The report of the Bomb's flight to America from Hungary

Just a few quick airport notes before I get back to my 115 new messages in gmail...sigh.

Our dear friend, Rachel, took the bulk of our luggage the night before along with Avot to sleep at her house so Rachel could drive the stuff out the airport to meet us in the morning.  Rachel is an amazing friend :).

I got up earlier than the alarm, which was set for 5:15 am, and walked around, teary-eyed.  The morning was the usual perfect hungarian morning,...a little misty, birdsong everywhere, quiet, calm,...beautiful and peaceful.  I took a bunch of pictures, but they are in the camera with Q-dawg, so hopefully I will post them later.  The peace and the people and the land are the three things I will miss the most here.  The peace was palpable.  I kept asking my darling husband if there was anyway to package up that peace and calm and bring in home with us...sigh.

The Goob, Liliputian, Chugger-dude, Pipalicious, Spooner and I got ready to go with Q-dawg's help, and the 7 of us hustled off for a last dash to the busz. :)  Navigating public transportation, snuggling with kids, listening to the hungarian in a low murmur around me, seeing the red roofs nestled in the green hills flashing by, talking to Q-dawg...sigh again :).  I know that I feel peace about the change, but to bid farewell, even temporarily, has brought to the surface many deep emotions in my heart.  I love this place.

We made it in time to the airport, with Rachel bringing our good buddy Aiden for one last hug for everyone for now.  Q-dawg made sure we made it up to the counter, and he was off!

Let the newest adventure begin!  Here are the highlights...and I am not going to preview it before posting (remember those 115 emails?) so I hope this makes sense!
--We got through security, put our bags on, made it through, and then saw that Pipalicious's backpack was in the "naughty" zone.  After getting all our other luggage off, the kids patiently waited while I watched the security people check out the bag.  Pipalicious had her little sledge hammer in her pack, probably her favorite Christmas present :(.  A definite no-go.

--I consoled Pipalicious, got to the side for a head-count/baggage-count: failed. All the kids were there, but we were missing a piece of luggage already.  I told the security people that, and they found it...outside the security place where we had originally got it off of the dolly.  No less than five security people encircled it, some facing out, some facing in.  Nice, Mary. :)

The security people walked it through with me in tow (the kids were still sitting in the far end of the room, but I could stand on tippy-toe and see them.  They put the bag on the scanner, and then I had to do the ultra-invasive pat-down, even though I had nothing metallic on my body anywhere,...just because I had left the suitcase behind.  I know, security reasons.  Sigh.  All the while, I watched my awesome kids in the distance being their wonderful selves, patiently waiting.  They were sweet.  After I finally joined them, they suggested we pray.  Good idea!  We made it to our gate before our flight just long enough for me to change Spooner's diaper.  Whew!

--We flew from Hungary to Poland with only wonderful flight attendants and no memories...a good thing while flying with five kids.

--Flight from Poland to Chicago: surprisingly good, except for an initial mix-up that ended up depriving a woman of her window seat.  I still feel bad about that one. (I thought I had certain seats, traded them with someone else, and had accidentally traded that woman's away.  I tried to fix it by giving them other seats so the woman could have it, but I had other people saying, "Just let the lady sit by her kids!" to the poor woman, so she insisted on taking the middle seat on the far side :S...argh.)

I met a woman born in Poland who had lived in America for 26 years and who was just returning after nursing her father through the final stages of cancer and had just watched him pass away.  She was so darling!  We had exchanged so many words and so much emotion even before we knew each other's names!  In her conversation and another with the gentleman in front of me, I was reassured of the goodness of people as they both mentioned God and heaven and Jesus Christ as important figures in their lives.  Loved it. Anyway, back the Deedee (for that was her name), she had helped right up front by holding sleeping Spooner, who had passed out after fussing all through waiting in long lines to get on.  Wonder baby!  She took him from me after saying, with her darling Polish accent, "I have 3 boys of my own.  I know how to do this!"  She helped hold him off and on throughout the flight whenever I had been walking with him for a while.  Most times, it was just good to be up and holding him so I could stretch, but she seemed to know the perfect time to step in and take him for a while.

The kids once again enjoyed the blessed endless stream of mind-numbing entertainment that comes with the over-seas, 9 hour flights.  I enjoyed it too, for it left me free to think, read, snuggle with Spooner, and even sleep a bit.  Technology definitely has its up-sides:)!

