HEAR ME ROAR!

I DID IT!

I got our three small children halfway around the world all by myself. YEAH! WE ARE BACK!

I will spare everyone the gory details here but the short story is:
     - Everett was a real trooper and he did great. He threw up five times. But he kept on being cheerful and willing to walk for nearly the entire trip.
     - Lawrence had a hard time being on the planes for so long. He was great when he was asleep, which was not much of the time. Poor kid doesn't do well when he has not had enough sleep.
     - Catherine was perfect. She slept and ate and cooed her way across the continents. Thank you for sleeping through customs, sweet baby!

We had four huge checked bags, the stroller and infant carrier, and I carried a 30 pound frame pack with all our carry on stuff.  It worked pretty well.

In the car - going home!

Playing at the windows at our gate in Dammam. Too bad it was too dark to see the planes.  This is 10:30 pm.

I was not permitted to use the infant seat on the first flight (even though we had bought her the seat!), so Catherine sat in my lap the whole time.





Pretending to sleep on the transatlantic flight.

We got our request for the bulkhead seat on the transatlantic flight.  It really helped our situation that I had enough space to sit in front of the children on the floor to help them.

So two messy diaper blowouts and five vomiting incidents later, not to mention the drool and tears we worked through, we are back in Knoxville and recovering from jet lag. Our KLM flight from Dammam to Amsterdam had TERRIBLE service with awful flight attendants. Our Delta flight from Amsterdam to Atlanta had much better service and we got bulkhead seats, which helped a lot. Our Knoxville flight was fine, and we were all glad to be on the ground for good. And a big WELCOME HOME to Catherine, who was arriving in her home country for the first time. Welcome home, baby girl!  And while we're at it, HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!


I CAN'T WAIT to see all our friends!!  And watch out, Target, here I come! I can't wait to be out in public in normal clothes!