US Trip 2019 - Day 3

On the morning of our third day in Illinois, my parents went to church, so we took the kids to James' house to play.  They were so excited, and had lots of fun playing video games, examining their cousin's toys, and snacking.

The adults had a good time chatting and watching television (until the kids took over).

Love the eye roll

James takes piano lessons, and of course I wanted to hear him play. Lily and Clara happily joined in, and when James got tired of their "music," Aunt Lesa gave them a short lesson.

Pretty soon, it was time to go to a party. Matt's parents and my parents had planned a little get together so friends and family could all gather in one place to see us. And it was a busy few hours, but a great way to see as many people as possible during a short trip. Not to mention that we had already traveled so far, that we didn't want to spend our time driving all over the St. Louis area.

It was so nice to see everyone who could make it. Matt and I tried (and failed) to get around and talk to everyone, and I hope no one left disappointed. The kids had a blast playing with a few cousins and friends, and there was so much good food. It was sad when it ended, because we don't know when we'll get to go back. Unfortunately I only took one picture, but it was nice to give my attention to the people who took time to see us. Thank you to my mom, though, for sending me the following shots.

As the party was dying down, a woman and her son came into the room to play pool. They had heard someone mention that we live in the UK, so they asked a few questions about it. The son asked about British currency, and I showed him a £5 note that I had in my wallet. The mom then offered to buy it from me for $20. I did tell her it wasn't worth that much, but she said her son would love to have it, so I made the exchange. (On that day, I think that 1 pound was nearly equal to about $1.30.) I felt a little bad, but the boy was so happy, so maybe we both won.









We headed back to my parents' house, and the kids set off to play while the adults had a much needed drink. Besides the two bottles of gin we had brought, my dad had picked up some American gin for us (the company is owned by Ryan Reynolds). It was a nice gin, and we didn't quite finish the bottle during our stay, but we tried.

Cheers

It wasn't long before we all headed off to bed. It had been a long but happy day.

US Trip 2019 - Day 2

You might think that we would all sleep in after our 24 hour travel time, but you'd be wrong. We were all up before 7am, but the kids didn't seem tired or cranky at all. Matt and I started drinking coffee so we could try to stay awake throughout the day.

The kids were excited to see their cousin James (who arrived at a more reasonable time of morning, being used to the time zone). There was much chatter and playtime, and it was mostly in the basement, so the adults could catch up as well.

I was really feeling the jet lag at this time, and tried to rest on the couch a bit (however I could not fall asleep for anything). I wanted to be slightly rested to see our friends/old neighbors who had driven nearly 300 miles just to see us.

Here's the backstory. When we lived in Colorado, our backyard had a gate into the neighbor's yard. The Rs moved in, and our kids were basically the same ages (older boy and younger girl). We became good friends, the kids were best friends, and we hung out and went to parks a lot. We were both expecting our third child when the Rs moved away, about a year before we came to the UK. We've kept in touch, and were super excited to see them all again. I was a little worried that the kids might take some time to get used to each other, but everyone jumped in to play like we'd all seen each other yesterday.  💓💓💓

Matt and I had brought two bottles of gin from North Yorkshire to share with our Stateside friends and family, and my parents had another bottle waiting for us when we arrived. So the adults had drinks and good conversation while the kids kept busy.

Then all too soon, it was time for the Rs to go. I didn't get pictures of all of us, but we did remember to get a group shot of the kids. It only took three adults about 40 shots to get a nice photo.

After this, I dragged Lesa to get quick manicures. It turned out not to be as quick as we'd hoped, so by the time we got back Matt had already grabbed Chinese food for us. And it was amazing.

By this time, everyone had left the house besides my parents and the five of us. I was more than ready for bed after a long day, so we all pretty much passed right out. And although I felt like a zombie most of my waking hours, it was a pretty great day.

US Trip 2019 - Day 1

Late last year, we decided to book a trip to the United States to visit family.  We chose February half term break (when the kids have a week off school).  I was quite nervous about making the trip, mainly because of the effect of the time difference on the kids. Nevertheless, we booked travel and a rental car, and started the countdown.

The kids were really excited to visit the US, especially to see their cousin James. On the day we left, we had to wake up super early to get a taxi to an airport a couple of hours away (these flights were the best for us, logistically). It was a long ride, but everyone behaved themselves very nicely.

Watching the sun rise

We arrived at the airport, and made our way through security fairly easily.

Everyone was hungry by this time, so we grabbed some bland food and a coffee.

I don't remember a very long wait before boarding the plane, but the full day of travel could be clouding my memory. I settled in with the girls, and Matt sat next to Miles. The kids were so excited about the screens in the seats in front of them, plus their tablets. We had also bought entertainment packs from Keep Em Quiet, and planned to bring out one thing at a time as they became restless.

Here are my (uncompensated) thoughts on the entertainment packs we bought. On the website, you can choose bags for short, medium, or long trips; then you enter the age and gender of the child (there's also unisex). They send a variety of activities/toys, as well as a few healthy snacks.

Because of the screens on the long flight, my kids didn't go through everything in their bags. They did like the things they used (although the horse toys in Clara's bag were very cheaply made, and are already falling apart). Mine also didn't eat their snacks, but we always pack lots of treats for the flight. Overall I was pleased with the bags, and would definitely recommend if there was no in flight entertainment.

Okay, back to the long flight. It was pretty uneventful. Clara's screen stopped working after she watched one movie, but she was happy enough with her tablet not to complain.  I watched a couple of movies and some television between assisting the girls with things, and it was a nice distraction.

Bohemian Rhapsody

We also had a decent meal. I chose cheesy pasta, which came with salad, crackers with cheese, pretzel roll and butter, water, and a dessert.

That's wine in my cup. Gotta love free drinks on international flights.

We arrived in Philadelphia for a 3 hour layover, and we were starting to get pretty tired. We got through immigration and found the correct terminal for the next flight.

Then we fed the kids and sat in the food court for the rest of the time.

Airport Smashburger is not that great

One big thing Matt and I forgot to do before leaving the UK was to buy a data package for the US. So we had no service without WiFi. We both kept checking our phones before remembering, and it made for a very long layover. Also we couldn't contact our families to let them know how travel was going. (Of course, on the way back we discovered that the airport has free WiFi.)

The flight from Philadelphia to St Louis was only about 2 hours. The kids were tired, both physically and tired of traveling, but they all behaved beautifully. There was a bit of a wait at the rental car place, and Miles fell into a heavy sleep in a chair. We practically had to drag him to the minivan once it was ready. We thought everyone would fall straight to sleep when we arrived at my parents' house (HA!).

Reading to little sister

I was somewhat anxious about our ability to drive on the righthand side of the road again. It wasn't as bad as I'd expected, I think because the roads and everything are so different in each country. We made it to Meemaw and Da's house in good time, and Matt's parents were also there waiting to see their grandkids. Everyone suddenly caught a second wind, and we stayed up until about 10:30 (so 4:30am UK time). Our 24 hour day was over, now how long would it take our bodies to adjust?