It's been a week since we got to Japan, but today, I can actually say, we are finally somewhat adjusted!! The last week has been a total blur...trying to catch up on sleep, adjust to the time difference, recover from the longest day of flying ever...whew, what a crazy week!! The kids literally woke up every morning the first few days at 5:45am, which also didn't help! Plus with all the excitement of seeing Brian again and getting back into baseball mode, it's just been non-stop!! I can't tell you just how incredibly awesome it was to see Brian after all those months apart and to see the looks on the kids when they saw him for the first time, it was so surreal.
After 4 long months apart, we were reunited in the Tokyo airport, where Brian met us in route to our home here in Japan; Fukuoka. Our journey out here started early...after basically only an hour of sleep (last minute packing and closing up the house kept us up late! and maybe we stayed up a little too late trying to watch the American Idol finale!), we were up at 4 am to load the car and get ready to head off to the airport!
The first flight departed Phoenix, AZ at 7:45 am, and took us to San Fran, CA, where we had about a 2 1/2 hour layover. For some reason we weren't given our tickets for our flight to Tokyo in Phoenix, so the only hiccup was we had to exit the airport and recheck in at the international terminal to get boarding passes. That was a hike, but once there we got some last American food and magazines and then boarded our All Nippon Flight to Tokyo!
HOLY LONG FLIGHT. Almost 12 hours...stuck on a plane...with two small children...6 months pregnant. Thank god my mom was with me!!! (seriously, thank you mom, I could not have done it myself!) Really, in all honesty, the kids were phenomenal. They did great considering how long, and how tired they were. They slept the first 3 hours of the flight (literally out 20 minutes after takeoff), and then were up the last 8 1/2 hours straight. We went through toys, snacks, IPods, in flight movies, you name it. Whatever it took to keep them going. Austin learned a new phrase on the flight and literally said it every other minute: "Mom, this is taking FOREVER!" Not exactly what you want to hear when you know you have 9 hours left on a plane.
It was all pretty uneventful though, with the small exception of one little incident as we were boarding. I actually installed Brooke's car seat (which took forever and made me break a sweat) into the wrong seat and had to move it because the guy really wanted that seat. I offered him mine, but he didn't want it. It took me about 20 minutes to get the seat belt unlatched for it got totally stuck, and the guy just stood there watching me with his arms crossed, as I literally swore/sweated/almost gave birth to our baby/and almost tore the darn thing out with the seat still attached. It was not the way I intended to start the flight, but eventually got it in the right seat and stopped sweating. Thankfully that was the worst of the flight! After that, we just did what we could to make the time pass by and get to Tokyo!
Once in Tokyo, we had to collect all of our luggage (6 bags, 2 strollers, 3 car seats, a handful of carryons) and get through customs and immigration. Thankfully they escorted us straight to the front of a very long line at immigration, which totally helped! I think they saw us with all our stuff and took pity! Then we had to go re-check in for our flight to Fukuoka, which is where Brian met us! Hallelujah!! It was so great to see him, and to have an extra set of arms with all our stuff ;) The kids were thrilled, and having Dad there made the 3 hour layover there much, much better. At this point it was sometime around 2am our time...so we were pretty much walking zombies, but we battled thought the long layover, got on a bus to take us to our plane, and finally boarded the last flight of the day. I can't tell you much about it, except that we all passed out before takeoff, and pretty much slept the entire 2 hours it took to get to Fukuoka. We were exhausted.
In Fukuoka, we got our bags, loaded into a bus like taxi, and headed home to our apartment. Best feeling ever, being out of an airport, all together as a family again, and knowing we don't have to make that journey again for 6 more months. (But with a newborn...yikes!)
Thank you to everyone who helped us get out here...especially my mom who came with me and helped me get all packed, and to my father-in-law Tom for taking us to the airport at the crack of dawn on his first day of summer vacation!! You guys are the best!!
It's so good to be here, and so, so good to be back with Brian again.
First flight to San Fran, Brooke kept entertained with her IPod!
How we spent the time during our layovers, the kids just dumped out all their toys on the floor and had at it! We weren't even worried about germs or dirt on the floor at this point, just did whatever we had to to keep them happy!
Getting ready to board the big plane to Tokyo!
The kids were troopers!! Even carried their own carryons :)
Austin on his way to the plane!
Ahhh, business class!! We are lucky travelers!
25 minutes in...naps for the kids! Little did my mom and I know this was the only nap they would take!! Oh well, they were good!
Austin kickin' back in business class!
Hello Japan!
Finally reunited with Dad!
(The kids couldn't stop staring at him! They were probably shocked to see him in person and not through a computer screen!!)
Brooke missed her Daddy so much, she wanted nothing but him when we got home! This is what makes all that travel worth it!!!
Stay tuned for our adventures in Japan the next 6 months!!! (Will promise to be a much better blogger from now on, I swear!)
