The trip home

Rye explores the chips container a fellow passenger gave him.

So then, there was the trip home from Texas.

As we turned in the rental car at DFW (and I had to argue with the guy about the price, which was not as advertised)....we realized that we have arrived at the airport more than an hour early for our 8:45p flight...except...the flight LANDS in Burbank at 8:45, and actually leaves Texas at 7:30pm.

Which is in 15 minutes. Give or take.

After a consultation with a ticket agent, it is confirmed that there are no more flights to BUR that night.

She offered us standby on a flight leaving in 45 minutes to LAX instead. We humbly said, Thank you very much...knowing that the chances were pretty bleak, since the flight was full and our standby numbers were 4 and 5. It was pretty embarrassing, as we're both seasoned travelers and, basically, we know better. But we haven't flown in a while, the paperwork all looks a little different, and we blew it.

and...then....

We not only got on the flight, we were given TWO SEATS TOGETHER. Next to some really nice, and patient people, who enjoyed Rye's company.

Rye did great on the flight, picking up a new trick of mirroring the hand motions of a lady across the aisle playing with him, and starting his own hide-and-seek peek-a-boo game with her. I got it on video!

Then he completely came unglued, melted down, and screamed mercilessly for the final 45 minutes of the flight. During which I repeatedly flashed our entire row and whoever walked by with my bare boob, trying to nurse him. Since there was turbulence and the seatbelt sign was on, and we couldn't walk him around, and his ears were killing him due to the descent.

This, of course, the flight that we did not begin by passing out earplugs to everyone around us, because things had gone so well on the front end—he had an absolute blast and didn't utter a peep.

At the end, Rye finally was calmed by (and I swear I am not making this up) a magician performer sitting in our row, who was MAKING BALLOON SCULPTURES for him and for another kid traveling alone. And doing magic tricks.

• Cab ride home: $70.
• Opportunity to miss driving all over hell and half of Los Angeles in the Super Shuttle for two hours, after waiting 45 mins in line, to save $25: Priceless.

Rye was ecstatic to sleep in his own bed. We are thrilled that our egregious oversight was amply rewarded and we will be rebuilding karma points soonest as our stash MUST BE LOW BY NOW.