Heading back East

June 20, 2013

Today was the big day.  Cab arrived at 4:30am.  Amazingly, all the kids woke up as we were moving them to the taxi mini van.  With good attitudes mind you!  Zachary was super helpful at the airport, keeping Yannick calm.  We let him stay in his car seat and we just dragged him along the line to check our bags.  We were pretty nervous how today would go, traveling so early, on such long flights.  I cannot say it enough.  They were great!  They did so well.  

Yannick was so very excited about being on an airplane.  His recent obsession with planes pays off for us.  "Highway to the Danger Zone!"  

This kept him occupied until time to board!

Here they are eating their butter and chocolate hagleslaag sandwich.  Yum!  It was a bit chilly when we left, but I still love the unnecessary hoodies up!  

So what is our secret to good kids on the plane?  Very easy: s c r e e n  t i m e!  We started out with a backpack for Yannick and a backpack for Zachary and Wyatt to share.  Toys, books, markers, etc.  That worked for about, oh, 7 minutes.  :)  Actually, Wyatt and Zach did play cards for quite a long time.  But after about two hours, toys were boring, snacks were over, and it was time to up our game.  

Yes, that is our two year old playing games on the iphone.

Big boys taking turns with the gameboy and the ipad.  Sweet sweet electronics!

Zachary finally fell asleep at one point and stayed asleep for about an hour.  We were shocked that Yannick had not fallen asleep yet...and then he did...during descent.  So Art had to carry a sleeping Yannick out of the plane, and through the airport, where he woke up at our next gate, after less than an hour nap.  

We had a layover in Denver, which I was excited about because I knew they had those long moving sidewalks  which the boys would enjoy.  And i was right, they DID enjoy it!  

This was before he had his temper tantrum, and sat down on the moving sidewalk, refusing to "go", but not being able to stop the sidewalk from moving.  I seriously had to laugh out loud!

Zachary and Wyatt enjoying their ride.

Then all of a sudden it was time to board the next flight.  This time both Wyatt and Yannick wanted to sit with Art, and I sat with just Zachary (and someone else at the window).  After playing with toys, reading, and getting more snacks, they were ready for more screen time.  This time, it was so quiet and easy, that Art fell asleep on the plane!!  Lucky him.

As we got to Dulles, all the good attitudes and behavior broke down.  We should have realized that Wyatt was super tired, and been more kind.  But we didn't until it was too late.  He had a major major meltdown.  But we somehow got all our luggage, all 3 carseats, and into Paul's van without major incidence.  Both Yannick and Wyatt fell asleep on the way to Opa and Oma's and stayed asleep in the van while we unloaded and said hello to everyone.  

Then it was time for food and for swimming!  Once the sun starts to go, the water is plenty chilly - as I knew because I was the one in the pool with the boys this evening, while Art stayed on the deck chatting with his family. 

I think this is Paul messing with the camera, while Art enjoys his borrel.

We got to meet baby Eli for the first time, which was wonderful.  And so fun to see Janneke as a mom!

We had dinner pool side and the boys reconnected with their cousins.  We thought all three boys would sleep with us the first night until they got used to their cousins again, but Zachary was distraught.  He wanted to sleep with them the first night!  So we let him.  By the time we went to bed, we were exhausted!

It is wonderful to be here!