It started out as a spreadsheet, really. A way for us to organize all the items, big and small, that we needed (and maybe just "wanted") to take along with us on this adventure. Although I would try to deny it, there was some fear as I looked at the spreadsheet. How would this ever work? How would we even make it on the plane? And would it be worth all the trouble?
YES
12 Days is a long time to be away. 12 days with Tommy would be a long, long time to be away. 12 days with Tommy and COOPER would be an eternity, and I will say that he was the wild card in all of this. We knew Tommy would adapt, would make the most of it. He would love the sun, enjoy the other people, at the very least spend all his time in the pool. Cooper, on the other hand, throws a tantrum in the grocery store if the cereal box isn't JUST the right color! Coop only drinks one type of formula (Costco) and I doubted I would find that particular brand in the jungle of Panama should we run out. Coop eats chicken nuggets and Dairy Queen....more strikes to the food list. Basically, Coop runs the Whipple show at this particular time, no matter how we look at it. I know parenting books would say otherwise, but reality is that Cooper is showing us exactly what "almost two" looks like for normal toddlers. Tommy passed this stage without as much as a whimper, so this is new territory for us.
Two weeks before, Tommy missed all week of preschool due to a bad cold. The week before we had word that a bad flu was going around, and as I knew that parents at our school were still bringing their sick kids into school, I opted to keep the boys away from preschool and quarantine them the week before we left. That meant no outings, no grocery store, no mall...nothing. John and I prepared for the trip on our own and kept the boys at home that week. It was drastic, but worth it for some peace of mind to know that we were doing the best we could to keep them as healthy as possible. Cooper's cold cleared up, then returned that weekend, so Bruce and I opted to use up some of our old meds at that time, rather than risk continued green goo and nasty cough on multiple travel legs. We were packed up on Sunday for the most part. Monday both John and I worked. That night, despite the anxiety of the weekend, we felt pretty relaxed. Packing was done....
Tuesday- Travel Day 1
John has Pink Eye! Are you kidding me?!!!! Pink Eye?!!! At 6:30 in the morning?!!! Before our morning flight to Houston?!!! Okay, so maybe we call up Robin and have her call in a prescription to the Burien Walgreens. Do I have an old bottle? No! I gave it away to the Allens this summer. Got to get a bottle of Pink Eye juice! JENNNY!!!! Text Jenny...of course she is still sleeping, not having to get up this early to work out as usual. Text Jenny again! I'm feeling bad, but worried enough to not feel bad enough to stop frantic texting. Okay, going to call now. Call again. If I have to go up there and pound on her door I guess I will have to do that. Thankfully, Jenny saves the trip and calls me back, and yes, she still has Sophia's bottle of Pink Eye medicine from a few weeks ago. Crisis averted! Thanks, Jenny, for saving our trip. Not sure we would have managed to get it all sorted out before our flight left. We broke this day into "legs". The trip to Seattle, the flight to Houston, the flight to Ft. Lauderdale, the shuttle to our Ft. Lauderdale hotel for the night. Each part of our day went so smoothly it was beautiful. Cooper had some minor flooding issues in his pants, but that was the parents fault for not changing him, and the people around him thought his chubbly legs were pretty cute anyway. I forgot to pack a second pair of pants in our carry on, so he walked around the airports in his shirt and diaper. We watched some Elmo and Phineas and Ferb, and shuffled the kids between our seats and Grandma and Grandpa's. Coop seemed most relaxed hanging out with Grandma, and spent a lot of time curled up in her lap. Tommy was quite taken with everything, and did a fine job all day long.
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