Planes, buses and automobiles!

We just got back from a week in Florida. And for the first time I can say that we did everything right, in making our trip go as smoothly as possible. It is not easy flying across country with two toddlers, one with severe food allergies, a destination that offers no direct flights and a mountain of flight restrictions. It is almost enough to make a person stay home. But thankfully we didn't! We have taken lots of plane trips with Ella, who is a fantastic traveler. But we were a little apprehensive about Milo, as he is a climbing, active maniac. Lucky for us he is a maniac that is addicted to TV and the portable DVD player was a Godsend. We flew with American and had layovers in Dallas. I thought that this was going to be horrible, but it ended up being wonderful. When we arrived in Texas, we departed the plane and made our way from terminal to terminal. There was a fantastic indoor playground next to our gate (whoever thought of this is my hero) and we let the children wear themselves out before grabbing a bite and getting on another plane. I brought as many snacks as I could carry and all kinds of games and distraction devices for the kids.

We also used the CARES restraints for the first time and they were WONDERFUL! So easy to use and a million times better than carting around gigantic car seats.

We only packed what we really thought we would need (Gabe and I both traveled around Europe by backpack, after college and this gave us both excellent training). And we got seats for all 4 of us. Gone are the days of flights that are less than full. and let me tell you, it was worth every penny.

Here is what we packed in the way of food...

Milk (in bottles for Milo)

Cheese Sticks

Yogurt Tubes

Carrot Sticks, Sliced Celery, Olives

GF Pretzels

GF Crackers

Pirate's Booty

Snap Pea Crisps

GF Snack Bars

Protein Bars

Sandwiches made on GF Bread that I made the night before flying

Apples

Tangerines

Peach Cups

Nori

Gum

Loads of sweets for desperate times