the joys of traveling

A friend invited me to visit her in Maine this summer. I originally was very interested until I realized that between Ryan taking off time next month to visit my grandmother in FL with me, and him going to Vegas with his parents in June for a couple of days, another vacation wasn't going to happen this summer. Then I decided I was going to to this, I do love visiting other places, getting there, no, I don't like that, not that fond of flying, especially with children and by myself. Ryan never can get away from work, the very few vacations we have had together is when I decide I need to visit family or attend a LLL conference and make him come with me, and he is never that happy about about. I really want to do this, I don't want me nor my children to miss out just because Ryan can't get away. I have been searching for flights over the last few days. I know the airlines are struggling, gas prices are up, but this is insane. I expect pricier tickets because of where we live, we have to take a puddle jumper to get to a major airport, that I know. I keep running into the same thing over and over again, there are virtually no tickets for the day time to get to the East coast, flight after flight were all overnight unless I wanted to pay over 800.00 a ticket! I finally managed to find three tickets on a early am flight, and the returning flight isn't bad either, and for only a measly 600.00 a piece. I feel strongly about Gabrielle having her own seat even though she is under 2 and could be a lap baby. It is much safer for her to be buckled into a car seat for takeoff and landing, and I'm envisioning two children screaming at each other if they aren't separated.... Still 600.00 is a lot of money for one ticket, Ryan is arguing with me about the need for the extra ticket, I see that extra ticket as a small price to pay for my sanity. Travel by airplane these days is not passenger friendly, never less child friendly. There are massive lines to get through check in, security check points, no liquids, not to mention the fear of being thrown off a flight for breastfeeding, keeping two children entertained, just thinking about going through security with children makes my eye twitch, we have never had pleasant, easy experiences. More like Ryan holding a screaming Madeline while a TSA employee pats me down or me trying to cox a non-willing toddler to walk through the gates under her own will complete with trying to gather up laptops, strollers, phones, put bags back together while chasing a running toddler around barefoot because they took my shoes while Ryan is being questioned. Great fun.