Holiday Travel and Kids

I like to be prepared for anything, just like any Carmel Valley mom out there. Sometimes, however, either things are out of your control, or you just get sidetracked. I wish I could say I lived by the Boy Scout motto and was always prepared, but that just wouldn’t be true! And so was the case before our travel plans for Thanksgiving.

We had our airplane tickets. I printed out all of our boarding passes in advance and had them lying on the table and ready. I had packed up our whole family the day before and charged all the electronic “time-passers”. It’s only an hour and 20 minute flight, so I had purchased a couple of new toys to put in the carryon bag for my kids. We were ready, or so I thought.

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Photo by Layla Mazdyasni

My eldest son went to bed around 8 and my youngest was still up and all of a sudden wasn’t feeling well. (I know you moms out there know that when kids get sick, it is never during doctor office hours!) Our flight was scheduled for 7am the next morning. As the little one got worse, we were trying to decide if we could go on our trip or not. We decided to go and so my husband went to bed and I put my youngest to bed. As I listened to him sleep, however, he was having trouble breathing. At 11:30, I made an executive decision to leave the house without waking anyone up (no sense in having an entire family exhausted the morning we fly) and take the little one to the emergency room. We arrived, we checked in, the doctors knew exactly what he had, gave him a treatment and we were on our way out at 1:00am. I have to admit, this is the fastest I have ever made it in and out of the ER, but I was committed either way. We slept peacefully for three and half hours and then Doug and I woke up, gathered all of our stuff and kids and went to the airport. Doug seemed very confused seeing the red bracelet on our youngest and the visitor badge still stuck to my shirt so I explained it all. We had a great trip.

No matter what you are facing this holiday season, whether it is travel or just unforeseen circumstances, know that with a little patience and a lot of flexibility, you can get through it without too many bumps and bruises. After all, ‘tis the season!

Christina Small

My husband Doug and I have lived in Carmel Valley for 11 years. We’ve been married for 12 and are loving it! We have two sons, ages 3 and 7. My hobbies are surfing (when I get to), scrap booking, scuba diving and hiking. I quit my job to be a stay at home mom at the end of 2004 and it was the best decision I ever made. Though I do sometimes miss the life of a scientist, I have plenty of opportunities at home to share science with my kids.