more on our trip home

first of all we had to get up at 2am to get ready to catch our ride to airport at 3. our flight was at 530. there was what would later become a fatal error in our ticketing. but we were all set to fly home. kids were sleepy and not too much trouble. we did ok on the flight to Germany. I must be blocking it out because I cannot recall the seating arrangements. oh wait I remember. Andre and I were with another man across the aisle was diana natasha and another man. cody and Jaeger were somewhere behind us. Andre chatted up the man next to us. wouldnt let him sleep. kept asking him questions. he was very kind and grandfatherly and answered his questions and didnt get mad at him when he woke him. Andre wanted to snuggle up to him to sleep but I was very firm and woudlnt let him. he settled for neutral ground in the middle of his seat. We had FIVE hours in Germany. we played Uno a lot. I spent 23 dollars on water! that they didnt drink but rather used as swords to whack each other with an occasional sip that would require 15 trips to the bathroom to process.

FINALLY we got on the big plane. drove the kids nuts seeing the planes were there but we couldnt just get on one and go. Andre has a snit at one point while waiting and I was kicked hit kneed elbowed bit had my glasses knocked off while he fought me. I give him credit though for not screaming but only whining and crying about it. In Kiev he screamed bloody murder.
so finally on the plane. Again spread all over the cabin. Andre the wild man with me. Cody and Jaeger 20 rows back. Natasha and Diana were right behind me in row 22. thankfully there was a woman traveling alone on each end of their row so they were kind enough to help the girls out with their movie screens. Andre kept pushing the button for calling the stewardess. I didnt know he pushed it until they showed up and I would apologise. at one point they got a little pissed at me and I got a little pissed at them. I said I cant speak Ukrainian or Russian. He cant speak English, I cant tell him not to do it. can YOU speak Russian? no she only spoke portugese. I dont know why they couldnt just ignore calls to row 22. The girl next to Andre was named Maia. she was from Montenegros and headed for Maryland to be an exchange student. She enjoyed Andre a lot and he enjoyed her. She was a sweet girl. On the other side of me was a man from Nigeria headed to the states to learn about 4G fiber optics. it was neat talking to him. Andre didnt sleep until about 2 hours from Philly. the girls were out long before that. Cody and Jaeger didnt sleep at all. got to Philly and went to immigration and they were stupid and on a power trip and I am absolutely certain what should have been simple will be problematic in the near future for their citizenship. not to mention that they had to STOP working on My case to help a fellow employee process someone else because he coudlnt remember how! GRRR. they fingerprinted the kids. I have never even heard of that. the kids were good sports though. we just adopted 9 months ago. we didnt have to do that then. they argued with me about the kids getting citizenship they said no they only get a green card. GRRR> so we gathered our luggage and ran to check it in again and ran for our gate. thats where the fatal error occured. We were not ticketed for the kids for the last leg of the journey.

we ran back to the desk for us airways and I lost it. tears. exhaustion. kids who dont listen. (the boys, the girls were little trouble)helpful son who was also exhausted and getting ready to lose his temper. and do you know what the very kind lady at the US airways desk did? she yelled at me! why dont I have tickets? HOW THE HELL SHOULD I KNOW~! All I know is I dont have them! help me! by the time they figured out that we did indeed pay for tickets it was too late to get them. they gave us gate passes and we ran for the gate. they wouldnt even call ahead and ask them to wait for us. we RAN the entire way and got there and it was too late they were gone. so we went to the us airways desk where lots of otehr people were waiting because THEY missed a connection. All this time Natasha hasnt been feeling great, they missed their meds, she had been throwing up, she had a swollen tender gland near her ear that wouldnt let her eat. the boys were out of control and RAMMY and nowhere to go because the play area is in another area that we already had to pass out of to get to our gate(which is next to where the help desk is)(oh and in germany they have several play areas, except you cant get to them. they are in the domestic part of the airport and you have to go through passport control and the kids didnt have visas for germany. nice huh?) so ultimately they gave us overnight at airport marriott in Philly. and meal vouchers. they said we could eat at the hotel or in the airport.

we went to hotel. man I so wanted to brush my teeth but I didnt have toothbrush or hair brush I packed them in suitcase. but we checked in and were told no indeed they do not accept food vouchers at the hotel restraaunt. now what am I going to do? I have to feed these kids! so we had to go back to airport ask for gate passes and go through security to get back to the airport part that had the food. Ordered a pizza and fruit at sbarro and the kids were so tired that when we were done they were begging BEGGING to go to bed. so we went to hotel and kids all went to bed and I took a bath. nice hot quiet soak. ahhhh. by this time I deserved it! I was ready to wring the boys little necks! they were just wild and into everything. probably major over stimulated not to mention no reference for what we do at hotels. girls just fell into bed and slept. boys didnt take too long to sleep but at 4 they were all awake again. I finally just got up and we left for airport, even before my wake up call. at least we didnt have to haul much luggage.

at the gate I got the kids smoothies. they liked them. but the lady at the smoothie place was cracking up laughing at me ordering so many smoothies.once again they had us spread all over the plane. except this time it wasnt even in twos! me in row 1 some one else in ro 9 or 10 someoen else in 21 or 22 just all over. Andre is a wild thing and can not ride alone. besides he is 6 and who wants to sit next to a wild and unattended child? once again the kindness of strangers prevailed and we were able to sit all together in the back and the people who were slated for those seats took our seats elsewhere. so the girls were together cody and jaeger and andre and me. the kids asked me all the way home about papa. all they wanted was papa. it was a two and half hour flight in which they served drinks but anything else was outrageously priced. I pulled out the trail mix and the treat I bought the night before with meal vouchers and wahlah, snack. While we were still an hour out something made ma laugh. If you remember the scene from National Lampoon's christmas where the white trash brother in law is out holding the hose while his RV's waste tank empties into the storm drain, he says "shitter's full!" and that is all I could think of for the rest of the flight after the plane's toilet tank was full half way through the flight.

Our good friend Uncle Bob picked us up at the airport. He had stuffed animals for the kids. they hugged them all the way home. We stopped at mcDonalds for a playland and they loved running and climbing. they had a lot of energy to get out!

we arrived home to waiting sibs who were very happy to see us. Andre and Ben fell into each others arms smiling. Reunited at last. Maia hugged the girls and they were so happy to see Chrysta again. Ethan and Jaeger became fast friends and they are both ALL BOY and have had a great time playing together. so far everything is going well. Andre doesnt like much to eat but if I can get him to eat ONE bite I either let him have what he wants or he realises hey this isnt so bad and eats it. he even drank his milk at lunch because I refused to give him water. he is 6 and wears size
3T well. he needs to eat! maybe its honeymoon or maybe they are all so genuinely happy I dont know. but what I do know is that its going very well here. Andre gets more appropriate all the time. Is even starting to cry to me over wrongs against him or hurts. these are 4 really truly great kids. everyone who passed them over is really missing out. they are loving and sweet, the girls are, and andre is more and more. Jaeger is getting better about listening. They all LOVE our dogs and cat. unfortunately our little dog doesnt like them so he is crated most of the time. I am hoping when my mom comes we can work on that. So far the only ones fighting are the same old battles between the kids who were here already and the same old battles between the new kids. no clashes between the old and new. they are all enjoying outside a lot. all the toys that were once old are new again and getting much use. I had to park my car at the end of driveway to stop them from going into the road. but they are loving the toys. Jaeger came in and took off on a bike. we didnt even know he could ride! natasha we knew could bike but she isnt interested much in the bikes. all in all I would say its going pretty well.