We had a pretty successful flight from California over to my parents house in Baltimore, up until the very end. We had flown all day as we had one connecting flight. Just before landing and patting ourselves on the back for yet another successful trip our fate would twist. The wife turned to me and said, “Jake has a fever”. I thought, Oh great!

Just after landing an announcement was made, “Welcome to Dulles International Airport where the time is yadda yadda yadda…We’re pleased to let you know that we arrived 15 minutes early!” All this boasting was immediately followed by another announcement, “Umm…our gate is in use and we’ll be another 15 minutes…So, we’ll be on time”.

Can you say, Morons?

So, O turns to me and says she has to go potty. I almost couldn’t believe this as she had just gone shortly before but I didn’t think she was lying either. Of course, I couldn’t get up as we were on the tarmac waiting to park. Then when we finally did arrive at the gate everyone stood up in anticipation of the doors opening. At this point O had been complaining of having to go some umpteen times and all I could say was, “We’re almost there honey”. I felt so helpless! I was sad for her and mad all at the same time! Mad, that I couldn’t do anything about it! Ughh…so frustrating. Well, as it turns out she couldn’t hold it in and wound up peeing a little. Fortunately, it wasn’t a huge amount and you couldn’t tell by looking at her but I’m sure it wasn’t comfortable. She’s not quite two yet and has been without diapers for a solid 6+ months and has never done that before. Poor thing.

So, if Jake having a fever and O peeing herself wasn’t enough when we got off the plane I come to find out that our Maclaren stroller was not there!! The thought of carrying both of the kids around Israel the entire time was not cool. We had used it just in the airports with our travel and already loved how portable it was. Fortunately, I’d later come to find out that they found it and sure enough the delivered it to my parents house the next day.

Jake’s fever spiked and went up to 104.5 the next day. We didn’t feel right leaving the country for our trip to Israel without seeing a Dr. first. We had spoken to my cousin who also happens to be one of the best Peds in the country. As good as she is it’s still difficult to diagnose things over the phone. As it turns out she was dead on by diagnosing Jake with the Coxsackie virus which is exactly what he had. They also wound up taking a strep culture too.

After some further deliberation we made the decision to continue on our plans to Israel. It’s not easy making a dccision like this and we later came to question the whole thing over again. Several hours later we took our rented minivan, along with my parents, to the airport. I’ve never been one for minivans, being the true driving enthusiast I am (har har), but it was very tempting seeing all the room we had. I think minivans are more fun when you’re a passenger as opposed to an actual driver but I suppose in fairness I’ve never driven one. Maybe I should keep it this way!

We had a boat load of luggage with us for our two week travel with two kids. We had three checked bags, 3 carry-on bags, two car seats, and a stroller. One really nice thing about taking our CARES system was being able to fly sans the car seats. They installed so easily and made traveling so much easier! *A full review to come in the following weeks.

One of the unfortunate things about traveling with the car seats all together is not only how cumbersome they are to drag through the airport but you don’t want them getting messed up when checked in. Most airlines supply bags at the counter. Unfortunately, US Airways did not have any but mentioned United did (who we flew earlier on in the trip). When I went to their counter they asked if I was flying United. I had mentioned that I wasn’t on this particular day but that I just did the day earlier and I’m also a United Mileage Plus Member. The guy at the counter responded, “There’s a million Mileage Plus Members”. Upset at his response I quickly retorted, “Yeah, and I’m one of them”. That was all it took for him to point towards the bags and allow me to go grab one free of charge. What a jerk!

Well two planes later we were all on our flight to Tel Aviv. I think we went as prepared as possible but somethings you just can’t plan for on an 11 hour flight like that. Stay tuned to my next post when I share with you our oversees flight to Tel Aviv and our first real day there.

To see the next installment of DadStreet Goes To Israel, Click Here!

Both the Maclaren stroller and the CARES system were provided to me for review during my trip. I was not compensated in any way to mention and/or review their products. My opinions are always my own unless they’re someone else’s.