Flying to San Francisco is just like a game of poker

It’s the first day of another trip, and while it’s only the afternoon, the race to get everyone and everything ready has me exhausted.  I was up with the roosters to weed the garden and mow before badgering the boys to eat a high protein breakfast and complete their daily worksheet (no sleepy summer brains in this house!). After dropping the boys at sports camp it was a race through the morning before picking them up early from camp to head to the airport.  

The air conditioned car lulled two boys to sleep and we were at the airport in no time.  Navigating the check-in, parking, security and boarding process is a piece of standardized work I developed years ago, so you can imagine my dismay when the security screeners asked all food to be removed from carry on bags.  WHAT!?  Since when is this a thing?  I was horrified at the prospect of this for a couple of reasons:  1) the general public being exposed to the ridiculous quantity of food in my backpack and 2)the thought of my three, ravenous boys seeing the buffet of food available to them.  

The ridiculous amount of food can be attributed to the ridiculous flight.  We were supposed to fly direct from Denver to San Francisco, only to have our direct flight turn to a connecting DEN-SEA-SFO flight.  Two legs of flying with dinner falling in the middle—the quantity of food three hungry boys will need from 2pm-8pm is alarming.  And so, you could find me pulling out cheese sticks, meat sticks, granola bars, apples, carrots, bagels and PB&Js.  I felt ridiculous piling the bounty atop my flip flops in the security tray.  

Beyond the embarrassment of perfect strangers judging, I had three very interested boys assessing the loot.  “Granola Bars!”   “MEAT STICKS!!!”  Jacob called it out like the Broncos players being announced before a home game.  And with this went any leverage I had.  The gig was up.  The boys knew all of the cards in my hand.  I was like a poker player who had dropped my cards in the middle of a game.  

The trio fortunately forgot all about the buffet in a backpack upon boarding the tricked out Airbus plane that would fly us west.  Each had their own interactive screen with movies, shows and maps—oh my!  Needless to say, we didn’t hear a peep the entire flight, and their biggest concern with changing planes in Seattle was whether the next plane would have the same amenities.  Cheers to vacation...and the technology that makes that vacation bearable.  Seriously—roadtrip bingo and the license plate game is for the birds!