Having just returned from a trip to Texas to visit with Dan's side of the family, travel with a toddler is on my mind, in a post-traumatic stress kind of way. Don't get me wrong, Kate was pretty good for the most part. But there's really just no way to take a kid her age on a plane and not have a few moments that make you want to get out on the wing. This trip I had Dan with me, but in a month I'll be traveling alone with Kate, and so in an attempt to help myself not suffer the amnesia that clearly sets in between plane trips with her, I'm blogging Awesome/Not Awesome, the Toddler Travel Edition. This will be a list of the good and bad things about traveling with Kate, so that I can maybe not be so shocked by the bad and can remember the good makes this worth doing. So here we go:

Awesome: When you wake Kate up at the crack of dawn to get on a plane, she is actually sort of excited, because she seems to sense that we're going to do something special. She chatters all the way to the airport. It is unbearably cute.

Not Awesome: When you wake Kate up at the crack of dawn to get on a plane, by the time it's 3:30 in the afternoon and you're on your last flight of the day, she is so epicly cranky that you think you might just get sanctioned by the FAA for bringing her on a plane.

Fun: Airports generally offer lots to look at and plenty of new people for Kate to flirt with. The first couple of airport hours are like Disney World for her.

Not As Fun: On the other hand, when your airline suddenly announces a gate change after you've schlepped your kid, your stroller, and all your worldly belongings across DFW, the airport starts to feel like the Amazing Race, and not in a good way, because you're definitely losing. Kate will choose that exact moment to develop a strong objection to riding in her stroller, and therefore you will march 20 gates down the terminal at a pace best described as Sleepy Turtle. Kate will be thrilled. She will wave to people. You will spend the whole time apologizing to the air travelers of the world who have to walk around Her Highness.

Great: The i-Pod is the greatest invention in modern history because you can put videos on it. Kate has figured out how to hold the little ear bud up to her ear so she can hear the music while she watches "Annie." This makes you look like a terrible mother, but it is really useful at times.

Not great: Since Kate has your i-Pod and is sitting on your lap, your entertainment options for yourself will be to stare out the window or read the American Way magazine article on Billy Joel for the sixth time. You will hate Billy Joel's stupid face before the flight is over.

Yayy!: Kate gets confused by the time zone and sleeps until a decent hour in the morning during the first part of the trip.

Ugh!: Kate gets confused by the time zone on the way back, too, and wakes up a full hour EARLIER than usual for days on end. Rarin' to go. At 6:15. Cue up Sesame Street!

Happy: Coming home again.

Sad: Coming home again. We miss these people we fly such a long way to see. This trip it was especially fun to see Kate, Chi and Jeremiah have fun together. Here are a few pictures of that, mostly courtesy of my mother in law Lorrae, since in every picture I took of the kids, at least one of them is a blur of motion and pure speed.

Grammy and Grandpa treated the kids to Chuck E. Cheese on Friday. Kate and Jeremiah rode this Barney tractor ride approximately 50 times.

Kate does not understand the actual point of skeeball, but she thinks it is really neat.

Thanks for the fun times, Wachdorf family!