It gets you a relatively good (as good as 10 hours can be in a plane with two toddlers) plane trip home. As I sit typing this, I can't believe my month home has come and gone. It was a whirl wind trip back home (only planned about 3 weeks before we left), and it seemed like it went just as quick. Funny how time sometimes seems to go so quickly and other times it seems to go so slow.
After we made it in from our very LONG plane ride into Kansas, we settled in just fine. The kids did really good with the jet lag. We were all so tired from being up the whole trip, that we all just went to sleep and pretty much after the first night slept all night. We enjoyed Easter at home with Mom and Dad, and taking it easy watching movies.
That next week the kids and I spent time being home. We went to church on Wednesday, played outside, and just had fun at home. Right after that we went to my in-law's house. We stayed for a few days and made it back home in time for a Mother Daughter Banquet. It was a lot of fun. Genevieve had a good time, and it was nice to have both my Mom and my husband's Mom there.
Opahoma (Oklahoma) came next. We went down for the snake derby they have there every year. This event use to be for my Grams and her sisters to get together every year. They would all come in, and they would celebrate their birthdays and catch up. Later this time became a time for the sisters and the women of their families (daughters, daughter-in-laws) to get together as well. Even with Grams passing away, they still meet every year for this event.
It was a little bitter sweet to be down there again. I haven't been down there since we went to Grams' funeral. Since then all the houses have been sold. We drove by to see them, and they have really fixed them up. That was what kind of got to me. They look great, but it isn't Grams' home anymore. It's been 7 years (in October) since she passed away, and most days it seems like so much longer. On a few days it seems like it couldn't have been that long ago.
At first Genevieve didn't want to go to Opahoma (her word). I asked her why, and she said, "Momma, we can't go to Opahoma. They have snakes!" I made sure she stayed away from the snake cages at the derby so she wouldn't have to worry about Oklahoma and the snakes that are there.
In my last days home, I made a trip out to Hays to see my best friend from High School, Lacy. We met up there before our move, and I didn't know when I'd see her again. We coordinated one of her days off and made the trip there. It was a nice lunch with a walk around a few stores. The time went so fast, and it was hard to believe it was time to leave again.
Our trip back to Germany went pretty good. We flew in and out of Wichita. I asked the man at the counter for a Gate Pass so Dad could help me back to the gate. We hung out outside the security area until about 40 mins before the flight. We made it back to the gate just in time to board the plane. I was told later on the phone that as we were headed back, Samuel started to wave at Dad as we went down the hall to the plane.
When we made it to DFW, I was very happy to see that we did not need to change terminals. We just walked down the termial and found a McDonalds. I asked them to give me their biggest order of nuggest they had (20 pieces). We made it down to the USO, and we sat in the room long enough for me to call my husband and let him know we had made it okay, and that everything was still running on time. The lady at the USO gave us a couple of bottles of juice and water. We also picked up some snacks that were there before heading to the gate.
We weren't at the gate long before someone from the airline came over to see if we were flying to Frankfurt. She let me know they were going to board families with small children, and that I could go to the ticket counter now. We gathered up all our stuff and headed that way. A really nice German man helped me pick up the car seat with Samuel in it to get it down the isles. He placed it in the seat and made sure everything was fine before leaving to help with his own family. The kids took a nap long enough for me to eat dinner and have a little quiet before they were up and ready to go. After they were up, there were many people on the plane that helped me out. They would hold Samuel, play with Genevieve, watch them when either I or Genevieve had to use the bathroom, etc. Samuel really liked the male flight attendant, Eddie. Eddie would take Samuel around the airplane and let him "help" with things. Even though the kids got restless at the end of the flight, it was much better than the flight there. That many hours alone with the kids make for a long day.
It was great to get home, and we were all happy to see Daddy. We have all pretty much adjusted to the time change again. Now that I am home again I can start to blog a bit more again. :p
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