Pack Attack

Presidents Day week is ski week at San Jose Unified and what is becoming our annual tradition is visiting the Florida grandparents.

In booking our plane travel we continued our love/hate relationship with red-eyes. In many ways the long red-eye is perfect with small children, but the flight to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. is a short red-eye. Which means we leave at 10:30 pm (well after bedtime) and arrive at 6:30 am EST. If we can pull off the hat trick, and get the boys to go to sleep upon arrival it would be less of a nightmare ... but this is my pessimistic prediction:

• Board the plane at 10:30 pm. The boys finally settle down and sleep at 11:30 pm.
• Arrive at 3:30 am PST and escort our tired and cranky boys through the airport
• Get to grandparents condo around 4:30 am PST - boys are bright-eyed and bushy tailed and want to play and hang out with their grandparents.
• One of the boys enters full melt down around 5 pm EST 
• The boys will be sound asleep by 6 pm EST. 

It should be a day of discomfort. But on the bright-side, the next day they will be ready for any adventure.

Last year we had cooler weather in Florida, this year temperatures are expected to be in the high 70s low 80s. Since we work full time, and the weather here next week will be rainy and cool, I'm able to pack for the trip this weekend -- which is great. I've already completed packing the boys bag, and set aside their travel outfits. I'm trying to keep it to only one checked bag (to avoid the bag tax).

Now I have to hunt for sunscreen, sunglasses and goggles and other summer sundries that have been scattered to the four corners of the house, as well as pick some small toys I know the boys will love to play with in Florida.

The boys had tons of fun on the trip last year, and they are both excited about traveling. Xander who is now swimming and loves water can't wait to enjoy the beach and pool. Caleb my fair skinned little boy is looking forward to playing in the sand (and being out of the sun). We may even surprise them with a trip Disney World. Hopefully I can finish my pack attack today.

Flashback: Red-Eyes and Long Haul Flights with Preschoolers

How apropos that I'd be writing about red-eyes and long haul flights with preschoolers. This was meant to be a blog from the past, revisiting our trip to get Caleb ... but with the Presidents day weekend trip to Florida I'm starting to see how thin the silver lining is in my red-eye cloud.

The advantages of red-eyes and preschoolers is pretty straight forward. Flying is boring, you aren't allowed to move around, spread out, and you are limited with the number of toys you can bring on board the airplane. The red-eye guarantees that at least part of the five to twelve hour flight will involve sleeping.  Ah the sweet angelic look of a preschooler asleep.

But there is a trade-off. On our trip to Florida we took Jet Blue and flew from SFO to Long Beach. Our flight to Fort Lauderdale was at 10 pm PST, arriving in Florida at 5:00 am EST. The problem with the flight was that it was too short. The boys fell asleep around 11 pm PST and woke up when we landed 3 hours later. When we got to my inlaws house the boys were too excited to sleep. This meant that we spent Friday with a three and four year old who had only three hours sleep.

Sleep deprivation and ADHD-like symptoms are linked. This is so true with our little Xander. Normally he is a sweet, empathetic sensitive little guy -- a total charmer, outgoing and sweet. Xander on three hours sleep is a crazy little nightmare. He cannot be reasoned or bargained with. He doesn't understand consequences. I cannot find a discipline technique that works when Xander is operating with no sleep. So is a smooth flight worth a day of a crazy preschooler?

So, what I've figured out. I think seven is the magic number. On flights seven hours or longer, the red-eye is a perfect choice when traveling with preschoolers. If the flight is shorter then seven hours then you have to understand the trade-off that your making. Especially on four day mini-vacations.