The best part of this leg is this:  after getting off, Deedee apparently adopted us, and, after getting a go-cart for the entire group to drive us to immigration, followed us through until our paths had to part.  She was like a mother hen, steering us all over, and I didn't mind in the least.  It was so comforting and loving...until we met the Italian.  Apparently, he didn't want to stand in a long line, and was darling, in his insistent Italian way, as he tried to convince my new Polish guardian that he could cut in line in front of us.  "Here is a line, there is a line, everywhere there is a line..." he said, as she berated him up and down in her darling Polish accent.  If I didn't feel so awkward for the pointlessness of the contention, it would have been more enjoyable at the time :).

Needless to say, with Deedee's loving care, we made it through that point and, when the Italian ended up being behind us in the next line and kept complaining, she shut him up with, "See here, mister.  I am just trying to help this woman who is traveling by herself with her five children."  He was quiet.

--Moment of tears: when the security man at the customs checking point getting into the next leg of our journey told me, "your tickets are for tomorrow..." (21 hour layover)  "...and the airport closes at midnight.  You can't be here."  As I walked away, tears coursing down my cheeks, kids in tow asking what was the matter, me telling them it would be fine, I knew it would be fine...eventually :).  I just didn't know what the next step toward that "fine" was at the moment.  With a quick prayer in my heart, I had a momentary glimpse into my memory of when I had stood in the streets of Budapest on a rainy night, no money, pregnant, and with 6 kids in tow...and felt the love of my Heavenly Father telling me, "It's alright."  I knew then, and I know now that, while life is not meant to be perfect, those things that refine us don't have to define us.  This too shall pass...it just hurts in the moment :).

Thoughts flashed through my mind as I got the kids settled on a bench with all our heavy carry-ons, grabbed fussy Spooner, and headed off to find possible solutions: call cousin somehow, whom I haven't spoken with for 20 years...not knowing the phone number or really having a phone; find and pay for a hotel; go to the desk to find out if there was some area of the airport that stayed open, knowing that people had to stay overnight at the airport all along.  When I reached the counter top of American Airlines, they told me that, because I was ticketed already, I could just stay there in the lobby.  Awesome!

It was a long night of trying to stay awake while the kids slept on the floor behind a bench on the blankets we had brought.  It was reassuring that when I did doze off while they were all sleeping, I was right next to where the TSA checks baggage through.  Here is a little of what I wrote on my facebook timeline to fast forward and get me back to my emails:
"Okay, szeretem ezt a face-book! I LOVE facebook! I felt like I was able to wake up and celebrate my születésnapot with so many dear, kedves friends from America és Magyarorszag...what a wonderful feeling. Thank you so much to everyone for your love, and to those of you who, like me, think, "Oh! I should post a 'happy birthday'!" and quickly forget, thanks for your love, too .

I spent the day in Chicago (21 hour layover) sleeping on the floor under the watchful eye of the TSA (yes, they are good for something), eating delicious bagels at the highly overpriced stand in the airport (and it was worth every penny), and getting a tökéletes ajándék, a perfect gift from my darling daughter Tova. She was not with me, but had sent it with Drew: a small painting of a beautiful Hungarian house.

I then was welcomed at the airport by some of the most darling, wonderful people on earth. Really, seeing the dear people I missed are the only thing that brings me joy being in the States right now...(not even the fry sauce can compare, eh,Zsuzsanna Bajó ?) People are truly the most wonderful parts of life !

To top it all off, dear Quinn sent me some flowers that were here in the table, waiting for me. Thanks for celebrating with me. "

--All in all, I was surrounded by good people (like the darling German couple who sat behind us for the last leg of our flight, who worked at the Freiburg temple and were going to Salt Lake for their first time), the kids were safe, and we made all our connections.  

It is good to be with family again.  A special surprise was that Heidi and her kids were here, whom we haven't seen in so long.  Unfortunately, I passed out on the couch around 8 pm so didn't get as much time with her for now as I want, but hopefully will see more of her and the others in the near future.  So many good people...so little time :).

