A helpful tip for the airlines

When my son called me three weeks ago to ask if Brad, Jer and I would be willing to fly out to the East Coast if he bought the tickets, I jumped at the chance. I was driving home from Gillette, Wyo., where Brad is working, and the phone rang.

Within 24 hours, I had arranged for time off work. Brad had arranged for time off, and the airline tickets were bought.

Brad and Jer had never flown before. They looked forward to the trip with a lot of excitement and a little trepidation.

The second leg of our trip, from Detroit to Baltimore, was the first time I ran into the vacation gremlins. I was seated about seven seats in front of Jer and Brad. The minute I was seated, I knew it would be a long trip. Two young teenagers from Texas were sitting behind me -- without supervision. The minute they sat down, they started arguing, like brothers do.

"I want to sit by the window," the youngest said.

"You can't, I have the ticket for the window seat," the oldest replied.

"Where's my bag," the oldest asked.

"I had to leave it with the guy in the corridor," younger replied.

I heard skin hit skin. "You better not have lost my bag," the older yelled.

"They wouldn't let me bring it on," the younger replied.

The argument continued, getting louder and louder.

Then I smelled the unmistakable scent of something gummi.

"You have gummi worms," the youngest asked in a surprised voice.

"I only have one left," the oldest replied.

The youngest decided to check it out. There was a struggle. I know because the back of my seat started bouncing forward.

I was grumpy. I had been up since 6 a.m. the previous morning. We took the Blazer with the broken down air conditioner. My back hurt and I could feel a migraine coming on.

I couldn't take it any more. The mother came out in me. I leaned my seat back, looked them both in the eyes.

"You two need to knock it off. If we have to stop this plane you're walking home."

The rest of the trip was pleasantly quiet.

The next gremlins I ran in to was at a laser tag facility. Shane and Jer had been working on me all day and finally I took their dare. As we stood around waiting for our turn in the "Room of Doom," two boys circled us, fake boxing with each other. Unfortunately one of them missed his fake target and made contact with me.

At first I was shocked. Then I got angry. The two of them continued running around, hitting at each other one of them move toward me and I bravely stepped in front of him.

In my sternest mother's voice, I said, "You two need to knock it off, now! You've already hit me once and I do not want it to happen again." He walked away hanging his head and muttering an apology.

The rest of the trip went fine -- until we boarded the plane back from Detroit to Omaha. Two hours of listening to a 3-year old throw a temper tantrum and his 6-month old brother cry constantly -- most likely because of the air pressure changes in the cabin of the plane, prompted me to do a little planning.

As the plane finally touched down in Omaha, I looked at Brad. "I have an idea," I told him.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Anyone under the age of 16 should be checked with the luggage. The parents can pick them up at the carousel at the end of the trip."