Travel & home sweet home

Got up early to finish packing, get all our stuff squared away, take care of a still-sick L, check out of the hotel, load our stuff in the car, and go to the airport.  Surprisingly enough, we only ran into one pocket of bad LA traffic.  Yay!  Aside from the big truck that tried to merge into our tiny car, we made it to the airport in one piece and with peace of mind.

I have to say, one of my least favorite things to do when traveling by plane is putting in and taking out the car seats.  They are huge, bulky, and a bitch to get strapped in correctly (and then undone).  Then, we have to pack them in travel bags, lug the giant backpack bags across the airport to check in, and all the while manage the other bags and children.  YUCK.  I'm so tempted to just rent a car seat from the car rental agency, but that's just another big fee on top of everything.  We had rental certificates this time toward this car, so we ended up paying $7.63 total for ~6 days in a full-size car.  SCORE!!!!!!!!  (well, gas sucked at $4.25/gallon, but whatever)

Checked in for our flight, went through a super slow security line (thank you, Congressional sequester, for cutting TSA's budget to keep employees working), got lunch at McDonalds, boarded our flight, and flew back to Phoenix.  I, being the idiot that I am, was taking pictures with E on our flight and left my camera on the plane.  Of course, I didn't realize this until after we got back to Tucson, so I get the title of Biggest Idiot for that.  *mourns*  I hope they find it.  Got our luggage, pottied (E threw a huge temper tantrum, I think she was tired), got the car, loaded up, and drove back to Tucson with two sleeping girls.  Heck, I felt like sleeping on the drive back, but that's bad for the driver to do.  ;)  Picked up Belle at the husband's parents' house, picked up Cookie from the vet's kennel, and the six of us made it home in one piece.  Home sweet home.

The girls are happy to have all their typical toys and surroundings back, I'm happy to be doing laundry (weird, I know), and I think the husband is glad to have the dog back.  It's too bad that L is still sick - I hope she's well enough for school tomorrow but we'll see.