At some point today (in London or Seattle, I think) I had another good talk with him about timezones, and how our Monday was actually 34 hours long, but would only be 14 hours long on the way back. It seemed to make a little more sense to him this time, probably because he was living it.
Carly got up first, then got him up at 5:30 while I was in the shower. She said the first thing he said was something related to poop – from one of their ‘games’, I think. I was hurrying right before 6 to finish the berry brains for breakfast and finished the dishes and tape the last drain (Carly had already done most of the roach and ant stuff – she had woken to a dead roach on the counter, being eaten by ants), and he was stressed about time. We were just fine though, and the cab was a few minutes early and we left right at 6. Carly said that while they were outside and waiting for me to come out of the house they did “mindful spitting” instead of mindful breathing.
The cab driver was great and the traffic was fine. Just over a half hour there. August asked about Groove Armada song “At the River” playing on the radio. He asked what ‘fond’ meant. And he liked that the car (a Skoda Octavia) had air conditioner vents in the back (his major critique of our car and the rental car). Of the switches/lights on the ceiling between the driver and me he said “That looks like a little alien face.”
Our usual critique of airports is how many freaking lines you have to go through. Today it became how many lines you have to stand in if you also don’t know what you’re doing. So we went to check-in first, where we were told we’d have to check one of our carry-on backpacks (which really seemed unfair, as there were 3 of us and we only had two carry-ons in the first place), but then told we had to go back and stand in a baggage security line first.
So got all that done, then saw Jack and Celeste and after we finished checking in, then we stopped to get a couple of breakfast pastries and a coffee and saw them again. This time, without Nellie. They were going through Germany on their wy to Florida and their 8am flight was already delayed to 9:15 and they were afraid they were going to miss their connection. Later, I found out that they got on their plane, only to wait 3 hours on the tarmac, poor Nellie underneath. And yes, they missed their connection. Weather related, apparently.
At the gate we did a quick Skype with my dad to say happy father’s day, then the two of them played hide and seek. Ended up boarding later than they told us. Carly took the stroller to see if she could check it in and August went with her. They were gone for a few minutes, and I realized the guys sitting a row over were American musicians, although I didn’t figure out who they were. I figured that out as a woman stopped to get her photo taken with one of them. I then heard them talking about finishing songs, and one was traveling with a guitar. Sent a photo to my friend Mark, but we couldn’t figure out who it was.
Got on the plane and August got to sit by the window. Just tall enough to see a little for takeoff. He was asleep at 10:05, right after takeoff. Woke up before 11. A happy boy. Carly looked at the map of our fight with him. On the first flight I managed to watch Stand by Me, broken into several pieces. Carly was in the middle, so she was with August most of the time. He watched a little Sarah and Duck, but it turned out the cord for his headphones is going bad. He also played Math Tango and Dragonbox Numbers. He switched to the middle and we read some of Sisters 3. He didn’t like his ears popping on descent and said something like “Stupid plane”. I told him it was science that was causing his ears to pop and he said “Stupid science.” He held Carly’s water bottle so we wouldn’t forget it, and made up a chant: “But the king wants it there. But the Israel wants it there.”
A bad omen in London: the stroller wasn’t waiting for us. They theorized that it had gone to main baggage claim and it would meet us in Seattle. We weren’t sure why they thought that, and that it wouldn’t just end up going in circles on the carousel until it missed our flight. Not much we could do about it.
August was a little worried about that. As we walked to our next gate in the same terminal we stopped at a customer service stand and Carly went to ask them about the stroller. August played with one of the line ropes again, letting people and imaginary animals go through. He’s also been saying “Hey goofball” the last couple of days, and I think it might be from my parents.
We stopped at Starbucks and he got a pineapple, apples & carrots smoothie juice box. I got my first caramel macchiato since moving to Israel, and Carly got a latte. First learned of our gate number when it ws assigned through a notification from Kayak. They went and ran around, and I sat and enjoyed my drink and read. They came back and August asked me to supervise hide and seek. He had also jus started rolling around on the terminal floor for fun. They were starting to load, but it was a 747 so we had some time and were in group 5. So I got him to run around a bunch, playing tag.
