Starting Out

January 8, 2012

So, many people asked me to blog and I said “no way, I am not a writer”. However, Lisa Dunster talked me into at least trying to jot a few notes down once a week. She said if it wasn’t working for me, I didn’t have to continue, so here it is…

Still suffering from sleep deprivation!!! Woke up at 5:30 a.m. MST on January 5^th. Took a pic of the family and suitcases (not too many considering we are leaving for six months!) before we left for the airport. Excited to be setting off for our new adventure. The best thing was that we had A PLAN!

THE PLAN was to stay up late the night of the 4^th keeping the kids awake as long as possible. Then, wake up early and keep the kids awake through the first flight to Minneapolis. After a meal on the second flight to Amsterdam, they would be sufficiently tired to sleep the rest of the flight. Yes???

What was I thinking??? Everything went exactly according to THE PLAN even after a 3 hour layover in Minneapolis. That is until just after the meal on the flight to Amsterdam. Lights were lowered and we were all set for snuggling in for a good sleep. Then the screaming baby happened, and THE PLAN got flushed down the toilet! Unfortunately the poor little baby was in such a sad state that he screamed for the next 8 hours of the flight. I was sure wishing for those noise cancelling headphones that Stacy Gow had told me about!

Needless to say, we all watched movies until breakfast was served the next morning. I have to admit that I get a bit cranky if I don’t get my sleep. So much for the adventure (free of crabbiness) I had been so sure about! Luckily we had a layover in Amsterdam and the kids were fantastic. So, by the time we landed in Manchester to bright sunny morning, my mood had greatly improved.

David’s brother, Andrew, met us there and handled getting the train tickets and in no time we were on a train to Leeds. This was Danika’s favorite part as the Food Trolley comes down the aisle and she gets to use her famous line from Harry Potter, “Anything from the trolley, dear?” The scenery was beautiful riding through the Penines, but it didn’t take long for Danika and Jason to finally succumb to the lack of sleep, and they both passed out. 

We finally arrived at 5:30 a.m. MST (which was 12:30 p.m. GMT here in Yorkshire) We stayed awake for another 12 hours, making it 36 hours from the time we left… So nice to get some sleep!! More later... M