Summer 2011 Part 1

I cannot believe it already came and went. The summer was incredible and soooooo good for the soul.  Being reunited with our families was indescribable – Those hugs that we got right off the plane were emotional, and a cherished moment I’ll never forget.  After traveling for 30 hours straight with two little ones, I had made it.  I was in Lake Charles, Louisiana, AMERICA.  Our journey half way across the world began at 11 p.m. when we left our house in Abu Dhabi and headed towards the airport.  I was excited, nervous and a little scared, but I didn’t want the little ones to smell my fear.  I had lower than low expectations as to not be disappointed and recited: “I can do all things thru Christ who gives me strength.” about 100 times.   We got to the airport and the kids were wide awake and w.i.r.e.d.  They literally ran around the airport until our departure at 2 a.m. and didn’t crash until 4:30 a.m.  Thankfully they slept for a few hours and we completed the first leg of the flight – 7.5 hours to London.  We got off the plane, went thru customs/passport control, got on a bus which brought us to a different gate.  We arrived to find a lot of fancy shmancy shops, no McDonalds and major, major crowds. 

Thankfully I packed as if I was Mary Poppins and had plenty for the kids to do for our 5 hour layover with no available seats.  We plopped down in an open hallway and played trains, colored, stickers, watched movies, and ate junk to pass the time.  I got a pizza from a busy café as I got glared at by other travelers who must have either never had kids or are too old to remember how hard traveling with them can be.  Will (my son that has a cranky disposition even on his best day) was working on 5 hours of sleep and was DONE.  I was in survival mode and knew that this day wasn’t for discipline, the goal was simply to keep everyone alive, make all of our flights and not to lose anyone.  Now, as he laid on the floor of the café with his big blue lovey (think Linus) and his thumb in his mouth as he used his feet to scoot himself around in a circle (think breakdancer) around an around,  I simply laughed it off and knew that if I tried to stop him the scene would have been much larger than what it was.  The lady looked at him and looked at me, looked at him, looked at me, him, me, him, me.  I responded with a shoulder shrug and eyebrow raise, like “WHAT?”  She motioned to him and acted like she couldn’t get around him as the lady behind the register yelled, NEXT! like three times.  I reminded her it is her turn to order, she looked down at Will again and back at me as I had to give her the eyebrow face again and said, “GO.” She was appalled, I didn’t care. 

We went to our gate as I juggled, a gigantic hiking backpack, stroller, big purse, Audrey's backpack, a pizza box and a much needed latte.  I still don’t know how I carried it all and pushed the stroller... Did I mention Will fell asleep after his breakdancing debut within 4 minutes of being in the stroller? Sorry Bud, just a cat nap and onto another plane.  I was terrified since we just survived a 7.5 hour flight, had a loooooong miserable 5 hour layover and were about to attempt a 10 hour flight. deep breaths, count to 10, here. we. go. Yes, I said 10 hour flight. We get on the plane and delay. delay. delay. 1 FREAKING hour we sat on that plane in the pouring down rain. The pilot warned that it could be 2 hours. I am so tired I just want to cry. I prayed so hard for that rain to stop, since if we were delayed 2 hours, I would have been not only trapped with these two on the plane, but we wouldn’t be able to make our connection from Dallas to Lake Charles. I kept calm and carried on.

Prayers worked – it was GO time.  Audrey fell asleep as the plane landed in Dallas and it was like a circus act to try and wake her up.  In abu dhabi time it was already 2 a.m. THE NEXT NIGHT.  we had already been traveling for about 27 hours at this point and she was crying uncontrollably – I couldn’t very well hold her… We had to go to customs in Dallas and here I got to juggle two kids, three suitcases on a cart, the big backpack, big purse, Audrey's backpack and a stroller.  All the while going thru our third checkpoint of this travel day where you have to take out the bag of liquids, take out all electronics (I had like 17), take off your shoes, show your passports and boarding passes all without losing a child or your mind.  We got thru all of that, got on a train to get to our gate, changed the kids into regular clothes (they were in PJ’s this whole time) and got in line as they were boarding the plane.  A nice stranger let me use his cell phone as he saw me desperately and unsuccessfully trying to get mine to work – I called my mom and let her know I’d be there in an hour. WHEW.  I was almost there.

Will decided to be a holy terror on the last flight, but I couldn’t blame him, I honestly wanted to join him.  Audrey was still crying because she was so tired and I promised till I was blue that they would see their Mere, Cappy, Nana and Papa really soon.  We went thru and talked about every single family member and I begged Audrey to stay awake.  Our pilot made it to Lake Charles in 35 minutes since we were delayed 30 minutes on the runway.  We got off the plane (of which everyone knew us and our situation – since I had to apologize profusely for the crying and fit throwing from Audrey and Will)… I grabbed the gate checked items and gave the stroller to Will, he came around the corner and ditched it when he saw all those familiar faces.  Audrey was elated and I was on cloud 9.  Tears - tears and more tears.  Tears of relief and of joy. Oh what a journey it already was.  We were over the moon excited and then ERRRRCCHHHH!. my bag didn’t make it. ugh,. whatever, I didn’t care. ((it arrived the next day)).

The first week in the states was surprisingly a bit twilight zone-ish… So many things were the same, but it was like I was looking at them through different eyes.  People, Places and Things all that were once so familiar to me seemed a bit foreign.   My head felt foggy (mostly due to jet lag), my adrenaline was working overtime, and it totally freaked me out how many people I didn’t hardly know, knew all about my life.  {It’s the blog’s fault}. 

We got settled in our rent house, got caught up on our rest and began our summer.

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My brother, and sister

now THAT’S tired!

a red-head mess.

On our second week we travelled to Shreveport to spend the weekend and see Charles’ mom’s side of the family.

Will hugging his second cousin Journee

The kids had a ball playing with cousins!

Brayden, Jackson and Madison with Will and Audrey

This little guy was in rare form and was on his worst behavior I had seen him in over a year.  He was missing naps and I was paying for it. I look happy here, but I was ready to kill him.

Wiped out from the weekend!  She had so much fun playing with Madison! They are only a few months apart and got along so well together

This is when we got back ^ The pic is from the living room of my rent house.  We were all playing angry birds.

Will was watching Choo Choo.  It is amazing how good he is at working an iPad.

 

I wanted to throw in a couple of pics I took of my parent’s camp.  This is upstairs and at their bar – The Soggy Peso.  We clocked in many hours at the camp (some of you texans would call it a “lake house”) we call it “Choza del Rio”– stay tuned for many more pics of our summer!