Good weekend, BAD plane ride

We had a really good time this past weekend when we travelled to Mike's hometown of Champaign Illinois to visit with family and friends. We had an uneventful trip their on Friday morning, and spent then next two days visiting with Nana and Papa, Uncle Dave, Aunt Jen, Cousin Evan, G Pa, and some of Mike's friends.

Henry thoroughly enjoyed playing with all of Evan's toys:



And we enjoyed watching Evan learn to walk:


Evan is pretty cute:


Henry had a great time blowing bubbles:


doing some serious climbing in the backyard:


and hanging with Nana:


The next day we hung out for a bit at G Pa's house, where Henry surveyed the lay of the land:


Chipped in with some repairs:


And admired his 6 pack:



After lunch with a group of friends, it was time to say good-bye to the family:



And head to the airport.

Now, we had a 2 hour drive to Indianapolis to catch a 7 PM flight. Poor Henry had been a bit out of sorts with sleep the entire weekend - not a single decent nap since Thursday, up way too late Friday night, etc. We were hoping that he would fall asleep on the trip to the airport, but no such luck. Once we arrived at the airport, we received the unfortunate news that our plane would be delayed and not taking off until 9:30 PM.

If you know Henry, you know he is NOT a flexible sleeper. Although he does sleep in the car in extreme circumstances, generally he won't sleep anywhere but in his bed under optimal conditions of darkness, white noise, etc. Taking a nap at the airport or on a plane is laughable for him. We knew we were in trouble.

While we waited at the airport, he did this for about an hour:



(we were vainly hoping he would wear himself out and miraculously pass out).

Our plane left at 9:30 PM and he held it together until about a half hour before landing. At that point, he lost his marbles. A tantrum the likes of which you have never seen suddenly began - full on screaming at the top of his lungs, rigid body, kicking, hitting, attempting to take off his seat belt...the works. It was epic. Keep in mind this was a very small plane - and basically the entire plane was asleep when he started (not after he started!). He was SO TIRED and was completely beyond any type of reasoning (or bribing). It lasted all the way through landing, and the poor passengers around us were so anxious for us to get the heck off the plane that they were grabbing our bags and handing them to us and no one else got up until we bolted off the plane.

His tantrum lasted all the way through the airport and to the car. He calmed down in the car - because he fell asleep. As soon as we arrived home and had to take him out (the kid has never transitioned from the car while asleep in his life) he immediately started it up again. Once inside, he added to the tantrum, screaming that he didn't want to go to bed...he wanted to play.

He finally passed out at about 1 AM. The good news is that he slept until past 9:30 this morning and took a 2 hour nap today, so hopefully he is recovering from his sleep deficit. However, I have now decided to drive for all future trips. Seeing as how that is California in a few weeks, I guess we had better get in the car now.

Thanks to everyone we got to see while in Illinois - we had a great time!