Returning Home

Tuesday's flight home was at a much more tolerable 8:15a compared to the 5:45a flight leaving Richmond. As it worked out, based on some advice from a local business traveler and the complexity of the Phoenix airport, we didn't get a whole lot more sleep despite the later departure time. We arrived to drop the luggage, Gwynne, and the girls at the terminal prior to 6a...another couple did the same and my parents were close behind. Gwynne and Tracy decided to take the babies through security while Tom and I returned the rental cars...here is the only place where we experienced a problem...

Going through security by yourself with two infants is a nightmare. You have to carry the infants through the metal detector and break down their car seats and stroller for screening. You also have to declare the breast milk and have that inspected on top of all of your own personal belongings. Alexandra was particularly squirmy as Gwynne walked through the detector and a TSA lady reached her arms out to help. Just as Alexandra was about to fall into the arms of the TSA official, she backed off and Alexandra took a header toward the floor. Luckily her car seat was there to catch her before hitting the hard floor. Boy was Gwynne peeved to the max!!!

The flights themselves were uneventful. Both girls were well behaved with minimal fussiness and all the flights were on time.

Wednesday we were off to Norfolk to pick up Titan. As we were tired from the race and travel, we were not looking forward to this trip. Traffic was light on the way down, though we could see the return trip was going to be a mess. Got to my parents' house, fed the girls, grabbed Titan, and then we were off. Thinking it would be smart to avoid I-64 we headed south to loop to Hampton via an alternate route. Approaching this tunnel was a 6-mile parking lot due to an accident at the tunnel opening. Gwynne hit reverse down the highway to the exit we had just passed and we were off on an adventure. We wound through the countryside to Smithfield and then Rt 10 all the way to I-95 south of Richmond. After stopping for dinner and to feed the girls, we were back on the road to home. The 1hr 45 min trip to Norfolk was followed by a 4hr return trip to Richmond.

Luckily Thanksgiving was spent in Richmond at Gwynne's Aunt and Uncle's house so we didn't have to travel far. Black Friday was experienced for the first time as a consumer by all four of us. We found a couple of good deals as we shopped around. We noticed that there weren't many folks out and most of the stores had a surplus of in-stock items; looked like a poor day for the retailers.

The girl's have been having a difficult time re-adjusting to life at home. They got awfully comfortable being held all week by everyone during the trip to AZ. We have had to let them cry it out a bit and get used to entertaining themselves again. Somehow their precious cries break us before we are able to break them. Hopefully they will be back on schedule by tomorrow for Gwynne's sake when I return to work! :)