Well, we did it. Fifteen days abroad and it was time to come home. We had a great time, saw and experienced a lot but were more than ready to get back home to our comforts. Good food, our own beds, a less expensive shopping experience, sun, sun and more sun, and our life that was waiting for us at the front door. Every good adventure has to come to an end- and our end was here.
We arrived at the airport really early in the morning with more than enough time to check in and remain stress-free until our flight was to take off. Mark and Jocelyn were flying back to the states on the same morning as we were- although we were on different flights. Their flight was before ours, hence being at the airport so early! We casually checked in, scoured the airport's duty-free shops for any last minute treasures, and then boarded our plane and said goodbye to England! The flight was pretty mellow. It was much easier to fly with Matthew on this leg because we flew during the daytime hours. He could be loud and I didn't have to worry about him waking people up like I did on the way here (we flew at night on the way there). We couldn't get four seats next to each other so Michael and Claire had to sit directly behind us. They did great and we barely heard a peep out of them because they literally played video games and watched movies for the entire ten hours! Basically, we didn't bother them except to tell them to eat some of their food and not to order Coke anymore! A perk of sitting away from your parents is that you can order things without your parents hearing!
The kids were tired. I kept telling them to take a nap but they couldn't pull themselves away from the television in the seat back in front of them. Toward the end of the flight, Michael threw up from sheer exhaustion. Now all three kids had thrown up on this trip. Yeah! When we landed, I turned around and saw Michael and Claire passed out on the plane. Of course, they fell asleep on the last 15 minutes of the flight. When we landed I walked back to wake them up and realized that Claire was totally leaning on the guy next to her (as exhibited in the picture). I didn't realize it or I would have moved her. I thanked him for being patient with us but he didn't speak English and just nodded back to me. I hope he understood what I said because I really did appreciate his patience! We got off the plane (Michael and Claire were full of 100% crabbiness), got our bags, and loaded into the car we had chartered for the 45 minute ride home. We had decided to take something more private home because we figured with the jet lag, a Super Shuttle full of strangers would prove to be more of a nuisance. We just wanted to go home!
When we got home, we all took about an hour nap. My eyes were burning and the kids were a mess. It was hard to wake up from our nap and go about our business, but Damien and I knew it was for the best. Heather had stocked our refrigerator with milk, etc. and came over that night to help out and we were so glad she was there! That night, we all slept soundly. All three kids woke up at 5:00 a.m. the next morning but I figured that wasn't too bad. We adjusted nicely to life in California and almost felt like the last fifteen days were a dream. As we flipped through the 450 pictures we had taken in Europe, we smiled at them and thought, 'Who in their right mind would take their three kids to Europe?'
Well, we did it. Fifteen days abroad and it was time to come home. We had a great time, saw and experienced a lot but were more than ready to get back home to our comforts. Good food, our own beds, a less expensive shopping experience, sun, sun and more sun, and our life that was waiting for us at the front door. Every good adventure has to come to an end- and our end was here.
We arrived at the airport really early in the morning with more than enough time to check in and remain stress-free until our flight was to take off. Mark and Jocelyn were flying back to the states on the same morning as we were- although we were on different flights. Their flight was before ours, hence being at the airport so early! We casually checked in, scoured the airport's duty-free shops for any last minute treasures, and then boarded our plane and said goodbye to England! The flight was pretty mellow. It was much easier to fly with Matthew on this leg because we flew during the daytime hours. He could be loud and I didn't have to worry about him waking people up like I did on the way here (we flew at night on the way there). We couldn't get four seats next to each other so Michael and Claire had to sit directly behind us. They did great and we barely heard a peep out of them because they literally played video games and watched movies for the entire ten hours! Basically, we didn't bother them except to tell them to eat some of their food and not to order Coke anymore! A perk of sitting away from your parents is that you can order things without your parents hearing!
The kids were tired. I kept telling them to take a nap but they couldn't pull themselves away from the television in the seat back in front of them. Toward the end of the flight, Michael threw up from sheer exhaustion. Now all three kids had thrown up on this trip. Yeah! When we landed, I turned around and saw Michael and Claire passed out on the plane. Of course, they fell asleep on the last 15 minutes of the flight. When we landed I walked back to wake them up and realized that Claire was totally leaning on the guy next to her (as exhibited in the picture). I didn't realize it or I would have moved her. I thanked him for being patient with us but he didn't speak English and just nodded back to me. I hope he understood what I said because I really did appreciate his patience! We got off the plane (Michael and Claire were full of 100% crabbiness), got our bags, and loaded into the car we had chartered for the 45 minute ride home. We had decided to take something more private home because we figured with the jet lag, a Super Shuttle full of strangers would prove to be more of a nuisance. We just wanted to go home!
When we got home, we all took about an hour nap. My eyes were burning and the kids were a mess. It was hard to wake up from our nap and go about our business, but Damien and I knew it was for the best. Heather had stocked our refrigerator with milk, etc. and came over that night to help out and we were so glad she was there! That night, we all slept soundly. All three kids woke up at 5:00 a.m. the next morning but I figured that wasn't too bad. We adjusted nicely to life in California and almost felt like the last fifteen days were a dream. As we flipped through the 450 pictures we had taken in Europe, we smiled at them and thought, 'Who in their right mind would take their three kids to Europe?'
1 comment:
ok ... so i've been totally reading all these posts about your crazy/wonderful/adventurous/amazing trip to europe and i have to comment now - you are CRAZY for taking 3 kids to europe ... but seriously ... you have documented it so well that they will LOVE to read about it in a few years ... and by then you will have saved up enough to do it again!! i think you 2 are so brave and WOW you did some amazing things! i especially loved the post about going back to the hospital where michael was born. i vaguely remember hearing about you delivering him over there ... what a wonderful 15 days!
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