I'm a survivor

Well, I made it to Utah all in one piece. I didn't even break down crying, even though I wanted to at several points throughout the day:

Little Dude woke up at 3 this morning and refused to go back to sleep. He's been running a slight fever and had a plugged up nose for the last two days. By the time I got him back to sleep it was nearly 5:30 in the morning. And then S-Boogie woke up at 7. Mommy was not a happy camper.

When we got to the airport and were checking in, the lady yelled at me and threatened me with a $10,000 fine because I forgot to bring a copy of Little Dude's birth certificate. I really spaced that one, I'll admit, but she was pretty cranky about it. Plus the last time I flew with him, no one asked for it. I also think it's dumb that they don't require ID of any type for small children S-Boogie's age.

I thought we had timed things well by hanging around in the awesome play area for a while before arriving at our gate. We got there 20 minutes before the flight was supposed to leave and got in the line for preboarding (standing up because there were no chairs left in the vicinity). 25 minutes later, we were still standing there waiting. S-Boogie kept loudly proclaiming "I want to get on the airplane, Mom" at least once every thirty seconds, much to the amusement of our fellow passengers. Our flight left half an hour late; we never got any explanation for that.

The kids behaved well on the airplane, and it was even a not-quite-full flight so I could bring Little Dude's seat on board (by the way, it's worth investing in a backpack to carry your carseat through the airport). The worst part was trying to get off the airplane, because for some reason I had a lot of trouble getting the seat back into the bag. Thankfully there was a very nice girl who was willing to hold Little Dude for me while I wrestled with the backpack. Then as I was stepping off the plane, the handle on my carry-on broke. I guess I get to go diaper bag shopping tomorrow.

I got a smart cart and got our luggage fairly easily. Then we went to the rental car place (I don't usually rent a car in Utah, but my mom is flying up and a rental makes sense for this trip). I reserved the car from the cheapest price on Orbitz, and I had been under the impression that it was from an agency located at the airport. Apparently I didn't read the fine print. My reservation was at the place that had a shuttle to their location "next to the airport". I looked at the lady, looked at my cart loaded with bags and two wild kids, looked at the pouring rain outside and announced that there was no way in hell I was taking a shuttle. So I took my business elsewhere. While in the middle of filling out forms for my new, over-priced rental car, S-Boogie announced "I need to go potty. The poop cannot wait to come out!". The rental agent was nice enough to process everything while I ran S-Boogie to the nearest bathroom, and a friendly airport employee stood guard over my cart while we took care of business.

And then we got our stuff in the car and drove to Orem and rejoiced that this day was behind us. Little Dude still has a fever, so I'd better get to bed soon since it could be a rough night.