Third stage of the journey to Hungary

We got to Dublin, and had to disembark up some escalators, stairs, or an elevator.  When I got to the top, I found it was a one way path around through security again even though we were leaving through the same airline and same "wing" of the airport.  Crazy Irish.  First, Papaya went crazy when I went ahead to check out where we needed to go (no way I was taking that tired bunch anywhere they didn't have to go!).  I went back, brought her with me, found out we didn't have to exit through customs, but had to go through a check-point where they scanned our tickets again.  All but three scanned in (apparently either the scanner or the tickets were not working too well), so I had to go back and get those three reprinted.  She noticed that the seats were all scattered (nice job, someone :)...Papaya was seated by herself...), so she put those three together.  Later I realized that I should have asked her to move all of us together, but oh well.

By the time I got back around the corner, Lek was on the ground, ready to sleep. (He had done the man's share of the job lugging equipment around the airport without my asking him too...)  The kids all patiently put up with another security check, tiredly waiting on benches for me to finish loading things up.  We made our way through the terminal, at one point dropping my sweater, dragging it behind me and catching scarves on the racks as we skirted some stores.

The Goob finally getting some sleep...he got about four hours at the airport

...as did Lek.

This can't be comfortable.

Of course, Papaya only slept after much struggle...Lek wandered around with her in a stroller while I napped

I just thought this was precious.  Papaya insisted on dragging her bag all the way through the airports and on the planes.  The jammies were a gift from Grandma and Grandpa Buchanan to keep them warm on the plane...Papaya didn't change out of it very often.

Liliputian, modeling one of our handy-dandy wheeled carry-ons in action--loaded to capacity

I always go for the option of the elevator, but the kids like the escalator. Normally, this is alright, but this time Chugger-dude ended up falling, losing a bunch of books all over the escalator, but Liliputian came to his rescue.   What a wonderful sister.

We had some Irish take pictures of us, after commenting over and over about how many kids we had.  The same two people walked past us three times and took pictures each time.  Funny.  I even posed for them.

The kids did a good job playing for 7 hours.  We all were glad for the respite and sleep.  With their food, toys, and Charla's games, we were set.

At this point, I let them pick on to get out to work on...we were out of order at that point :)...

Hava enjoying the activities sent by Aunt Charla--a Godsend!

Our gate was deserted...as was pretty much the whole corridor next to us, and it was big and open.  The next best feature?  A huge ramp next to us that the kids would go up and run or "heelie" down.  It was grand, and a marvelous way to stretch their legs.

I was glad for all the blankets and jackets we brought...it made for better sleeping :).

When the time came to go, we were all ready to go.  I had re-packed and organized our carry-ons efficiently, and the kids were all up and ready to go on.  Well, they didn't allow for as much loading time, so our "pre-boarding window" was very small apparently.  I got up to the desk quickly, had to go through the same "passport check" and found out that Lek's ticket was not printed up right...he couldn't get on!  What?!  How is this possible?  "Are you sure that this isn't for the baby?  Are you sure she is two?" (Did I pay for her ticket?!)  So we waited while she tried to get help and everyone else started boarding.  While we were waiting, and I was digging for any kind of verification I could, Lek offered to take my extra baggage off me because, at that point, Papaya was done and wanted to go on, so I had to hold her.  By the time they just said, "Go ahead and start loading,...we'll figure this out," everyone else was pushing past to board. 

We waited in line (they had already taken our stroller), and as we were getting into the plane I hear a loud, "I cannot believe how much luggage people are bringing on!"  Then, I was told in a very curt way, that there was no way Lek was going to come on with all his luggage.  He was carrying Papaya's two blankets, the carry-on I had given him so I could carry the baby, his own backpack, her diaper bag...quite a mound, but, really, only one of them was going in the overhead.  When I tried to explain this to the lady, she was adamant that I was violating their carry-on alllowance.

"I don't know what you are accustomed to with your international flight, but you are not entitled to the same allotment of carry-ons that you were for the trans-Atlantic flight."

Argh!!! I have nine people and she is telling me I cannot have five pieces of carry ons!

Yes, apparently so.  She was unbending.  They went through his stuff and checked the carry-on and his backpack that had his stuff for keeping entertained and fed on the plane.  "Most of the stuff is for the baby," a man told the stewardess.  I could have told her that!  I was so mad, upset and frazzled at that point, because she was wrong and my poor Lek was suffering for it!  Mother-bear instincts combined with the huge sense of injustice (not to mention her lack of listening) all kicked in.  I was MAD!...and she knew it.

