Traveling...

So we went to Budapest for the weekend and had a wonderful time. (That will be the next post.) Then we had to come back. Because our evening flight was one of the most challenging we've encountered- I will share it with you.

We made it to the Budapest airport with loads of time. (Which is not the usual scenario.) However, I got out of one taxi in time to see Jake and Shelby behaving VERY horribly with each other. (So I had to take them both aside and threatened them... we are representing the USA here people! We need to act appropriately.)

We flew on Ryanair and had all 4 pieces of luggage checked without incident (just some shuffling needed). We got everyone checked in- all 9 people (we took Kailey's friend with us) and didn't lose any people or carry ons. Next, we went through passport control and the kids got their treats for the plane. Then we sat and waited to board the plane. There weren't nearly enough chairs so we had a nice little area on the floor. Emery had spent all her money (a 5er) on chocolate (she comes by it naturally) and felt like she needed more, "Mom is there anything I can buy for a 1-er?" (The Irish call a 5 euro bill a fiver and a 10 euro bill a tener- so it was natural for her 4 year old brain to come to this conclusion.)

We were in the priority queue and made it outside to the almost completely full bus to take us out to our plane. (This is important because you do not have designated seating on Ryanair.) Then we waited. We could see our plane from the bus. We could walk to the plane in under a minute. We waited... and waited... and waited... I am pretty sure that we were on that bus for a good 30 minutes. It's hard to be positive when you're tired and your kids are tired and everyone around you is tired. However, I think the kids did really well. Of course, to help them look at this from a different angle- I told Shelby and Jake about the cattle cars that the Nazis put the Jews in to take them to the work camps. It helped. Madison meanwhile wanted to flit back and forth between Danny and I. She will be two next month. She is a little thing- but when I hold her I realize that she is getting HEAVY! Finally we made it to the plane and can see and smell smoke (we think they burned the sandwiches!). However, the real reason we waited was because one of the passengers on the incoming flight became very ill and an ambulance came to collect him/her. (Hope he/she is okay.)

We get situated. Kailey, Kirsten and Claire are in our first row of seats (and Emery is hacked because it is SO unfair that Claire gets to sit by Kirsten). Jake, Emery and Shelby are in the second row. Danny, Madison and I are the third row. I am by the window- Danny is in the aisle seat. Danny stows the luggage. By this time, it is about 8:00p.m. Irish time. Emery has decided that she does NOT want to sit with Jake and Shelby. She wants to sit with us. "It's not fair that Madi gets to sit with you. Why can't Madi sit on mommy's lap and I can sit in between you?" We try to convince her that she is in a great spot where she is. We open her m&ms so she can enjoy their chocolaty goodness. It doesn't help. So, Emery comes back and sits with us. Things are good for a few minutes. We are almost ready to take off. Sweet Emery is sharing her m&ms with Madi- who is eating them as fast as possible. I make her wait to eat more (as her mouth is full) and Madison gets ticked. She starts to spit out some of the m&ms and I don't have any wipes. They are in one of the big carry on suitcases above our heads. So, Danny does something completely illegal. He stands up, opens the bulkhead, grabs the wipes and sits down- but NOT before one of the male flight attendants comes to bust him. We point at the baby and he understands (he isn't happy about it however).

We clean up Madison and hope she is tired enough that she will fall asleep. She's tired- but not that tired. We get up into the air and then it's time to distribute electronic devices. Emery and Shelby both want the video ipod to watch different things. Jake wants a computer as does Kailey and Kirsten. Danny again gets up and starts handing out all the stuff. However, we have not done our pre-flight homework. We didn't charge the laptops. We didn't charge the video ipod. We didn't check to see if the kids had charged their DS's. Within minutes- Shelby's ipod is out of juice. Not much later, Jake can no longer use the laptop as the battery is dead. Jake has also played his DS quite a bit on this trip and it has no battery life left. The worst part is that Jake only brought one book and he already finished it! So, for the rest of the flight we heard, "I'm BORED!" Poor Jake- it was a LONG 3 hour flight for him. Shelby did a bit better as she had a magazine to read. I think that Danny was up and down as much as the flight attendants. (He got a few nasty looks from one of the stewards.) At one point, Danny and I looked at each other and agreed that we don't want to go anywhere else with these people for a while. (At least not until April...)

Thankfully, Emery fell asleep about an hour into the flight. Madi did not, but she wasn't horrible. She finally fell asleep when there was about 45 minutes left of the flight. Landing is always a challenge when the kids have been asleep. They have to be sitting up in their seat when we land. Em wasn't happy about it and just kind of whimpered and whined. Madi stayed asleep. Kailey and Jake helped Emery off of the plane (cry whining the whole way) and down the stairs. I carried Madi while Danny made sure that all of the carry on luggage was taken care of.

To make the end complete, all Ryanair flights are in the new terminal at the Dublin Airport which is also a LONG walk to both customs and baggage claim. Madi slept through it (which is great- but she is just heavy!) Emery was doing so great during our long walk and not even whining! So I told her how wonderful she was doing and she looked at me and immediately started to cry. Then I got in trouble with everyone else! (Forget positive reinforcement with these people!) Customs was a breeze (sometimes it is good to not be an EU citizen) and we got our luggage no problem! We only needed one taxi to get us home, too! (9 seaters are great.)

No one talks like the Irish. Our taxi driver was great. My favorite part of our drive home was the driver reminisced about the first time he drove. "Dis is de first road I ever drove on. I was turteen. Dare used to be a trottin track at de end of dis road. We had trottin horses. Den me family all went to duh pub. I told meself dat I'm not waitin for dems. So I drove meself home." I asked if his family was worried or upset with him. He said, "No. They knew I could take care of meself."

It's good to be back.