Well, this weekend we were those idiots. But it wasn't planned that way. We had scheduled our flight back to LA yesterday at 7.30pm, just around Lady P's bedtime. By the time we boarded it was 10pm, and Lady P was past herself. Wired and fractious and really quite shouty. We had been sedating her with the iPad for an hour but there's only so far the Peppa Pig icecream game app will take you. One delayed flight and one late night wouldn't be so bad but it came on top of six days of travel and disruption. So she was already predisposed to be wired and fractious.
I would have felt worse about what we put her through this week, but she had such an absolutely brilliant time that I don't. Let me break it down.
On Tuesday we flew to NYC, where we had dinner with Lady P's godmother, one of our dearest friends. Lady P marveled at the tall buildings and the swarms of yellow taxis, and enjoyed having her godmother read her many bedtime stories.
On Wednesday we took a three hour train ride up to West Hartford, CT, for 24 hours of fun with New England's best family. In a parenting fail typical of the week's events, Lady P's lunch was a Dunkin Donut's ham and cheese muffin eaten on an Amtrak train.
Fortunately, it all got a lot wholesome once we arrived in West Hartford. There was canoeing in the pond in their backyard, a friendly dog, a swing fixed to a tree, and there were home made waffles.
Lady P did not want to leave, but on Thursday we returned to NYC where she was delighted to see her godmother again. And on Friday we flew to Rochester, in upstate NY, for a family wedding. There, Lady P was showered with affection and attention by her grandmother, two doting great aunts, and five cousins who were thrilled to play with her.
On Saturday she was a flower girl at the wedding, at which TLOML was officiating. He was recently ordained a Minister of the Church of the Latter Day Dude, and took his responsibilities very seriously. Lady P was not quite so dutiful, refusing to wear a beautiful floral crown, removing her shoes at the last minute, and insisting she would not carry her posy. The sugar high provided by a sweet (the bribe for putting her shoes back on) saved the day, and the instruction 'run to daddy' made for a very telegenic trot up the aisle. It would have made for a better wedding album shot if she hadn't been chewing a Starburst but she was there, she had her shoes on, and she made it up the aisle: I think we did okay. Afterwards she paddled in her beautiful dress, in the great new American wedding tradition of 'Trash the Dress'.
We finally got home at around 2am this morning (5am East Coast time, but hey, who's counting?). Lady P looks a little frazzled today, and I'm sure her sleep patterns will be out of whack for a couple of days. And to keep the peace for all those flights she did spend a lot of time with the iPad. But I think it was all absolutely worth it.
And now we can relax, as Lady P isn't leaving the Hermosa bubble again for the foreseeable future. Me, I'm off to Boise, ID tonight - consumed with envy for Lady P's low mileage week ahead.
No comments:
Post a Comment