We survived another 36ish hour world crossing back to the desert, sunshine, and heat.
After 31 days of rain in Anchorage the sunshine is feeling pretty good. And yes, I know, the sun came out the day after we left. But according to my monitor it looks rainy again.
The boys were great even though they did have to sit next to a stranger (taking turns) on one flight. We only had one serious melt down and it was Zach of all people. On our second flight he was too engrossed with non-stop movies to sleep. He decided to save that until the last 1.5 hrs. of the flight. When it came time to exit he REFUSED to exit the plane and then the flight attendants had to get involved because I didn't have enough arms. After some time I coaxed him through the Amsterdam airport to the kids', thankfully recently remodeled, play area. There they had a huge ottoman that became his bed while G and E burnt off some energy.
I tried something new this trip that kept the boys in line. I told them we were a train and Graham was the engineer in his stroller, Ethan grabbed onto the leash from my roller suit case, and Zach was the caboose. It worked about 90% of the time. It kept them close to me and from wandering into other peoples paths. Also Zach was a huge help watching G and all our stuff so that I didn't have to haul the entire crew in and out of the bathrooms.
On the last flight the boys got non-stop compliments from the staff and surrounding passengers on how well behaved they were. It helped that by that point they were so tired they didn't have any energy to fight. E seemed to have gotten all his punches out of his system by then. Thank goodness because the last flight had us sitting two by two with G and I in front of Z and E. When I learned of this arrangement I had my doubts it would work as they generally can't sit next to each other with out problems. But once again fervent prayers from Chris, myself, and many friends and family were answered.
After 31 days of rain in Anchorage the sunshine is feeling pretty good. And yes, I know, the sun came out the day after we left. But according to my monitor it looks rainy again.
The boys were great even though they did have to sit next to a stranger (taking turns) on one flight. We only had one serious melt down and it was Zach of all people. On our second flight he was too engrossed with non-stop movies to sleep. He decided to save that until the last 1.5 hrs. of the flight. When it came time to exit he REFUSED to exit the plane and then the flight attendants had to get involved because I didn't have enough arms. After some time I coaxed him through the Amsterdam airport to the kids', thankfully recently remodeled, play area. There they had a huge ottoman that became his bed while G and E burnt off some energy.
I tried something new this trip that kept the boys in line. I told them we were a train and Graham was the engineer in his stroller, Ethan grabbed onto the leash from my roller suit case, and Zach was the caboose. It worked about 90% of the time. It kept them close to me and from wandering into other peoples paths. Also Zach was a huge help watching G and all our stuff so that I didn't have to haul the entire crew in and out of the bathrooms.
On the last flight the boys got non-stop compliments from the staff and surrounding passengers on how well behaved they were. It helped that by that point they were so tired they didn't have any energy to fight. E seemed to have gotten all his punches out of his system by then. Thank goodness because the last flight had us sitting two by two with G and I in front of Z and E. When I learned of this arrangement I had my doubts it would work as they generally can't sit next to each other with out problems. But once again fervent prayers from Chris, myself, and many friends and family were answered.
So glad you made it home safely. I give you many many cuddos.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad everything went well. We miss you already. Fortunatly for us your monitor is wrong and we have had 3 gorgeous days in a row. Mark, Hunter, and I wrode the Indian to Girdwood today and had a great time. Give everyone loves from us.
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