we made it

6 suitcases
3 carry ons
2 adults
2 kids
1 stroller
loaded in the car on our way to the airport....
got to the airport loaded all the luggage on one of those little carts and made our way to the ticket counter, luckily there was no line, and i just have to say that i have NEVER dealt with a nicer person at the ticket counter in my life. this woman was amazing, not only did she give my dad a pass to go through security with us, she didn't charge us for ANY of our bags, i was SHOCKED! it was going to cost us $150!

it was a good thing she let my dad come back because this was by far the hardest part of the trip (yes, including the 9 hour flight). going through security is stressful enough when you're alone, add on 3 giant carry ons, 2 kids (that did NOT want to stand in line), and a stroller (which is apparently only for looks because nobody would sit in it).... and i was sweating before we even went through the metal detectors.

we finally made it to the gate, ate some lunch and said some sad good-byes to pa. the first flight was to Vancouver, less that 40 min. the boys loved it and did great. then we had a 3 hour layover in Vancouver. i thought it would be challenging keeping the kids entertained but it wasn't... we walked and ran along the moving sidewalks for over an hour, they had a giant fish tank that we watched for a long time, they even had a little kids toy area which was great!

this is when we met the 2nd nicest ticket agent ever.... our seats were not originally next to each other, in fact we were almost at opposite ends of the plan (which defeats the whole purpose of my mom flying over with me). the ticket agent told us the flight was full and it would be really hard to try and seat us together, but she would try, she'd let us know about an hour before the flight, when she got back from her break. when she got back she came and found us and had our boarding passes all printed and ready for us... sitting together. what a huge relief!

we boarded the plane around 8pm, which is when adam usually goes to bed, he started crying for milk and his blankie as soon as we sat down. i had wanted to wait until we took off so the sucking on his cup would help his ears... but he couldn't wait. much to my surprise he fell asleep right away.... and stayed asleep... until 2 hours before we landed!! blake stayed awake for a couple hours and watched a movie, then when they finally turned off the lights he fell asleep too.... and stayed asleep... until we landed! i could not have asked for a better flight, even though i didn't sleep AT ALL, it went amazingly smooth! i only had to change adam one time, blake didn't have to go at all on the plane, non of us had problems with our ears on take off or landing, no crying, no whining....considerably better than most days at home! :)

when we landed in London at the end of the ramp there was a cart just sitting there, someone had left it...... we wouldn't have made it through customs without it! also because we had kids, one customs agent put us right in the front of the line (the gigantic 2 hour line!). we got through customs, got our bags, loaded them on our cart (which proved to be quite challenging this time around-one less pair of hands, tired, excited, stressed, wanting to see daddy, having to go potty, etc.)

then we saw him...

blake's face lit up like you wouldn't believe, adam practically jumped out of the stroller (he would have if he wasn't strapped in) and it was all i could do not to just drop everything on the ground and go running for him myself!

over all the trip went really well! i don't want to have to do it again for a long time, but i was pleasantly surprised by how well it went!

i could not, however, have done it without my mom (and dad through security in seattle!)... she helped so much and i am so grateful that she came with me!

now on to exploring London....