Departure & Arrival

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The angle looks a little funny, but this chair reclined completely flat. It took Anna a while to find a comfy position! Photo by Craig.

Wednesday morning I met the cleaning ladies out at the house and while I was there, a Realtor & a couple stopped and asked if they could take a look at the house. They were there a while and asked a few questions that made me think that they were interested. Later in the morning after I went back to the hotel & Craig, Anna, & I were driving back to the house, our Realtor called to say that that couple wanted to make an offer on the house! The house sits on the market for one and a half months with absolutely no action for three weeks and then someone makes an offer on the day we're leaving? Crazy.

Anna & Craig slept in until 9 AM and after we showed Anna that the house was empty and said goodbye to it, we went out to lunch and then got everything together for the airport. Gertie was easy to catch but this time she hissed at me (I guess the rushing around clued her in that this was a bigger deal than the last couple of times I've had to catch her last week (to go to the vet for her travel certificate and to move to the hotel). She complained a bit in the van to the airport and I was glad I thought to put the locks from our new suitcases on both zippers to Gertie's carrier as she did try to claw/chew her way out a few times.

We left the hotel a little after 1 PM. The international terminal was crazy but many thanks to Craig's work for forking over the money for business seats for all of us as we got helped at the counter quickly by waiting in the business line (I felt awful for all of the other parents with kids in the longer line so I really appreciated this more than I think I may have in the past).

Nothing too remarkable to report about the airport. Anna had fun looking at the airplanes from the terminal and getting a bit of exercise before we boarded. Craig sat next to Anna on the plane so I had it pretty easy with my new motto of "live and let Craig" whenever Anna was squirmy or fussy. Really, she was great though and we didn't even get out any toys on the plane (something that's never happened when it has just been me & her). She had her pig that she sleeps with and her pacifier but she couldn't convince herself to give in to fatigue (no nap today!) until about 10:15 PM. I did not sleep at all on this flight, but Craig & Anna slept about two hours. I guess I just couldn't relax or get comfortable enough.

Gertie did not like take-offs or landings but was relatively complain-free for most of the flight. When we got to Frankfurt we had a bit of a time finding the Lufthansa lounge but it was worth it when we did for a little bit quieter and more relaxing space to wait for our next flight with a cat and a toddler with only two hours of sleep behind her. Anna pretty much kept her pacifier from the time it was given to her—I was glad that it was able to provide her such comfort and am nervous about weaning from it in the coming year.

Really for as much waiting and little sleep we all had to put up with, Anna was a fantastic traveler. She had moments of irrationality, but so did I! Gertie wouldn't take a drink when offered (I was kind of glad since she hadn't used the bathroom for so long but I didn't want her to be super-dehydrated, either).

Anna fell asleep pretty soon after we got on the plane to Bahrain and slept for another three hours. There was a time in there after the three hours where she obviously still wanted to sleep but couldn't get there and I was holding her (I sat next to her for the first part of this flight & I slept, too!) and I had to have Craig take her because the only position Anna wanted was really uncomfortable for me & Baby.

I felt Baby moving a lot more during our travel day than I had for most of the time we were moving. I think because finally I was able to slow down and relax a bit. It was really nice to feel her and I'm looking forward to more regular movement!

Our flight from Frankfurt to Bahrain was delayed by about 45 minutes (after we were on the plane) but since we were all exhausted it worked out fine. This was an instance where it was better to have to wait on the plane than off! We stayed on the plane in Bahrain and were delayed a bit again because both the Bahrain & Doha airports were busy and we had to wait in line for takeoff and for a space on the tarmac in Doha.

Customs was smooth sailing and all of our suitcases came off just as we walked up to the baggage carousel (it helped that the flight from Bahrain was pretty empty!). We had to wait a bit for a bigger car to take us and our six checked bags, the cat, Anna's carseat & stroller, my backpack, Anna's diaper bag, and Craig's carry-on. We had a ton of luggage!

The drive to our villa was find since we arrived at 11:30 and traffic was light. Anna seemed excited to check out the new place and she helped me get Gertie set up in the laundry room with food, water, and litter. We got Anna's room set up and she was ready to hop in bed after a snack and some books at about 12 AM. I heard her cry/fuss a bit around 1 or 1:30 AM (we were still up unpacking a bit, etc) but didn't end up having to go in to her. She is still sawing logs at 7:40 AM as I write this now! How I have been blessed with an awesome sleeper!! I really hope Baby Girl takes after Craig this way, too!

Our villa is nice although the decorating style is definitely not my own; it is very formal and grand. I'll take & post some pictures soon.

Our rental car just arrived and I guess we'll start getting ready to get out and about to get to know our new city! I'll post again later with some pictures and more first impressions.

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Wow! What a trip. Sounds like your family was made for travel! :) SO glad that everything went well, cannot wait to hear more of your first impressions. Love you!

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This page contains a single entry by Becky published on December 8, 2006 7:14 AM.

We Made It! was the previous entry in this blog.

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