The Tovsky Tribe: Florida- Mom-Mom's 90th Birthday Event

Take 2 at our attempt of flying with the boys, 11 months after our first attempt, and the result was greatly improved. We managed to have exactly zero attacks of hysterics even though they were wide awake the whole flight. Overall, I'd say they were really well behaved, of course that is without gathering the opinion of the people around us. Over the course of the flight the boys enjoyed one half sandwich each (4 triangles,) 2 lollipops (ascent and descent,) and one juice box. They watched 5 minutes of Finding Nemo, which they had never seen before, and 45 minutes of Elmo's Summer Vacation. They colored for one minute, looked at a book for 30 seconds, and had fun sticking balloon stickers all over themselves for about 3 minutes. Of course, in what may sound like easy time to pass, Ryder spent more than half the dvd watching time touching the buttons, as expected, and moving the screen so Chase could not see. He also found enjoyment kicking the seat of the man in front of him, who said nothing but could not have been happy. He must have a lot of grandchildren. Chase sat near perfect the whole time, still we were grateful for the relatively quick flight.
Once we arrived at the hotel we learned our room was not ready, and though this allowed the boys, who had finally fallen asleep, to sleep a bit longer, it was frustrating to be put off longer. When we finally got to the room, we realized the boys had been in their seats for close to 7 hours. It was actually amazing how good they were. Of course once we let them out they each had a meltdown prior to running down the hotel hallways.
We spent the weekend with family near and far. Jaime was in, after just moving to Tel Aviv,with his girlfriend Keren, whom we got to meet. Fresh from an Italian cooking immersion school,and working professionally in restaurants, they are soon to expose Todd and I for what we are, measley home cooks;)
Aunt Bonnie was a gracious host all weekend making sure we were comfortable and well-fed. She welcomed us with hugs and smiles and barely blinked eye as the boys bounced from her walls. She appropriately nicknamed them the demolition crew, and uses the name lovingly.
The hardest part for the boys, but the nicest part for mom-mom, was the party itself. She was surrounded by her family, all 6 of her grandchildren and you could tell she really enjoyed the moment. The boys were a bit unsettled with nowhere to run, but we managed. Ryder discovered microphones at the party, however, and has become a true performer since. He picked up the mike (thankfully it was unplugged) and sang several renditions of happy birthday. I do have it on video.
Overall, the weekend was really nice. Despite being a bit hectic for the boys, they did remarkably well for two year olds.
For Todd, it was special to be surrounded by family he does not get to see very often and to hear stories of his youth and before.
For me. it was a thrill to meet family I had not met before and hear these same stories. We are with my extended family all of the time, something that I love, and it was so nice to have an opportunity to do that with Todd's family. I wish we could do it more often. Here are some pictures of the weekend: