We are here! Not quite all of us, but almost. Nick & Dave are still in Germany, but me, Cole, Tess & Dane are here. In Ohio with Soren & Lindsay & Christian. It’s almost wedding time. This weekend we’ve got the bachelor/bachelorette & bridal shower. It is family time. It is happy time. Such an incredibly happy time!

Before I truly fell asleep Wednesday night, it was so exciting, the alarm went off at 2:30 am. Time to pack up & drive to Frankfurt. Dave drove, fighting sleep, the kids, too excited to sleep all night, passed out in the back while I fought to stay awake and keep him company on the road. We made our flight with time to spare, heads dying to hit pillows.

Tess had her eyes glued to the window on the descent into Heathrow, outside London. The sight of all the cars & trucks driving the wrong way fascinated her. It was even better being on the ground, loaded into buses, and driving on the wrong side of the road! For 15 minutes. Because Heathrow is gigantic! We went through security. Security again. Another bus. More sight-seeing. More security. A walk of a thousand miles. A quick healthy snack at a Pret a Manger (I love that font!), just in time to hop on flight #2 to New York City.

We’re usually fly free military cargo planes kind of people, but now we are civilians and we flew American. American has screens in the seatbacks! Screens with games! AND A GAME CONTROLLER! Dane’s eyes almost popped out of his head and I barely “saw” him all flight. Where was this Heaven when I was flying with six small(ish) kids all by myself!??!

We arrived at JFK just outside of New York City without seeing a single skyscraper. It was very hard to hide our disappointment. Tired, groggy, jet-lagged and lost we followed signs & herds of people to immigration. We scanned passports, took photo’s (and fingerprints for me), then had a quick question & answer with a US customs agent and we were on our way to find our bags. It may have resembled a cattle call, but customs was fast, efficient & thorough. Color me impressed.

We quickly located our bags, fixed Tess’ broken zipper, passed inspection, and tossed back onto the conveyor belts for the last leg of our trip. We walked a thousand more miles, took an inter-terminal train, walked some more and found our final gate. We happily sat down hot, tired & sweaty (it was 90F in NYC!) when our names rang out over the loudspeaker! They were holding the plane for us. If we hurry!

We speed walked to the gate, through the jetway and onto the worlds oldest, smallest plane. Maybe not smallest, but at 45 seats it’s the smallest plane I’ve been on, but definitely the oldest. No fancy screens here, we were happy for seatbelts that worked. Dane begged to get off, and I was honestly right there with him, but I’m the mom, so:

“Son, this plane has flown more hours than all the other planes put together & it’s still here. This is the safest plane we’ve been on today.” And I repeated that for Cole. And Tess. And me. And we got to Columbus safely!

Columbus & Soren & Lindsay & Christian. Almost complete. Almost all together. For a wedding! I’m getting another daughter!

Lindsay, Soren, Cole, Dane, Christian, ME, Tess

Can’t see us? That’s because it’s 3 AM!

First fight, Frankfurt to London. I look fabulous. Sigh.

Second flight. Long flight. London to New York. There are video games!

Last flight. New York to Columbus. 45-seater ancient plane. Gulp!