Waiting For Wyatt: Portland Vacation

I'm back from our trip to visit Jeffrey's family in Oregon. We had a fantastic trip which included Jeffrey's sister Lori's wedding, Zion's first birthday, Zion's first steps, a trip to the zoo, a ride on a train, a trip to the park, picking blue berries, a visit with old friends at camp-meeting, many games, fun in the pool, and fun just being together.

Those of you who caught the mention of "Zion's first steps" should not interpret this to mean that Zion is now walking. He has taken a total of seven steps. The first was on his birthday. And then the next day he walked two steps, paused to get his balance, then walked two more. But that's about it so far. I was waiting to share this until we at least had a video, but that will have to wait until he wants to walk some more. Zion's daddy, Jeffrey, also took his first step on his first birthday. Like father, like son.

We survived our cross-country flight yesterday. Elise had her own seat, and Zion was left to roam over our laps and the tiny space at our feet. It was tight quarters to say the least. I think that Elise summed up her opinion of Zion's invasion of her space very well: "I'm having trouble with Zion. We need to put my Zion away. We need to put him in a crib and send him back."

I should mention that we have already secured tickets for the kids and I to fly out to Portland for Christmas. Jeffrey's schedule is very limited, so he will fly out on a different flight. So, instead of just enduring a long day with our baby and toddler, I was lamenting having to do this trip all over again in December, without Jeffrey and with an even more mobile Zion. Eek. So these are my ideas on how to survive the trip:

1) Portable DVD player. Does anyone have any suggestions for DVDs for toddlers?

2) Special snacks

3) Benedryl? Does anyone know if this works?

4) Double stroller

5) Willingness to ask complete strangers to help me out

6) Car seat? I'm weighing the trouble of bringing on a car seat versus the benefit of being able to strap Zion in and offer a comfy nap spot for Elise.

If anyone has ANY travel tips, please let me know!