Katie: Solo.

Well, we are safely in Italy. We walked ourselves to death on Sunday (more on that in another post) and had a wonderful rest last night...

but now for the story. The story that maybe one day in my life, I will laugh about. I'm not quite ready for that now though.
You see this picture...yeah, it really was just me and Alex on that flight...with the rest of the basketball team. Everyone BUT Will!

Through a series of unfortunate events, miscommunications, and lots of assumptions...Will didn't have a ticket. Yes, we were at the check in and discover Will doesn't have a ticket. We are all blaming the travel agent because Will's name had been on the list with the team, but we think when he talked to her about tickets for us, she somehow took his name off that list, and so the coach thought Will had bought tickets with us, while Will thought his name was still on the team list. So yes, no ticket.
And our flight was overbooked, so there was no way that he was going to be able to fly on the same 9 hr flight that we would be on. Yes, it was Alex and me. On a 9 hour flight.

here are some things I learned on our two flights flying solo: (the first one was just 45 minutes from Charlotte to Atlanta and the second was about 9 hours from Atlanta to Rome.)

1. Goody bags are a life saver! (See all about that here!)
2. Suckers are not my friend. What a sticky mess that ended up being. Pez on the other hand. I will take more of that next time!
3. Alex would rather watch a show in silence then put on head phones.
4. Benedryl has the opposite effect in the air. Seriously. We tried it out a couple times to make sure it didn't make him hyper. It didn't when we tried it. In the airplane...Heaven help us all! That was not a fun hour of my life.
5. Routine is important. We always read a lot before Alex goes to bed (since he doesn't really like to slow down any other time of the day). Once I pulled out the books and read to him, he calmed down right away and fell asleep not long after. Also since it was a flight that went through his bedtime, he slept a lot longer. 5 hours... I was one thankful mama!!!

 6. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Fortunately, this was not totally a solo trip. There were 16 other guys on the plane that could help out. Thankfully, Will's dad and two players were sitting behind me and helped to entertain him when he turned around. One even held Alex so I could go to the bathroom while Alex was sleeping (pregnant lady not going to the bathroom for 5 hours...yeah right!). Even if they weren't with me. I think I would have gotten to know my seatmates really well and asked them to help out with the little things (turning on and off air vents etc)
7. The best view on a plane used to be the destination...that definitely changed! This is now the best view...

and then we landed and I got this...

 and this...

(which refuses to rotate the right direction)

and then Will finally arrived. And life is okay. We are working on Will's ticket for the way home so that we can all be on the same flight. I hope and pray but I am going to be prepared either way! And I feel like a super accomplished mom now.:) I mean. 9 hrs. please. I know people have done more than that, but I will take any victory.

more on our new adventures soon!