A Long Journey
Annie started her big trip after nap time on her baby sister Cora’s half-birthday. After she woke up from her nap, Mommy and Daddy packed up lots of suitcases into the car, full of clothes for the family, and toys for Annie and Cora Rose. Mimi Pam and Baba John were there, helping Mommy and Daddy. They made the house nice and clean, and then everyone got into the car, and drove and drove and drove a long way, to the big city of Boston. Annie asked to listen to the song “Fish Heads”. The family listened to Fish Heads over and over and over on the drive up. Sometimes Daddy and Mommy tried to play other music, but Annie was paying close attention, and she always made sure they switched back to Fish Heads!
When they got to Boston, everyone was feeling a little grouchy from the long drive and the traffic, which made the drive take even longer. Cora Rose slept for most of the trip, but she woke up about a half hour before they arrived in Boston, and screamed a lot after that. Finally, they arrived at their hotel. They were so happy to get out of the car!
Annie was very excited when she saw the hotel room. There were 2 grown-up beds. Mommy and Daddy got one grown-up bed, so Annie got her own grown-up bed! She wanted to keep playing on the bed forever, but everyone was hungry after the trip, so they all walked to a restaurant nearby, where Uncle Zach had come to meet them. It was a very fancy restaurant and the food took a long time to come. Annie had to take some breaks while they were waiting, and run around outside a little bit. When the food finally came, Mommy and Daddy liked the food but there was no kids’ menu, so Annie didn’t like the restaurant very much. She started to get a little grouchy at the restaurant, and then got a little more grouchy, until Mommy promised that if she was a good girl, she would get a lollipop when she got back to the hotel. Then she was a pretty good girl.
She felt much happier when she got back to the hotel, and got to have her lollipop and sleep in the grown-up bed. Mommy, who always worries about Annie falling out of bed, put many, many pillows around Annie and tucked her in so she was in a cocoon and wasn’t able to fall out.
Mommy and Daddy did not sleep well because Cora Rose did not want to sleep in a strange bed, but Annie slept very well. But then Mommy and Daddy woke Annie up very, very early at 4 o’clock, when it was still dark outside. Annie had to put on her shoes and socks quickly and run upstairs to catch the shuttle!
She got onto a small bus, and said goodbye to the hotel.
The shuttle bus drove them to the airport. The airport was big, and bright, and there were many people everywhere. Mommy and Daddy had a lot of suitcases and backpacks. Annie had a small shiny backpack with wings and a small tiger suitcase that rolled along, which she could pull or she could ride on. Annie was very careful to keep track of her backpack and her suitcase. She watched Mommy and Daddy give some of the suitcases away to airport people, but didn’t much care.
The family ate some breakfast – some leftover waffles with peanut butter and jelly on top. Annie licked the jelly off and left everything else behind.
Then the family went through security, and Mommy and Daddy were worried about that but Annie kept careful track of her suitcase and her backpack and so everything was okay.
And then there was a window, and through the window Annie saw the airplanes! There were so many airplanes! They were different colors, and had different pictures on them. Annie stayed with her mommy and watched the airplanes for a long time. She learned that airplanes don’t drive, they taxi. She liked the word “taxi” and especially the word “taxiing”, which she thought would make an excellent name for a baby, if Mommy and Daddy ever decided to have another baby.
Finally, after a lot of waiting (and running around), the family got to get on board the airplane. Annie led the way. She wanted to choose her own seat near the front of the airplane, but she had to sit in the seat that Mommy and Daddy had picked out for her. She sat by the window. It was very exciting. She got to look out the window and see the other airplanes, and the people walking around. She put her backpack under the seat in front of her, and played with her seat belt and her little table.
At first, Annie was worried that she would be scared. She was afraid she might fall out of the airplane when it was up high in the sky. She buckled her seat belt to make sure that wouldn’t happen. But it wasn’t as scary as she thought it would be. The plane taxied faster and faster, and then started to fly into the sky, and Annie watched out the window, because it was very interesting.
The plane flew up so high, it flew through a cloud and there was white all around the airplane. Then it flew up higher than the clouds, and Annie could look out and see the clouds below her, so far below they looked tiny.
Annie was also excited to watch the TV screen in the back of the seat in front of her. She knew there were so many movies to watch. Mommy and Daddy helped turn on her screen, and then they looked through the movies and Annie picked Cinderella – not the normal Cinderella, but one with real people. Annie didn’t want to wear headphones, so she and her mommy made up the words as they watched. Annie kept waiting for Cinderella’s mommy to die, and kept wondering when the mean mommy would come. It took a long time. It was very sad for Annie even though she was expecting it.
After about 15 minutes, Annie got tired of the movie, and she played with some of the toys in her backpack. She got a special present from her mommy called a Polly Pocket, which had a tiny dollhouse with tiny people inside. Annie played with them for a long, long time. She played “Cinderella” with them and with her other people. Annie really enjoyed having some of her dolls act as the mean sisters and the mean mommy. The mean sisters and the mean mommy yelled at Cinderella and hit her, and then the doll who was Cinderella would cry. Annie’s mommy was not sure if she liked these games.
Annie did other things on the airplane ride: she got some cookies and juice from a nice lady; she watched more of Cinderella (but never quite finished it); she took a nap; she got one more present, a small Minnie Mouse doll. It took a long time, but finally the plane went down, down, down, through the clouds, and landed on the ground. Annie packed her toys back into her backpack and took her suitcase and left the airplane.
On the way out, Daddy tried to have the family ride the elevator because Cora Rose was in a stroller, but Annie saw that there was an escalator which Daddy must not have seen. She pointed it out to the family with great urgency, and then, because she was so excited, she left her family and ran to the escalator to ride down it. Luckily Mommy saw her and ran after her, and they rode down together while Daddy and Cora took the elevator with the other suitcases.
The family’s big suitcases were riding around on the roundy round thing, and Mommy and Daddy had to catch them. Annie put her hands on the roundy round thing, and she wanted to climb on and ride it. Mommy would not let her, which was sad.
After they got the suitcases, they walked to a bus stop and Annie helped to find the right bus. Mommy told Annie that it was bus E. Many buses went by, and Annie saw so many E’s on them. She was very good at finding E’s on all the buses, and she helped by pointing them all out to Mommy.
Finally they found the right bus, and Annie felt a little scared of all the people, and sat close to Mommy while Cora Rose slept in her car seat.
And after that, there was a very boring time while the family was waiting for their car rental. Mommy and Annie and Cora sat outside, and Annie played with her Polly Pocket and her dolls, and ate the last of the snacks. As time went on, Cinderella’s mean sisters and mean mommy became meaner and meaner to Cinderella. Mommy kept making Annie and Cora move into the shade, as the sun moved through the sky.
And then, finally, they got their car. As soon as the car seat was in the car, Annie climbed in, and fell asleep.