the gate.

A quick tip for anyone traveling with kids: If your child uses a white noise machine to sleep, check it with your big bags. We inadvertently gave rise to a Homeland Security seminar yesterday when the "device with a motor" --- as they called it --- was discovered. I had to explain to three different people, who displayed varying degrees of being convinced, what the device was and what it does.

Supervisors were called, other supervisors were called, the machine was x-rayed, swabbed, and the bag it had been in was re-scanned, searched, and then I was patted down. Which was, well, weird. Especially since they never even looked Vicki's way. Not that I wanted her to get patted down, but it was interesting that they saw me as the potential ringleader. I guess I should have been flattered.

Through it all, everyone was very nice and quite professional, but my favorite question was from Officer Diaz [not his real name], who asked "So does it work?" Not understanding what he was asking, I replied that it needed to be plugged in. To which he replied, "No, I mean does it work? I have a six-month old daughter, and we've tried everything to get her to sleep." I guess I should be glad he didn't confiscate it for further examination.

So good times at the check-in. Other than that [oh, and the baby seat bag that was supposed to be checked through splitting its seams at the counter and vomiting out the seat and about 83 diapers we'd clearly overpacked], the airport experience was fairly uneventful. And because we'd been up so early, Sam and Jane slept most of the way home.