Later she came to try and soothe things, but I have relived those moments in my mind over and over, until I finally tried to adopt Elder Uchtdorf's advice, "Stop it."  It worked for the most part, but I still have a residual feeling of ache where I feel that I let down my awesome son.

Good points of the flight:  they arranged our highly scattered seats (only two of us would have been sitting side-by-side, and four more were staggered with one sitting behind another.  The other stewardesses, while I was having it out with the lady up front, had arranged them so they took up a row of six and were able to be by each other...except for Lek.  I think he was alright with that, as I did "battle" with Papaya for the last grueling flight.  Pipalicious sweetly slept beside me for the whole flight.  I couldn't compete for Papaya's attention with the movie for the little baby going on the seat in front of us, but fortunately they didn't mind her standing up and peering at it over the seat.

At that point, I just wanted to cry.  Papaya would go between watching the movie and going crazy, but the other kids were angels, fortunately.

We finally disembarked, only to find there was not stroller at the end of the ramp.  I kept insisting to the stewardess that I didn't want or need her help...I was not the most forgiving person at that point, unfortunately.  Anyway, no stroller, a wired baby, a long, slow line through passports with men trying to slyly pass in front of me on the side. (I finally planted myself squarely across their "lane" so it wouldn't happen again.)  Papaya was insane, noisy and protesting, wanting to hold her little grocery bag (that was stuffed with stuff at this point and dropping all over), and finally consenting to be taken onto my shoulders. 

I just kept saying, "Daddy is on the other side, guys!  Just a few more minutes!"

Well, apparently, he had to wait outside the baggage claim area.  Awesome :).  I covered this in the other post, so I won't go into many more details, but here is the triumphant picture of us all (and every piece of luggage, miraculously enough) in Hungary with Q-dawg at the end.

Q-dawg took Avot, the three little girls and as much luggage as he could cram into his little car on the first trip, Lek and Lily and more luggage the second time, and then the Goob, Chugger-dude and I for the last trip.  The three of us had a great time in the airport.  We found another ramp (go figure) in a relatively isolated hall where the boys would go to the top, wait for my discreet signal to "go" or "stop," and then race down the ramp: Chugger-dude on an airport cart and the Goob on his heelies.  By the end, they had convinced me to let them try to push each other down...convinced that they could stop the cart before it (and the passenger) crashed into the wall at the bottom.

They were pretty good...Chugger-dude only had to bail once.   (Q-dawg has a video of them doing it again outside while we were waiting for him to come.)

We made it!

Second leg of the journey to Hungary

"We have an hour and seven minutes to go to our Dublin destination.  It's currently 47 degrees outside, just south of Iceland..." and mom had a few minutes to catch up on the journey to date.

Chugger-dude is a little ladies charmer.  He got the stewardess to close the bathroom door for me on our over-seas flight, since the light was shining right on the finally sleeping Papaya (two doses of Melatonin later...it's "all-natural," right :)?).  She was "super-wired," with only one nap at the beginning of the flight to Chicago until then, although Lek almost put her to sleep during the Chicago lay-over doing laps.

Well, we got to Chicago alright.  We disembarked and counted noses.  The stroller was waiting for us, thank goodness, and we got loaded up.  About 20 yards down, I realized I had left my sweater behind, so went back to see if they had picked it up.  As the stewardess went back onto the plane to look for it, I waited near the flight crew--pilot, etc.  They said to me, "So this is the lady with the family that was the talk of the flight."  "I hope it wasn't complaints you heard," I said, with a smile on my face, knowing the kids had been really great.  "No, not at all," they said back with a smile.  We talked a little about our journey plans, and they wished us luck.  It was nice...and they found my sweater.

When we stepped off the airplane in Chicago, Pipalicious commented, "They still talk like we do?!"
The kids had waited patiently where I had left them not far away, and we quickly formed up into an organized walking group...otherwise we formed a big blob and tended to spread out to take over the walkway, with jostling and pushing.  I went first, with Liliputian and Pipalicious right behind me, side by side.  They were followed (at least three feet behind, I told the boys) by an over-eager Goob and Chugger-dude, with Avot and Hava behind them.  Lek pushing Papaya in the stroller brought up the rear, making sure we were all accounted for.  They were tired, hungry, and disoriented.  We passed by a bunch of yummy restaurants, but I was hopeful that there would be some in the international wing of the airport.  After a long look at the map (my tired brain was too bamboozled to do anything but focus on direction and whether or not everything and everyone was with us), I discovered that the international wing was on the far side of the airport.  Sweet.

