Well, we're alive. We survived the first half of our plane travels and are all safe in Florida. We have three days here before we fly out to Brazil on Friday. I think everything that we had control over went perfectly - got everything packed, house was left relatively clean and organized, we got to the airport well, checking luggage was great, and we seemed to be on our way unscathed. A shout out to the people that saved our skin: #1 - Jill, for letting the girls come play at her house for almost 4 hours while we finished getting luggage packed and loaded.
#2 - My parents who helped us label bins and make sure they were securely taped shut. And #3, The wonderful Aubrey, who helped us get to the airport. Aubrey stayed for an extra 15 minutes letting the little girls watch a movie in her car in the park and wait while we got the luggage checked. 11 bins, one cardboard box, 3 suitcases, 3 car seats, and two small suitcases, one stroller, and a lot of back packs to carry on.
Mom and Dad helped us in with the smart carts
First glitch - my mom wanted to get a gate pass to help us with the kids until we boarded, but they don't do that anymore. That's okay, we'll make it.
Hyrum's hand doing the thumbs up photo bomb there...
Nothing a bag of suckers shouldn't be able to fix...
So we said goodbye. Then off to security. My bicep was starting to burn from holding Natalie through that, but we got 'er done. Off to the gate.
We got there in perfect time to board, but then there was a delay, which ended up being a 40+ minute wait at the gate. That was a little long, but nothing a box of Krispy Kremes couldn't fix.
Natalie was being quite the wild "I wanna run free!" child during the whole wait. Other than her being a little nuts, it was fine.
Finally time to board. The kids got all hooked up with their headphones and tv screens.
Lily and Abi were on a row behind these three sitting next to a guy by themselves. Next time we'll make sure an older kid gets paired with the little ones. It was about a 4 hour flight. We arrived in Orlando at 11:30
Natalie was terrible on the plane. Noise wise she was fine, so no one else knew. But wiggle wise, ugh, I was about to pull out my hair. I just kept watching the "are we there yet" digital plane on my screen to see how much longer I had to endure her climbing on me. She did not sleep at all and still wanted to run wild after we landed.
Hyrum, can you get her?
She did not want to be held.
Walking through the Orlando airport around midnight local time. Only about 10 Utah time, but we were all ready for bed.
Catching the train to baggage.
Natalie sat still for the short train ride. I'll take any brief break I can get. Choo-choo!
Off to baggage.
Down the escalator.
Got all the baggage. Now for the rental cars... They were off the airport a short drive. It took an hour and a half for them to get them and come back. The kids did great.
Joseph did homework, Hyrum took a nap in Natalie's car seat...
And they sat around patiently for 90 minutes. Great kids.
Enjoying their last few days with Joseph and Ethan.
The older kids stayed with the luggage and little sisters and I followed Natalie around, and we went up and down the escalator more times than I was able to keep track of.
Pretty fun stuff.
Yay! We made it to the top! Now let's go down again! A little girl running on fumes at 1 a.m. in the Orlando airport.
I got a little tired of the escalator, tried to get her to explore further by taking her to the fountains.
Everyone still being troopers and waiting without complaint.
Sophi joined Natalie and I for a while as we roamed. She liked seeing Mickey.
Finally Corey and his dad were back with the cars - two minivans. We all loaded in and it was tight but by some miracle we got it in one trip. Some kids had bins on their laps. Natalie fell asleep right away once she was finally restrained. Lily was so tired... She had fallen asleep waiting, and was incoherently beside herself when we tried to put her in the car. And then get her out so we could put the carseat in for her first. She tried to escape by burrowing herself in the back seat between Hyrum's legs, and he had a bin on him. After I got the car seat buckled in I tried to get her out, but it was like pulling a tape worm out of the body (not that I've ever done that) but I had her by the ankles was was trying to pull her out with all my might. It took a minute but I got her out and then clamped her in as she screamed and wailed.
Everyone was so happy to collapse in bed. We were checked in at 2 a.m, beds out and all the little bodies laid to rest by 2:30. Still asleep at 11:00 the next morning...
Sleep, little girl. Sleeeeep....
Somehow Joseph and Ethan both lucked out getting their own beds.
Ethan had a whole room to himself, not sure how he lucked out with that.
I'll report on what we did after we woke up later. :)
