Baby Food Bomber?!?!?!?!?

We've just had a delightful week full of memories down in Florida! It was a week of many firsts for Reilly...so exciting to watch him grow and discover.

As we were leaving the Clear Water/St. Pete airport yesterday...a couple of funny things happened. Okay, to be honest, I wasn't laughing at the time, but looking back now, they do make me giggle.

Let's back up a week and talk about what happened as we were departing South Bend and heading to some fun in the sun. Keely was gracious enough to take us to the airport, as I only still had one good hand and Kim only had one good foot. Upon arrival, the security line wasn't to long, so we jumped right in as Keely made a last minute run to the van for a missing Pickles...(one of Rei's favorite blankets.) Pickles was found and we were ready to pass through security.

Brady, who has been known to be a bit tricky through security, was being a great helper and wanted to push the buckets forward towards the x-ray machine. Some, a-little-to-big-for-his-boots-xray-man evidently thought this was a problem and starts snapping at him to back up and let go of the bucket. Um...okay. So we tell him to come back over, and try to convince the 5 year old who just wanted to help that he wasn't being appreciated was interesting. So, then as we get closer, I'm hurriedly trying to empty the stroller and things to get them on the belt so I'm not holding up traffic behind us. I get everything emptied, and placed on the belt, and the before mentioned man, takes the diaper bag and THROWS it under the machine. Now...a little history on the diaper bag...it had most of Reilly's belongings in it that we projected he would need for being away from home for 7 days.

So, after we get through, as Kim is being wanded down, contents of the diaper bag are flying down the other side of the belt at a top speed. We had diapers, baby food, nose suckers, medicine, wipes, toys...you name it, it was coming down the belt...not in the bag. All the while, I'm trying to gather everything else from the belt and still not hold up traffic. Thank goodness for my helpful 5 year old, catching all the diaper bag contents and stuffing them back in. All the while as we're trying to collect all of our items, one of the men says, "Ma'am, is this your luggage." I say, "yes." He says, "Can you step over here, I need to search it." PERFECT! So, after a search, he says, "Oh, it must have been the huggies you have in there that looked suspicious...." Um...SERIOUSLY? Just exactly what am I putting on my son's butt everyday that makes the TSA Security people suspicious? Wow.

Okay...so we're ready to load the plane...no easy feat again...as we carried everything on and didn't check any luggage. We gate checked the stroller and car seat, so after we dropped them off, we were left to carry on a suitcase, 2 purses, a booster seat, a baby, a variety of baby toys that no longer fit in the diaper bag because of it being dumped, and a computer bag...all with only 3 good hands and 3 good feet. We boarded early (I guess that's a least one positive of Kim still being in a cast...) and got situated in row 18, right where we were assigned. Only...not. We sat down, got all situated, only to find out we were in the wrong seats. That's AWESOME. So we moved and ended up having a great flight. Thank goodness.

Okay...fast forward a week to our trip home.

Glenn drops us off at the door to the airport, where again there is hardly anyone in line at security so we jump right in. It's again a challenge to get everything up on the belt while trying not to hold up the line. Brady gets through just fine. Kim goes to her "room" to be wanded down and I am ready to cross over. Once again, i get to the other side when someone says, "Ma'am, are these your belongings?" I say, "yes." Here's how the rest of the conversation went...
Lady: "Ma'am, why do you have so much baby food in your bag?"
Me: "Because I'm traveling with my son."
Lady: "How long is your trip?"
Me: "However long it takes to get to South Bend."
Lady: "I'm going to need to call over my supervisor."
Me: "Um, okay."
Supervisor: "Good afternoon Ma'am. Why are you traveling with so much baby food?"
Me: "Because we are going home, I have a baby and I bought to much baby food and didn't want to waste it."
Supervisor: "Do you have to travel once you get home?
Me: "For a bit."
Supervisor: "Are you aware you are over the limit?"
Me: "I had no idea there was a limit."
Supervisor: "Who is the bottle of water for in the bag?"
Me: "My son's bottle, we went to Urgent Care because he's not feeling well and they said to make sure he had a bottle to suck on take off and landing."
Supervisor:" I see. We'll, it's going to have to be tested."

At this point, they take the water, stick a strip of paper down into it, go into a huddle and discuss their "options."

Lady: "Well, Ma'am, we have decided to let you go through this time, but if you want to take all the food with you, we will need to pat you down and search all your belongings."
Me: "Ok"

So she tells me to spread my arms right there in front of everyone...so I do and I come out clean. Whew! :)
Then the search begins. She empties EVERYTHING from my purse and the diaper bag. Here we go again. She swipes out every compartment, every baby food jar, everything I own to make sure I'm not the bad guy...I guess.

10 minutes later, she hands everything to me in a gray bucket and says, "Okay, you're fine to go through." Here I sit with all of my belongings out in the tray again, left to repack. NICE.

So, we make it through with about 10 minutes to go before boarding begins. When we are finally called, I get up to the desk and the man there tells me that Reilly can't board without his birth certificate. Um...birth certificate in South Bend...Us in Florida. Here's how this conversation went:
Man: "I need to see a form of ID for the child Ma'am."
Me: "Excuse me?"
Man: "The baby cannot board without a passport or birth certificate."
Me: " I have neither of those and no one told me I would need them."
Man: "I can't let him board without seeing one of the two items requested."
Me: "Okay, so you want me to leave my son here with you."
Man: "I need to call my supervisor."

Wow...this all sounds so familiar.

Supervisor: "We'll let you go through this one time, but in the future, you need to bring identification for your child."
Me: "Okay."

Who would have thought leaving Florida could be so difficult?!?!?!?!?!?

Oh well, at least I'm not the baby food bomber.