The Journey...

All things considered..the girls did great.  Our journey home started off with the movers coming.  We did not have that much so we were utilizing only the airplane bag allotments and air shipment.  The men packed everything up and said there was no more room for the remaining items  and they would need to go in our sea shipment.  I was about in tears as I explained we did not have a sea shipment and it HAD to fit.  After talking with their manager, we convinced them to let us take out the carseat we had planned on shipping to take on the airplane and let us SHOVE in the remaining items.  As you can imagine, they were not thrilled because most people do not SHOVE items in.  We did not care and HAD to make it fit.  We were allowed one crate and 1300 pounds total.  We were exactly one crate worth if you put the boxes in just a certain order and 1272 pounds.... CLOSE!  The only tears Kay shed were when the movers were taking the boxes away.  She had a hard time understanding we would get all our stuff again.

Next, we checked into our hotel because we did not have anything to sleep on.  This was a fun (sense my sarcasm??) night as we all shared a room.  Marissa was still waking up every three hours at this point and Craig was suffering from a either food poisoning or a stomach bug. YAY!  I took the girls on my own for one last dinner at Kay's favorite restaurant (Dan Ryan's).  We went to bed praying that Craig had yet another case of food poisoning and not a stomach bug.  I was so afraid the girls and I would get it mid-air on our really long flight.

I think we were dreading the challenge of getting all the bags to/from and through the airport the most.  We knew in Canada we would somehow have to get all our bags and then re-check them after immigration.  Miserable!  We were pleasantly surprised that three weeks earlier they changed the system and our bags were checked all the way for us.  We told the attendant that she had MADE our day about 10 times.  I think she thought we were crazy...

So...What does it look like for this family to move across the world?

6 Checked bags, 6 carry-on bags, one stroller and 1272 pounds of air shipped boxes.

Kay in the airport watching for our plane

I think we need one more thing to carry.  I wish I had taken a picture of our family pack-mule Craig.

26 hours later we made it home!  The girls were big time troopers.  The man who sat next to Marissa and I said he did not even wake up to the baby.  Kay slept for about 4 hours and once again we confirmed why the iPad is the best invention EVER for people who live overseas!  The girls and I did not get sick and we decided Craig's going away present was one more round of food poisoning (he has had it about four times since moving)