He was stressed out though when we started to board, and actually bit me on the shoulder. Pretty sure he was just trying to bite my shirt, which he’s done in the past, but actually scraped some skin.
We boarded at 3:15. He sang the tuna fish song, making the words more abstract: “Eaten by a consequence…internet…timeout.” He had, earlier, when they were playing around, pointed to someone and asked “Are you the backup captain?” Now, we heard an announcement that said there were actually two backup captains. he said “Three captains on this plane? Oh my gosh.”
We took off at 4. I sat next to him, with him looking out the window. We then did some popcorn cracker math. They had done this on the first flight, breaking them into fractions, which he is into. He talked about sitting out on the wing and we talked about the actual speed of the air, etc. so then he was putting crazy things on it, like a galaxy: “With my unweightifier I could do it.” “What would happen if I put 9888 suction cups on top and 9888 suction cups on the bottom?” They brought snack and he had yummy pretzels and apple juice.
He switched to the middle seat and gave Carly drawing challenges. He told her she had to draw alligators and gave her a certain amount of time. He then helped color. Dinner came. I got the chicken curry and they got the pasta. He then played Math Tango with me. Cloudy over Iceland, but then I saw ice in the water. Pointed it out to August, and we watched and talked for about 10 minute as we flew over the coast of Greenland. That was fun.
I switched with Carly when he was looking sleepy (she had taken him to the bathroom). But he couldn’t get to sleep. The lights were still on for one, although he was clearly sleepy. I switched and sang to him. He was cranky and actually punched me in the cheek, although luckily not too hard. After a cupole more songs we switched again, and she got him to sleep at 10:30pm, Israeli time. I listened to music, Wolf Hall, and did some reading. I looked out windows in back. Had fun looking down at Ellsmere Island and later the Great Slave Lake and iced in lakes before that. And what would be Wood Buffalo National Park.
He woke up 2:40 Israel time, 4:40pm Seattle time. We landed and deplaned. He didn’t like the idea of more lines, but it went really smooth and he was in a good mood. As I carried him down the hall he told me “Jump into my head.” I asked him to explain and he said that he had drilled a hole in the top of his head that I could jump into, then he would fill the hole with super glue, but it was okay because he could take the super glue out with something sharp.
We got to baggage claim and got our two bags right away. Carly walked over to the oversized luggage area and there was the stroller. We went out and up the es
calator and there were Chuck and Cherie. Before 6. Carly took him to the bathroom and he liked the paper towel dispenser, saying he’d never used one like that before. When we got out to the car he joked about riding on the top of it.
In the car Cherie had brought a big bag of dried mango. She couldn’t get it open, but I did. August claimed credit: “No, I did it with my super laser beams.”
He was a little frustrated by the car ride, but we made it, getting to the house before 7. Right before we got there he got nervous: “I don’t want to visit them.” When we got there he stayed in the car for a few minutes and I stayed with him. But Kayla can read people. She looked in at him and said “potty”. He laughed, so she said it again. And again, and again. We learned that Eddy is sick. Got August out of the car. He had me carry him at first, especially past Eddy. Got him inside on the couch.
They went upstairs to the play area for a few minutes, and he was now comfortable with Thatcher and Kayla. We went down and had dinner. Derek and made wonderful halibut, and a farro salad. August wanted to go upstairs, so I went up with the three of them. They played with the keyboard and microphone, then they got sidetracked in Thatcher’s room, looking at a spider he had caught earlier. Back in the playroom they were gathering blocks with the wooden trucks, then building a house out of blocks. I was doing all the building and asked August “Who’s building the house, man?” Kayla told me “That’s not a man, that’s August.”
We then went outside as they got ready for bed. Carly and I had taken turns taking showers). Cherie, Carly, and I went out front with August. He and I did some bubbles and he played around, then we all sat in the new sitting area (where Thatcher used to dig) and August made rock cake using rocks, etc. We moved to the back. I was ready to go to sleep and headed upstairs, about 9:30. I was asleep before 10, and they were up around 10:30.