Time Travel

It was around 5 am by the time we made it back to the hotel. We decided we were really going to push it and only allow ourselves about an hour at the airport to make it through security and to the gate. We knew exactly where we were going and were pretty certain an hour would be plenty of time. We all got another hour and half of sleep before we loaded up a hotel cart with our carry ons and headed down to catch the shuttle. Of course, since we were in somewhat of a hurry, the shuttle wasn't scheduled to make a run for another 15 min. But the shuttle driver was there. I talked the front desk into asking him if he would go ahead and take us now if we threw in a tip. Thankfully, he obliged! When we arrived at the airport the skycap was waiting right where the shuttle dropped us off! He carted our stuff to the security check point line so we only had to look like crazy people carrying far too many bags from security, to the gate! Which luckily wasn't far! We got through security only having my bag of snacks searched. I guess all the baby food was very suspicious?

We made it to our gate in plenty of time! We actually had to sit and wait for awhile. But of course the kids decided they needed to use the restroom. This was when they finally decided to start boarding the plane. Needless to say, we were once again 'those' people getting on last. But thanks to the four legged furry passenger who apparently went into heat, I didn't feel too bad about it. Once they got her taken care of, we had all been settled in for a bit. On top of that, Tracker and his big blue eyes and smiling face had won the stewardess over the second we walked onto the plane. I was extremely happy to see we were going to have MUCH more room on this plane than the last! The first leg of the flight was just over 10 hours. We would be flying to Japan first, have a layover, then to Korea. Though we had more room, it started out exactly the same. Carter played with the iPad, Addley people watched and colored, Tracker went to sleep and the stewardess served food and drinks and kept me up! ;) Although I wasn't able to get any sleep on the flight, it went amazingly well! All the kids (and Austin ;)) got some sleep and were happy the entire flight.

Tracker 

Gaming it up.

Playing!

What a 10 hour flight can do to a guys hair!

Catching flies!

We flew out of Seattle around 9 am on Tuesday morning and arrived in Japan around 11 am Wed. morning! Since we crossed the international dateline, we never experienced that Tuesday night. Tracker and I were on the bright side of the plane the entire flight. We had about a two hour layover in Japan where half the plane got off. The weather was beautiful  and it it felt great to get some fresh air and let Tracker run around for awhile. I'm sure the kids felt great to change their clothes too. I'm so glad I packed them each an outfit! I just wish I would have packed myself one! It's amazing how much food kids can get on themselves and you! The flight from Japan to Korea was just over 3 hours and surprisingly, went very quickly!

The only Picture I got of Japan. We weren't allowed to take pictures off the plane.

When we got to Korea it was around 5 pm. We got off the plane and straight onto a bus. We didn't go far, but it took about an hour to get to a small airbase where we sat through a 30 min briefing on what would happen next. (very unnecessary) After the briefing, we waited at baggage claim for what seemed like hours for our luggage to show up. (It was probably another 30 min or so) The baggage carts here were smaller, and we ended up with 5 carts. (I assure you, when we leave Korea, we will NOT be taking even 1/2 the luggage we came with!) Everyone was tired and had all just made the same trip and where not the least bit interested in helping the crazy people with all the kids and bags. Luckily getting through customs was a breeze. The hard part was getting all five of our carts to the next bus and packed under it. I still don't know how Austin managed to get all of our bags under that bus, but he did an amazing job! By this time it was dark out and we had a little over an hour...I think....bus ride to our final destination. We all passed out on the bus. It absolutely was not possible to stay awake, I tried my hardest! When we arrived at our new base, USAG Yongsan, we had to go into another briefing. By this time it was 10 pm, my patience was completely gone, and the fact the the Army was making my family sit through briefings, in a room that was FREEZING, when we had been traveling for two days, was not sitting well! It was obvious they were not thinking of families when working out the logistics of the evening. We were the only family with children. This briefing took a little over an hour. After, we unloaded our bags into a huge pile off the bus. The kids and I waited with the bags while Austin walked across the parking lot to the hotel to see about getting a cart. There was only one cart available and it took three trips to get all our bags to the hotel. By the time we got checked in there were two more carts, so we loaded them up, took two different elevators up to our room, all got showers, and passed OUT!!!

Pretty much sums it up! 

I have to brag. Our kids are amazing! Through 40+ hours of traveling with very little sleep, in an extremely overwhelming situation....there were zero fits, no whining (from them, I may have whined just a bit!), no acting up, they did exactly what we asked of them, when we asked them to, and behaved better than many of the adults who we were traveling with. I don't know how we got so lucky, but I know we are extremely blessed, and could not be more proud of all three of them! They are AMAZING!