USA or Bust!

I know there have been many who have been anxious for another post as it's been over a month since our last posting. I'm sorry. I'll get it all caught up soon, just don't hold your breath. It may take me a bit :D

Many people don't know this, but the flight from Johannesburg to Washington/Dulles or New York is one of the longest commercial non-stop flights in the world. The plane ride is 17 hours (give or take) and it feels like twice that. After taking that flight when Em was a small baby, I swore I wouldn't do it again. So this time around, we went up through Frankfurt, Germany. It didn't add much time at all to the actual time in the air, but it did give us a few hours break in the middle for the kids to run around, use a regular toilet, eat regular food and the likes. We got into the airport in the afternoon on December 14. There were decorations for Christmas and my kids were enthralled with a giant reindeer and Christmas tree.

People kept staring at our little crew. Todd had Cooper in a back carrier, I had Harper in one as well, plus all the carry-ons containing extra everything and toys required by three small kids. At first glance, it was just a Mom, Dad, and excited 3 year-old. But then, they'd catch a glimpse of a foot or hand from one of the other two and they would go from slightly confused to jaw gaping open that there were people in this world insane enough to undertake what we were doing.

It took, all total, 37 hours to get from our door in Jo'burg to the door of our friends' house in Chicago. We stayed there for the worst of the jetlag, and since that is our "base" during our speaking, we wanted to slough off some bags, and lets face it, put some time between the 20 hours of in-air time we'd just done and the 5 hours it'd take to get to California. The kids did as well as we could have hoped on the plane, but Todd and I still needed toothpicks to keep our eyes open when we landed. At one point, in the Frankfurt Airport, around 5am local time, the whole crew loaded into a handicapped bathroom because the family one was locked and dividing wasn't an option. We were trying to towel clean each kid, change them from their pajamas and such, get teeth brush, etc. Neither Todd nor I, in our sleep-deprived condition, noticed that there were multiple buttons which would beckon emergency assistance. Nor did we notice that these little buttons were RIGHT at Cooper's eye level. I'm praying the poor man answering our calls for distress got a decent laugh out of hearing Todd and I trying to lunge over bags and kids in a confined space to snatch Coop away from the buttons. Sometimes, you have to just say to yourself, "I'll never see these people again. I'll never see these people again," like you're Dorthy repeating that there's no place like home!

Yeah, we stopped traffic to get this picture, but the kids were so enthralled with this reindeer, I couldn't help myself when I create the minor traffic jam to take the picture :)

We found a little enclave to eat some food, the kids did a bit of people watching, and Harper decided to use these bars to stand and start shuffling after her siblings.

We had a great time waiting for "our big plane" to come in. We had a great time doing our bed time routine in the A11 terminal before boarding the plane. Apparently, there were a lot of international travelers that day who had never seen kids in pajamas before! But the kids bore the stares and looks like champs, actually relishing all the attention. Little did they realize how much attention they'd be getting very, very soon.