Since I didn't know how long everything would take, we headed out to get there, and then, I told the kids, we would get something to eat.  They were sweet and followed well. We kept stopping, as I didn't want to get stuck somewhere, going through extra security checks or accidentally leaving the airport.  I asked lots of people for help.  I was too over-stimulated to want to see anyone's looks when watching us, so most of the time, in the brief glances upward, I caught up-raised eyebrows, irritation, or indulgent smiles.  A couple times I saw people do double takes as they saw the line of yellow-matching shirts stretch out behind me.  I bet the best perspective would have been Lek's end of the view...after we had all passed :).

At one point we had to take a transit shuttle to the far wing.  A nice black man tried to get my kids to go on, since it was leaving, but they knew better and waited for me to confirm that was where we wanted to go.  I asked him specifically about if it took us to "M"...again, I had to be sure!  I couldn't get all this momentum going in the wrong direction without wasting energy and trust :).  We got on, for a blessed moment of riding amidst all the walking, and the little girls were corralled into the corner so they wouldn't wander off.  The Goob and Liliputian were grateful for the break from carrying their heavy backpacks (they didn't complain after I told them that, if they were too heavy, we would just take their toys out).  Lek continued to be super-porter, always willing to take on other people's loads, and Avot continued with an endless stream of stories.  Blessings!

At one point, Pipalicious started going up an escalator at the direction of her siblings, only to find out the rest of us were still undecided at the bottom about whether to take the elevator or the escalator.  She hurried back down, panicky that she was going to get lost, and she stayed right by my side for the rest of the time.  It was very unsettling for her, poor dear, and she was in tears.

We next found our way to customs, and were told that we had to organize our boarding passes with our passports, and that everyone "who was old enough" had to carry their own passports.  Hmmm...that took me some thought.  In my mind, none of them were, since that carried with it the responsibility of not losing it, and I didn't want anyone else to have that responsibility.  What age did they mean?!  I gave it to Chugger-dude and older, organized them youngest to oldest, taking the three little girls with me, and told the older ones, "You lose it, you don't get to Hungary!"  I went through with the girls, and then tried to wait a little further on to the side, and a woman chided, "You can't wait there!"

"But I have 6 other kids coming through!" I protested.

"Six?  Okay, go ahead and wait there."  (I actually only had five, but didn't have the presence of mind to actually calculate or count...maybe Isaak was back there with them :)?)  And, if she was like everyone else, she wasn't going to take the time to actually count.

Anxiously, I watched them all go through, and then it was time for another security check...sweet.  I deliberately picked the longest line, thinking to be less inconvenient to people, but that same "helpful" lady insisted I take the shortest line.  Sigh.

"What a large family...and so nice!" I heard a woman comment as she went by.  "And look at all their yellow shirts! What a great idea!"

When we got to the front, I started throwing stuff on.  Lek went first, chasing Papaya through with the collapsed stroller, Avot helped catch things on the other side and directed the kids, and I tried to make sure we didn't leave anything or anyone behind.  The man at the metal detector urged me to move faster, telling me to throw my boots on the conveyor belt, leave my watch on, not worry about using the white buckets for all the backpacks (now that I was on my last ones), and hurry through.  I guess he was worrying about all the chaos on the other side.  I am only one woman! :)

At customs, we were caught smuggling.  Yes, I am a smuggler.  In this case, it was not drugs or other illegal substances--it was a tupper-ware container filled with magnetic dress-up dolls.  Apparently, the concentration of magnetism was suspicious.  So, with all of my kids and stuff piled up on a bench on the side, the airport security insisted that I sit and watch him go through the bag.  We still had stuff strewn across the end of the conveyor belt still, but there was enough room for people to get by.  Then the suspicious back-pack (Lek's) was sent back through and cleared.

As we tried to get it all together again, Papaya made a break for it...back through security with, of course, a bottle of shower get.  Nice.   She even paused under the "dividing line," looked back deliberately, smiled her impish smile, and ran to the other side as we implored for her to call back.  I looked helplessly at the security woman next to me, asking what I was to do.  She told me I could go back through the metal detector to get my daughter, and then all three of us--Papaya, me, and the bottle--had to go through screening again.  I threw the bottle on the belt, nudged Papaya back through to the welcoming arms of Lek, and hurried through myself.

