Heading Home

After almost a full month in the US and 3 weeks without Daddy around it was time to head back home to Doha.  Before we left Jaydon got to sit on a real tractor which he thought was great. 

He was on it about 5 seconds before he managed to get covered in nasty black grease so we had to call it day helping out in the pear orchard. 

At the airport Grandpa held Tylor for awhile while I figure out our check-in. 

Small town airports aren’t very experienced in checking bags all the way to Doha so it took a bit of time.  Most difficult part of the trip was getting through security.  They let Grandma come as far as the metal detector but not on the other side which is where you need the extra hands.  Once Jaydon got through he took off immediately, a nice lady in a wheel chair got his attention (he was very curious about the chair) and entertained him and kept him put while they opened all the carry-ons, checked all my milk and liquids for explosives, told me that I had too much food (for 28 hours of travel you never know what you might need), etc.  I got Tylor’s put back together (seriously – baby shoes too!) and a nice gentleman behind me volunteered to hold Tylor while I got my shoes and the Bjorn back on.  Our flight was a little delayed taking off so I stopped by subway (the only place to get food in the GJ airport) before getting on the plane.  Well the subway line was so long and they were so slow that they started boarding our flight when I placed my order and had finished boarding by the time I was paying (it was also a small plane) so we were the last ones on the plane.  As I got on it was the first time I looked at our boarding passes and realized I was in 3C (the bulkhead with the extra room for the infant) and Jaydon was in 15C.  Right, I’m pretty sure a 2.5 year olds who should be going down for a nap rather than getting on a plane will not fly by himself.  Luckily there was a nice lady in 3A who took one look at the Mom flying by herself with 2 kids and agreed to changed seats with Jaydon.  The flight from GJ to Houston was a lot easier then I had expected.  Tylor cried during take-off (so loudly that the stewardess actually got out of her seat at one point to see if I needed some help) but after that he was so exhausted that he slept the rest of the flight.  Jaydon was very well behaved.  We got to Houston and had a 6 hour layover until the flight to Doha boarded.  We headed to the lounge and camped out in the family room for several hours.  Steve’s mom had planned to come visit us to see Tylor so we asked her to coordinate her arrival such that she could help me on the long flight so she met us in Houston.  She arrived just as Jaydon was just getting to the very overtired stage from missing his nap and I was getting to the end of my patience and ideas on how to keep him entertained.  When she arrived Jaydon was thrilled and had a great time playing with her until we boarded the flight.  We boarded at 9:00pm so Jaydon was exhausted and quite content to veg in front of the TV until he fell asleep.  All in all, the 16 hour flight back was painless; the boys slept or kept themselves entertained.  Jaydon watched Nemo and Dora and even let me get a few hours of sleep and Tylor slept in the bassinet for a few hours (something we never got Jaydon to do when he was little).  When we landed in Doha the one thing that kept Jaydon going was that he was going to see his Daddy soon.  When we left the arrivals area and found Steve Jaydon was so excited he could hardly contain himself – we thought he was going to break down in tears from being so happy to see Steve. 

And Steve didn’t put Jaydon down until it was time to strap him in the car seat.  It was a priceless moment that still makes me smile to think about.

Above the boys are showing off their latest GGF (Great Grandfather Forte) fashions.  He hand painted Tylor and Jaydon some new T-shirts/onszies with fun blue and green fish and a puppy.