I can’t wait to get into it.

We had a great vacation in the Land of Enchantment; going in the summer was far, far better with kids than going in November/December/January, as we had since the kids were born. Eating on the deck! Blowing bubbles on the deck! Swimming! More swimming! An ass-kicking hike with Taxman!

But, as usual, the plane trips have taxed my sanity. I told Taxman we should arrive on the plane with $10 gift cards to Starbucks/Barnes & Noble/Dunkin’ Donuts and just hand one to the person sitting in front of AM, apologizing in advance for his shenanigans. Because holding his feet the entire time he’s awake? Stresses. Me. Out.

Today’s excitement was Miss M’s refusal to sit on the toilet on the plane. Both legs of the trip were on an S80, which is smaller than others (737, 747, 767, 777). So it’s quite noisy, particularly towards the rear of the plane, and in the bathrooms most of all. So Miss M’s freakishness about loud noises, combined with her fear of unknown toilets, made for quite the spectacle. I heard the screams 10 rows up. Pee everywhere but in the toilet, apparently; Taxman had the misfortune to be in the lavatory already, so when he opened the door I shoved her in his direction. And, well, our apologies to the cleaning crew.

We were up before daybreak, Miss M threw tantrums all day, and nobody has been sleeping all that well. The kids refused to sleep (together or apart) in a different room at my parents’, so woke each other up several times over the week. Taxman and I discovered we are too damn old to spend a week sleeping on air mattresses. We have the backaches to prove it.

Must clean up and unpack and get to bed. Pictures forthcoming.