Off and running

And so we begin the first leg of our journey to China.  A nasty winter storm hit the Midwest yesterday and left over 350 passengers stranded at the Springfield airport.  They were all put up in hotels and I was told special planes would be coming in at 9am to get them to their Midwest destinations.  The wind blew hard all day on Thursday making my last minute dashes across town picking up prescriptions and remodeling supplies less than desirable as the wind whipped open the door of the car each time I had to venture out.  I made it to the kids holiday parties (can’t label them as Christmas you know) and watched son Luke dance around the room while eating hand full of green frosting.  His teacher remarked that he was certainly animated today and I said, “Oh that is pretty typical behavior at home.”

Watching the weather closely, I signed up to receive test messages about our 2 flights, how handy is that?  Finally got the kids to settle into sleep around 10, the excitement had reached a peak and held there.  At 2am I found myself wide awake thinking, “Did I pack swimsuits, bathing caps (required at any hotel we have stayed at in China).  Do the kids have enough clothes, shoes?  At that point it was 4pm China time so I decided I would get an early start on adjusting to the time difference and did was up and running.  It was actually refreshing to have some me time to play with the dogs, drink coffee, write last minute instructions to Logan for taking care of the house and animals, and stuff for our home remodeler who is recreating our front split level entryway.

I got the kids up at 4:15 and we were loaded and in the car by 5.  American Airlines sent me a text while we were in route to say that our flight was on time.  We each had a suitcase on wheels to maneuver from long term parking.  There was some whining during that period even though we had made a triple pinky promise not to whine, hit or call names on this special very long day.  Well, that only lasted k10 minutes.  Now we are high in the sky looking down at the snow covered ground.  Lily has crashed (perhaps not a good term to use while flying) and Luke is drinking juice.  Hope the res t of the day goes as well. 

My plan is to sleep once the next flight takes off at 10:30am, it will be 12:00 am China time.  A few more hours added to my 4 would feel great.  The kids love to fly and so I am lucky there.  Guess I will have to wait till we get to China to see what I forgot.