Catching the plane in Miami will probably be remembered by myself as being the most painful part of our departure. Corey just told me that now he thinks it wasn't too bad, but it could have been. Here's how it went, you tell me if it sounds painful or not... We were an hour late checking out of the hotel, finally on the road at 1. First - a few errands to Walmart and Ikea. On the list - microwave, pack n play crib for Natalie, mattress pad, and some Ikea cups and bowls (don't live without them, on the list of
absolute must haves for international travel with kids) (I had packed a few bowls, but somehow forgot the cups. Plus thought it wouldn't hurt to grab a few more of the other things while we had the chance) Corey ran into Walmart for the microwave and mattress pad while the kids waited in the car and ate apples - 2:30 and we're done with errand one. No sweat.
(Natalie's such a cute stinker)
Then Corey waited with the kids while I ran into Ikea. Piece of cake. But I did find out that I stood in the wrong check out line. It happens. We were on the road to Miami at 3:30 and looked like we would have plenty of time - plane leaves at 11 pm
We took the Florida Turnpike, which we didn't know was a toll road. Luckily Mel had cash and we cleaned her out. Thanks Mel, you saved us again. She's our little miss money pockets, good to have her around.
I was pretty tired on the drive (since I was awake from 3 to 7) I called Corey a few times as I got drowsy to help me stay alert, and talked to Nicole and my mom too. We took a break from the drive around 6:30 at the Chic-Fil-A in West Palm Beach. We were able to say hi to some sister missionaries there.
There was a total downpour while we were inside, so looks like we chose a good time to stop. There were a few times when we were driving that the rain was coming down so hard and fast that the windshield wipers couldn't keep up with it. The traffic was kinda slow, maybe because of the rain, also probably cause it was a bit busy.
After some food, I went to the car and took a short power nap while the kids played inside with Corey. I got just enough sleep to help me finish the drive.
We finally got to Miami, but our gps took us to an airport shuttle parking lot, which wasn't going to work for us with our rental cars, plus we were still full of luggage. It was 9:00 and I felt like we were lost and was starting to get a little nervous about how we were gonna get there and check all our stuff in time. We decided to go to the Fox rental car return. They took the cars and helped us load our 16 checked items and other stuff into their shuttle.
So far so good, it's 9:30. On the drive over, they said they couldn't take us to the departure place for check in, they could only drop us off at the car rental area. Ugh.
There are a few kids hiding behind all our loads of stuff.
So this is the part that almost killed me. We loaded up 4 smart carts with our stuff and Corey pushed one and he held Natalie who refused to walk. and the other 3 were pushed along by Hyrum, me and Melodie. Abi pushed Sophi in the stroller as she pulled a carry on.
We had to go to the train, up an elevator, all the while pushing all our stuff and counting kids to make sure they were still with us.
We finally got to check in at 10:00 and were there for 25 minutes.
Sophi was tired and done with this little adventure.
Of course a parent's adventure isn't complete without a kid collapsed and crying on the airport floor, right?
The kids did great, but also couldn't help asking a hundred questions that we didn't have answers too. They endured our constant commands of "Please, just sit still, be quiet, watch Natalie, go get Natalie, help Sophi, just wait, we'll tell you when we know...." etc. And I had to banish Wesley's bouncy ball on a string that he got at Universal studios. Sorry, children, but we can't handle any unnecessary movements right now, just sit still! Sorry, we're a little frazzled!
Then off to security. We had to take off our shoes, blah, and each laptop had to be put in it's own bin. "Ok kids, this really is the last hard part, we're almost there!" And then we were off to D16.
We got there at 11 and luckily they hadn't boarded yet. We made a quick bathroom run and then I ran with Sophi to the bathroom, which made us miss our priority boarding for families with kids, sorry Corey. But soon enough we were on the plane and in our seats. Phew! Time to relax, kinda. Most of the kids zonked out pretty quickly once we were in the air. It wasn't a full flight, so we spread out, Lily moved over and got two seats where she slept...
Which gave Wes and Abi more room for them to crash...
Natalie, wasn't tired of course. She's little miss high energy. After we'd had an hour of fun with her we passed her over to our trooper Mel, where they played with the seatbelt for a while
So interesting how it clicks! And unlatches too?! It was a good game for a one year old.
Sophi's cold sore getting better. She put her stickers on the wall. You having fun Soph? Sophi sat by Corey.
Time for a little light reading. Anything to try and keep her distracted from climbing around or being noisy.
Hmm! Very interesting.
Then we had some dinner at 1:30 a.m. Miami time - 2:30 a.m. Campinas. Hyrum woke up for that but we didn't wake up Wes, Abi, or Lily. Just sleep, little people. Natalie thought it was a good chicken dinner!
After dinner they turned down the lights and we went to sleep. Natalie slept with me. My tailbone was killing me from sleeping sitting up. Around 6 a.m. I left her on two seats by herself and woke up Mel to move by Lily and she was so kind to do it. I woke up Hyrum to tell him I needed to prop up my swollen ankles on his lap. He went to the bathroom and threw up, and then we all slept for another 2 hours until breakfast at 8:00. We landed at 9:00 am on Saturday morning, we made it! Exhausted, yes, but we're all still alive and haven't lost our kids or any bags, so that's pretty good.
