April 14

We traveled home without incident, and again made friends on the airplane.   I gave Audrey's balloon to a little girl in the train station, because we couldn't take it on the airplane.  (After I explained it carefully to Audrey several times, both well in advance and at the time of parting.  She was ok with it until we actually walked away.)  Our later flight meant we were riding trains and standing in lines at the airport during naptime, and Audrey showed her nearly two-year-old-ness with an impressive tantrum at the airport.  

She melted down when I wouldn't let her ditch me to push her stroller all over the airport lobby as I waited in a very long line to get our boarding passes (we always have to check in at the counter because of our medical flight status and because she is a lap child).  She lay on the floor screaming, and when it made no difference she actually contorted herself into an inchworm on the floor, bunching up and scooching along in her fury.  These are the moments when being the seasoned mother of five serves me well.  I remained calm and carried on, while she definitely got the attention of the amused and sympathetic crowd.  One 11 year old girl was excited to learn that we were also going all the way to Salt Lake City, because she loved babies and was traveling alone.  Despite Audrey's behavior, this brave girl enthusiastically decided that we would sit together on both flights, and visibly relaxed as she had obviously been nervous about flying alone.  Audrey settled down once we were through security, and a nice lady at the Cosi restaurant where I bought a sandwich gave Audrey a free bag of chips.  (Seriously, who gets anything free at airport food places??  It was so sweet of her!  I had told the person who made my sandwich that I always look forward to coming there, that in my opinion it's by far the best place for quick food of all the airports I'd seen.  Then, a person from the restaurant came running after me as I went to board our plane, and gave me a coupon for a free entree the next time we came.  Wow!)  We were so happy to finally get settled on the plane, and Audrey quickly fell asleep and slept for more than half of the 9-hour trip home.  High winds delayed us on our layover in Denver, so we were pretty bushed when we finally got in to Salt Lake, but the fam met us with fresh homemade cookies.  It's great to be home.