Berta is on a work trip in Ireland until Friday, so I have the kids to myself all week. But before I get into that, let me mention the travel issues today.

We packed up the kids to take their mom to the airport for her trip. Why her work doesn’t supply her transportation for this, I’m not sure. Probably they’d pay for mileage and parking, and by the time she was done filling out all the forms to get her expenses back it wouldn’t be worth the hassle.

Also an annoyance is that Septa doesn’t run trains to Downingtown on Sunday. What’s that about? They’ll run to Malvern, but not two more stops out? That stinks.

Anyway, we went on out to the airport. There was snow/ice on the ground from last night, so we left a tad early, but the roads weren’t too bad. We stopped at Arby’s for lunch, since the kids would be screaming for food if we waited until I got them home to feed them. That set us back a little bit, which didn’t help for what events were then to pass.

We dropped Berta off at the USAir terminal and said our goodbyes. Everything seemed fine. I made a wrong turn going home (actually, I was unable to get out of a lane that was “turn only” until too late and then had to turn around, but Abby made her usual big deal about, “Don’t you know how to get home, Daddy?”) but that probably didn’t factor into the timing.

About the time when we were observing details of countryside that you can see the other side of from our kitchen window, my cell phone rang. It was Berta. Apparently, there was some confusion over what her ticket actually looked like, and she had taken the wrong thing with her to the airport. So we had to stop at home and then go back.

This so totally makes up for the time last winter when I forgot my wallet and then went grocery shopping, and had to call her from the service desk to pack the kids up and drive them half a mile to the grocery store. Yeah, that was fun. I guess it happens. I suppose that next time she’ll just take everything with her.

On the flip side though, we seriously need to reevaluate how paperwork is organized in the house.

Oh well, at least she got the one major trip problem out of the way (well, her outgoing flight was also cancelled, but that was also taken care of by the time I spoke to her next) and everything else should be smooth sailing. Hopefully, the train isn’t too bad of a return trip for her, since there’s no way I can make it to the airport by 6:30 on a Friday. She probably won’t make it home until 9. It’s going to be a long week.

On that front, our (mine and the kids’) first night is going well. Everyone was fed. Diapers were changed. Baths were dispensed. Pajamas donned. Teeth brushed. Stories read. Kiddies tucked in. Riley already woke up once shortly after Abby went to bed (man, she passed out moments after hitting the pillow!) but he seems content now. Hopefully, if he gets up again - not that I’m hoping for that at all - he goes back to sleep as easily as this time. Usually when I try, it takes Berta’s presence to put him back to bed if it takes more than a replacement pacifier.