Whew.  One more security check down.

Once we were on the other side, my fears were realized.  There weren't really many food options in the international wing.  From the paradise of capitalistic options and free enterprise we were now stuck on the other side of that security system in a world of "chicken salad sandwiches" and tofu.  Okay.  It wasn't quite that bleak, but it wasn't the treat I was hoping it was going to be.

The snack stand options we went with were "Sandwich, chip and drink for $9.00."  Ouch.   And then, even though everyone was "starving," Avot was the only one to finish her meal. (Fortunately, most of them lasted until the next day to feed them then...)  So, we found our gate, and then Lek, Liliputian, Papaya, and the Goob came back  to get 5 combos.  We finally got them, waited in line, and then I discovered my "money bag" only had passports and boarding passes...no money!  Lek raced back for some, Liliputian and the Goob went back too, with the message to send Chugger-dude and Pipalicious back with Lek.  Apparently, they missed that part, because Lek came back and then the other two followed about 2 minutes later.  Ahhhh!  All by themselves!  Scary...Fortunately, the woman who was going to be in front of me said, "You go first.  You need to hurry to your kids."  How did she know?  Were we also the talk of the Chicago airport? :)

We finally got all our food, and the kids used the 2 hour terminal wait to eat and play on the moving walkway just outside our gate.  There were hardly any people there until the end, so they were in no one's way and had a great time.  It was fun to look up and see kid after kid go by.  I had a couple people comment about how nice the kids were, so well-behaved, which was so nice.  The kids particularly liked their heelies.  The kids were truly great the whole time, with no real fighting, the olders stepping in and up and the youngers being peace-makers.  The only problem I really had to deal with was noise, which was just a by-product of our sheer numbers :).

The buddy system was perfect.  I was glad we already had that in place.

Hava, at this point, had decided that she was not shy.  She told everyone who would listen this, tell them she was four, and anything else they would listen to.

We had to "complete passport verification" at the ticket counter in Chicago.  Really?  So we all waited in line again, so she could see each of us.  It was very slow moving, so thank goodness for Lek.  He lined them all up as "robots" and would tell them to move a little and then freeze.  Pipalicious and Hava in particular loved it.

It was worth it.  When I got there, I asked about our seats and discovered that "A,C,D,E,G,K, and H" were all actually together!  We got the back two rows of the plane to ourselves with a seat to spare!  We were able to get on first with the early boarding, with a bunch of helpful stewardesses.  We were by the bathrooms, but I didn't notice any smell, and there was no one behind us to disturb.  Whew.

There were movies galore, with courtesy head-sets... and I was all for it!  Papaya fell asleep to Thomas the Tank Engine, silent mode. (She wouldn't wear the headsets, but loved the movie.)  It was heaven.  I even got a couple hours of sleep, thanks to the awesome neck pillow my mom sent with me.  I got up and walked a bunch, using the excuse of going to check on Chugger-dude and the Goob who were on the far side of the aisle that I could only reach by walking up and around.  Most of the kids got some sleep, although the Goob, Avot, and Lek were awake most of the time, if not all the time.  It was a good flight.  We had to wake up the littles to get off.

First leg of the journey to Hungary

Alright, time to put my notes into the computer of THE JOURNEY.

The day before was frantic, saying goodbye to people, enjoying a yummy pizza lunch from Dave and Charla, getting some cool "airplane" packets from Charla for entertainment (the kids loved them...they got to open a different activity every hour or so, and looked forward to them immensely), putting luggage together for one final time, and trying to savor people around me.  As far as the luggage went, I was so burned out at that point, I made some really silly decisions (like a third blanket for Liliputian over some speakers for our computer), but oh well.  I think I got most everything in that we needed.

We had a fun dinner at IHOP with Mom and Dad Buchanan, did some errands on the way home (like take care of library fines...awesome), and then the older kids watched "The Avengers" while I struggled to finish up the luggage, backpacks, and other odds and ends of getting ready.  I was exhausted, mentally done, and discouraged, worried about all I might forget.

I was able to skype with Q-dawg about midnight...a final huzzah! before leaving, which was nice.  He is so good for me.

