On the upside, I think I lost three pounds...

You know that game you played as a kid, or that your kids might do at school, the one with the parachute? You know, everyone grabs a corner of the parachute and you walk in a circle and watch in amazement as the parachute billows up and down and it's sooooo pretty? And then, someone tosses a ball or two in the middle and you them wave the parachute and the balls bounce all around, up and down, up and down, left and right, here and there, all over the place. You know what I'm talking about, right?

Okay, now imagine that that ball is an airplane. And you're in it. Up and down, up and down, to and fro, back and forth. Over and over and over for about an hour. Or a year.

Yeah. That pretty much describes my experience on the plane SD piloted for us from Ohio to TEXAS!! (still excited if a little queasy) on Tuesday. It honestly wasn't his fault. We flew through a big front and there was no way to avoid it.

We started out late (big surprise - three kids, never on time). SD finally got our stuff loaded and we set off. We took off, I kicked back, turned on my iPod and realized that we seemed to be going back down. This, in large part because the fuel cover had blown open and there was fuel pouring out of the airplane. Not the ideal flying situation. So, SD lands, gets us back over to the Aero Club and the mechanic guy takes a look and notices that the cover lock is broken. And all the ones that they have are too big. So they quickly "build" us one. And it works!

Crisis averted. For now.

So, we take off again & the kids and I all doze off. Well, SugarPlum doesn't because she was playing with the new Gameboy I got her. She has never had one and now I may never hear her voice again on a trip. Thank you, Nintendo!!!!!!

The flight goes pretty smoothly for the first leg. Towards the end, Bug had woken up and was just sitting there, sort of catatonic. No expression, no words, just sitting there. I was a little concerned, as was SD. Okay, I was a lot concerned, because this child rarely fails to display every emotion he has as he is having them. But he wouldn't respond to anything. I was really fweaked out. (as an aside, I am #1 in google search for "fweaked out") I was totally ready to call 911 when we got on the ground in Kentucky.

Then (after a very bumpy descent where I almost puked but did NOT), we landed. And as soon as SD opened the door to the airplane, Bug says, "That was a cool flight! When my grow up, my gonna be a pilot!" And then talked non stop about it for fifteen minutes! I guess he was just THAT into it. In his mind he was totally flying that airplane!

So, we get inside the little airport in Kentucky and the kids and I hang out while some guy takes SD to get us lunch at Burger King. I was still really queasy, but I really thought if I ate something (I had skipped breakfast) I would be okay. So, he got me a cheeseburger and a LARGE Sprite.

Once in the air again, I realized that perhaps the cheeseburger wasn't such a great idea. I quickly emptied out a Target bag and made use of it. Then I tied the handles up as securely as I could and put it under the seat, praying that it didn't leak.

Once we reached altitude, things smoothed out quite a bit and I was feeling much better. So much so that I was playing with the kids and even read some of my People and US magazinescopy of War and Peace that I brought along. But then........

Oh, yes, the bumps at the beginning? Nothing compared to the bumps now. I was praying praying, that I wouldn't throw up. No dice, it was coming. But where to put it?? All of the other bags in the plane had holes in them. Burger King cup to the rescue!! You would be amazed how well a cheeseburger fits into one of those cups. An hour after it was eaten. Of course, it's my personal belief that everything I had eaten in the past month was in there. It wasn't pretty.

SD asked at one point if I wanted to get there faster or smoother. Honestly, I just wanted off that plane, but I knew that if we landed, we'd just have to take off again. I said smoother. He says, "It should only be another two hours."

TWO HOURS????? Heaven help me.

When we finally landed in TEXAS!! I was literally green. But I can also truly say that I have never been so glad to see home again. Well, just to see solid ground again. SD told me that he would buy me a commercial ticket to fly back home if I wanted! I made him take the cup-o-puke to the trash for me. We went over to our old neighbors (HI ED!!) for dinner. They ordered pizza. I had crackers and Sprite. Mmmmmmm. Then we checked into our hotel and got everyone off to bed.

Wednesday was phase two of the house hunt. We've narrowed down the houses to two. Ironically, neither of which is the one I was so gung-ho about after the last trip. We will make our decision in the morning and hopefully put an offer in. If we get the one I really like, I see dial-up in my future. eeeek!

And then? I have to get back on that airplane to fly down for the wedding. Can I do it? With my good buddy Dramamine, I can. Pray for me, though. As much as I have been stressing over my weight gain, this is not how I want to lose it!