Lincoln Day 1

Last Friday, the kids and I flew to Lincoln, Nebraska, to celebrate my grandfather's eightieth birthday, for which we were having a family reunion. (Chris had wanted to come but had had an international business trip scheduled. Then when it was cancelled at the last minute, the cost of tickets to Nebraska had risen to four digits!) Tally: Mary in my Maya wrap, John in the stroller, one backpack carry-on, two suit cases, and two car seats.

The children got to try out our new DVD player on the first leg of the trip. It was a dream for me! They sat quietly and still, which I really needed because I was feeling very ill . . .

Why was I feeling so ill, you ask? And why am I wearing such an uncharacteristic graffiti-lettering Chicago tee-shirt? You see, the night before my travel, I'd been so distracted packing our luggage that I forgot to take my anti-emetic Bendectin for the first time in as long as I can remember in this pregnancy. I woke up the morning of the flight wondering why I felt like I would throw up, even just lying there in bed. It was an hour later that I realized with dread that I'd forgotten my medicine and now I didn't dare take it since the doxylamine portion of the medicine would put me to sleep on a day of maneuvering airports with children.

I spent the first flight becoming more and more ill. I'll spare the most undignified, gory details in this forum, but I utterly lost control when the plane was landing. I was throwing up for two minutes straight, Mary was screaming in terror, John is still asking with anxiety why such a thing happened, and THAT is the reason why I had to buy a fresh, clean tee-shirt in the Chicago airport to make it on the rest of my flight.

We made our way to Lincoln without further dramatic incident, although I was barely functioning the rest of the day, counting the minutes till I could take my Bendectin at bedtime. I successfully navigated the children through renting our car, checking into the hotel, getting freshened up, and driving over to Grampa's house. Mary was so warm toward Grampa immediately! It was precious. I captured dozens of photos all weekend of her warmly sitting on his lap.

Then we visited a nearby park and Mary immediately went vertical (look in the photo up to the second story of the structure).

The kids had grand fun swinging in the setting sun, racing down slides, and playing with their cousins.