Our trip over the ocean was one of the best yet. Beijing was a different story, but the long flight was really good even with four kiddos 7 and under! God's grace abounded for sure.
Here is what we did:
Our first flight was short and exciting for everyone. The kids dug into their bag of goodies and colored. They were content. I wrangled G a bit that flight.
The long leg:
The most dependent and independent sat with me: Gabrielle and Sophia. The other two were with David in the row right behind us, those are the semi-independents, they need help navigating the touch screen and making sure their food tray doesn't end up on their lap.
Our flight was at 1 p.m. EST, meaning that most of this flight would be the kids wake time. Thank you Delta movies/programs, etc.!! Tobin and Bella played together some, watched tv some (they had age appropriate, like Doc McStuffins, Frozen, etc.), ate and then by about 9: p.m. they went to sleep for the last 4-5 hours of the flight. Bella on the floor, Tobin sprawled over two seats. David meanwhile, watched his own movies, and lots of them, until he helped me rock G to sleep and held her the last four hours while she slept.
Gabrielle played in her seat for a good while, I held her most of the time, fed her bottles at the appropriate time and gave her solid food meals throughout. She was hard work, but she remained content, not fussy. She ate the pasta and carrots from the airplane meal. She slept fifteen minutes of her afternoon nap. Then David put her in the ergo to rock her to sleep for the last four hours of the flight or so. Sophia watched movies and colored. She watched Frozen, Mary Poppins, Despicable me, and Discovery Bears (a real nature movie), and I think some Doc McStuffins.
During all of this I was able to watch some movies as well. My intention was to read my kindle, but my brain was mush as it was, and since we watched zero movies in America, I caught up. I enjoyed Draft Day, Million Dollar Arm, Despicable Me (I watched it with Sophia), half of Monuments Men, and I started watching Grey's Anatomy, a TV show I had never watched before. Yes, the kids were that good, no grumbling (with TV at your fingertips why complain), no screaming, no fussing. I was not able to sleep at all, which caught up with me in Beijing, where things were less than smooth, completely amplified by my lack of sleep and grouchiness.
In BJ I sat with the four kiddos while David dealt with all of our bags, and ran back to get a bag we forgot. The swarms of people taking pictures did bother me...but I didn't snap at them, I just ignored them. In the capital city, after some sleep, I actually engaged people pleasantly.
Beijing was less efficient and dirtier than our provincial capital's airport. For it being the capital of the country, we expected more. But overall we saw God's blessings throughout in so many big and small ways. (the guy waved us through with all of our bags instead of having to take them off one by one at the exit and put them through the machine, awesome.)
We got to the provincial capital, ate a nighttime snack and went to bed. This time David let me get sleep and he took Tobin and G (on the way out to the U.S. these two kept me up all night). David did get some sleep but not much, he had to rock G and keep her on the bed with him, she refused the tent bed we brought. My room slept a solid 3 hours, then Bella got up and played for 3 hours and talked to me on and off. Sophia slept until 8 a.m. as did Tobin....
Our flight home was not until 11:50 a.m. and we needed all of that time to get up, eat breakfast, and wrangle the bags. Sophia helped at every airport push G in the stroller while David and I pushed luggage carts, and she did this that morning as well, she was a pro by then. Because David had our bags tagged to our town, he did not have to pay another round of baggage fees.
A man next to us on this flight had three kids of his own, a huge surprise. He was very sweet to ours, but not overly aggressive, he gave them waffles also, which everyone ate including G. It took two cars and a taxi to get us and all of our bags home. Thanks M and K for coming to get us!!! It was great to see familiar faces.
There you have most of it. We are so thankful to be home. We are hitting the ground running. Kids start school tomorrow! And no we are not over jet-lag.
