Houston airport

Wednesday, July 13, we set off on our way to Detroit. We, meaning, me and the kids, with the business being so new, Matt just couldn't get away, and my parents were missing us so bad, they offered to buy us some flights. Things got off to an ok start, we got out of the house exactly when I estimated, I was very proud of that accomplishment! Payton nodded off to sleep about 30 minutes before we got to the airport, but I figured that was a good thing. Then things got a littler tougher. We couldn't check the car seat in at curbside check in, so in a panic, Matt went and found a parking spot so he could help me get the stroller, car seat and our 2 suitcases inside. Once inside, the desk people, (I have no idea their title), were very helpful. One guy helped me get checked in at the kiosk and then helped me get all my stuff to the counter. I was very appreciative. Then we got to security....
These must be the most unhappy people in the world! I know not everyone likes kids, I get that, but Payton was SO excited (and probably had no idea why), so she was waving and saying Hi to everyone. The TSA agent barely even glanced at her, she never smiled at me, no hello, nothing, I'm not even sure she spoke to me at all. Then we got to the conveyor belt. Now, 2 bags, 3 pairs of shoes and a stroller are a bit much, but I was prepared for chaos, so I wasn't going to be frazzled. Amazingly, Payton stayed right by me as I had to fold up the stroller and put it on the conveyor belt. Of course, no one helped me AT ALL!! One agent, said, that's too big, you need to take the stroller over there and then walked away. The new screening was new to me, so "over there" meant nothing, plus by this time, at this point, Payton is trying to run through the xray scanner thing and this guy just keeps saying, she can't go in there. Right, I get that, but I also don't have 8 arms! Finally, some random guy behind me in line, helped me wrestle the stroller off and held P's hand while I got the stroller back upright, thank God for helpful strangers! Then I just rolled it in line with me, since I still had no idea where "over there" was, that agent wasn't happy either, but finally got someone to help me push it through some side gate. After we got through, helpful stranger hung out for a second and helped me get all my stuff gathered back up and off we went. The funniest thing was, when we got to the gate, I realized there was a fairly large container of hand sanitizer in the front basket of the stroller, no one caught it! So, if you are a terrorist and want to get a liquid bomb through Houston security, put it in your stroller!
After that, things were pretty much fine, we grabbed some lunch at the slowest and most expensive McDonald's ever, and boarded without incident. The flight attendant on the plane was very helpful and no one had any issues with letting Payton just walk up & down the aisles. Both kids got very fussy at the same time, but in came my friendly flight attendant and hooked me up with some milk for both and it seemed to do the trick, both kids were fine again after that. Neither one napped, but I was prepared for that, so no stress there either.
In Detroit, my bags were practically waiting by the time we got to baggage claim, which never happens, but stopping for a potty break and diaper change seemed to be just long enough. In all, I'd say the flying experience was just fine, and of course, having Grandma waiting for us at baggage claim helped too!!