The next morning, bright and early (5:30-ish?) I got up and started getting ready.  When I went around to wake up the kids and video record their reactions to this day finally being here, I got the bad news...there were only 5 minutes left on our video camera!  Avot had recharged it just the day before, and, to this day, we have no idea how it drained that much.  Of course, I couldn't find the power cord, but futilely tried to, even while finding last-minute socks, forms, and etc. while trying to get everyone out the door by 7:15.  Thanks to Avot's fabulous egg and toast breakfast and the many helping hands of Mark, Adam, and grandparents, we got off not too far off the mark.  Shara joined us, too, on the way there, and she was a calming influence for a very unsettled pregnant woman on the way to the airport :).

She helped me fill up with gas (of course) on the way to the airport, and then...we were there!

Fortunately, there was hardly anyone at the gate, so we got right to it, us with our mounds of luggage :).  I had forgotten about having all of us sign our passports, so we hurried and did that, and a nice gentleman with United helped us get checked in.  (Online it wouldn't let us print up our own boarding passes for some reason the day before.)  After all my weighing, trying to get it to the pound, they took bag after bag--I guess they were close enough, or they didn't want me going through all the bags to make them work there at the airport.  Either way, whew! The checked bags were on!  We had all those extra hands there again at the airport to help label baggage, move it from one place to another, keep track of kids, and, most importantly, give love and support.

Then, we loaded the kids up with their backpacks, had them pull their own carry-ons, said some tearful goodbyes, and then we were off down the chute...the long line of security stretched before us!  When we got to the front, I asked for the one that was the most out of the way, knowing it would be a while.  We got out all of our gels and liquids (I didn't think they had to check them if they were little, but little did I know :)!), Avot, Lek and I took our shoes off, everyone took jackets off and laid stuffed animals on the conveyor belt, and we went through.  Apparently, the Goob and Liliputian's "heelie" shoes (awesome find at the DI) were also too metallic and needed to come off as well.  No problem! :)

We got to the other side, and started loading up again.  (We got pretty good at this by the end...)

Within minutes of being in this stage of the airport, I got the three questions (and variations thereof) that I was to hear throughout our journey:
-Are these all yours?
-You're amazing/brave.
-Do you have seven? (For some reasons, seven was easier to count than the eight I actually had with me :)...)

The wait at the gate was not too bad.  The kids walked around with each other, Avot told great stories to anyone who would listen (she normally had a little gathering around her) and I did some sweet talking with the gate attendant and she checked through to Hungary four more of our carry-ons so we wouldn't have to take them with us!  Apparently, if I had requested that at the front, it would have cost us more money, but here they could do it for us.  So I crammed a few more books from our backpacks into the already bulky carry-ons I had selected, and had them checked.

As we walked around, the kids seemed to enjoy walking crazily, hand-in-hand, stretching across the path like a great human barrier.  Sigh.  Most people were patient...we got some frustrated looks and rolled eyes, but most people were patient and tolerant.  The kids loved the instant water bottle refill spout on the water fountains.  (Unfortunately, the water availability went downhill from there...by Dublin, all we could get was hot water from the taps in the bathrooms to quench our thirsts.  Apparently, drinking fountains haven't made their way over the places in Europe we have visited!)

Lek was awesome with Papaya.  She took off right outside the loading gate as we were boarding, but he got her quickly and brought her back.  Whew!  Onto the first plan!

On that plane, we were able to get the last couple seats that weren't by each other moved together, which was nice for us (and for those who would have been stuck in the middle, too :).)  I even had an empty seat next to me so that I could slide where I needed to and supervise. The kids were so cute to see as the plane first took-off:  gasps of delight and wonder, with huge smiles.  When the airplane tipped from one side to the other, the Goob decided he didn't really like it, and Liliputian said that it was better than an amusement park ride. 

We gave them all gum to equalize their ears...Papaya and Hava promptly swallowed theirs so we turned to Starbursts instead :).  After about 10 minutes, Pipalicious turned to me and said, "Are we in the air?"  When I affirmed this she said, "Well, I'm sick of it."  Hold on baby.  You ain't seen nothin' yet!

Major blessing: Papaya fell asleep soon after take off.

We had really nice stewardesses, and the kids were pretty calm, what with the novelty of it all.  I actually got to doze off a bit and put my feet up, and I heard a stewardess comment behind me about how calm I was.  I don't know if "calm" was the word, but this exhausted body was ready for any break it could get :).