Flying Barrel Of Monkeys

We’ve spent the last 10 days in Alaska, with a quick jaunt into Canada at the beginning for passport stamps. We flew to Vancouver and then boarded a cruise ship into the Inside Passage of Alaska. I was very apprehensive about taking a two year old on a cruise, but the trip went extremely well. We spent each evening in the children’s center where MonkeyBoy discovered the wonders of face painting.

The weather couldn’t have been better, with no rain and highs in the 80s on most days. In fact, it was a little hot for me, since I was hoping for an escape into cold weather after months of 100+ degree days at home. We traveled with my family, and spent many hours on my parents’ swanky suite balcony. MonkeyBoy called dibs on my dad’s “‘noculars” every time we went outside.

We spent last night and this morning flying home and I’ve decided that I no longer wish to fly overnight flights with MonkeyBoy. He watched movies for the first part of the flight, cried for almost an hour while we got dirty looks from other passengers, and then finally fell asleep on the floor of the plane for two hours. I have more empathy now for parents who fly with crying kids and look like they aren’t doing anything to stop the crying. The only way MonkeyBoy would stop was by calming himself after crying out his frustrations. Any soothing attempt I tried just made it worse. So I had to sit there, feel awful for my son who was so upset about not being able to get comfortable so he could sleep, and be the recipient of angry stares from other tired passengers because it looked like I wasn’t doing anything to stop the crying. Once we got in the car, MonkeyBoy slept from about 9AM to 5PM, so I have no idea if there will be any sleeping in the house this evening. I sure hope so, since I’m exhausted and MonkeyMan went ahead and did a full day’s work at the office as soon as we arrived back.