Flying to Japan

Today was the day we have been anticipating for quite some time. We spent our last night in the United States having dinner and hanging out with some of our good friends. We had such a good time that it was hard to say goodbye and we finally had to leave because it was almost midnight and Abby had fallen asleep in my lap. 7:30am came really early this morning but our nerves got us going and before we knew it we were in the hotel shuttle with our four kids, three car seats, 14 bags, 4 backpacks, 1 camera bag, 1 laptop, 1 purse, 1 large snack bag, 1 stroller and 1 child hiking backpack. We had anticipated being to the airport 3 hours before our flight but only ended up with a 2 hour window. After the free hotel shuttle dropped us off downstairs we waited for the skycap to come and help us with our bags. I decided to take the girls upstairs to get in line to check our bags. I was floored when I saw how long the line was at the United counters. With only one cell phone between us and no way to get a hold of Mike to see if they were coming I started to panic but quicky got a hold of myself just in time to see him walk in with the boys. BLESSING number one came today when we were given the best skycap man ever. He rolled all of our bags all the way to the last counter and told us to just jump on in. With so much luggage to deal with and time running short we were not at all shy about "cutting" in line. It took a bit longer to get all the bags checked but eventually we made it without any problems through security and to our gate. With little time to call our parents we said our goodbyes, went to the bathroom, and tried to grab lunch just in time to get on our plane.

It seemed like we were the last ones on the plane and that is probably because I was getting lunch while they called our row. We were in the back of the plane (fourth row from the back) but had an entire row to ourselves plus one aisle seat behind us. It was a little hectic trying to get Abby's car seat in the middle but we finally all found our seats and for the first time in weeks we all sat and breathed a sigh of relief for making it to this point. With the sale of our house and both of our cars and a really long road trip we had been busy and tired for quite some time. It was a welcome relief to sit on a plane and be able to relax.

I took duty with the kids for the first five hours and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. All of the kids had their own TV's in front of their seat and they all happily watched Ratatouille. This was BLESSING number two. I watched Date night which was hilarous. The rest of the time was spent reading books, playing with toys, eating snacks, and just trying to keep everyone happy. I think the boys got up at least 10 times to go to the bathroom. I think they were just excited by the plane bathroom and the big blue flush button in the bathroom. We finally had to give them a lecture about not getting up without asking. Andrew even lost a tooth on the plane. Abby was starting to get tired and I knew it would not be easy to get her to go to sleep without taking her out of the car seat so Mike kindly gave up his iPad so she could watch the one Little Einstein show he had downloaded on it for her. It only took her watching the short episode four times before she finally fell asleep. Abby ended up sleeping most of the flight which ended up being BLESSING number three.

The last hour of the flight was spent sleeping. All of the kids fell asleep which I was happy about until Emma woke up on our descent and cried all the way down because she had to go to the bathroom but wasn't allowed to get up out of her seat. I tried everything to distract her but nothing worked. After landing and we were stopped on the runway I got "special" permission to get our of my seat to take her to the bathroom. That was BLESSING number four.

After being the last people off of the plane we got all of our carry on items situated and made the walk towards customs and immigrations. One of the pilots was kind enough to take our picture. When we got to the Immigrations we saw the long line full of people from our flight. Just as we were about to get in line this sweet Japanese lady motioned us to the front while saying, "You come with me...you special." Sometimes having small children really pays off. We got through Immigrations & Customs and got all of our bags in under 30 minutes. I thought that was amazing considering we were entering a foreign country. This was BLESSING number five. I am sure we looked so funny with our four gigantic carts full of bags. Mike and I and the boys each had to push a cart all the way down to the opposite end of the main exit area to wait for our shuttle to take us to Zama. While we were waiting we exchanged some money and got dinner at McDonalds. I ordered in Japanese and although I was very rusty I think the man behind the counter understood me. Later I realized that the menu was in English on the opposite side.

We were so happy when our shuttle finally arrived. We walked our carts out to the parking lot and proceeded to get on the bus only to have to deboard because we were on the shuttle headed for Yokosuka. After finally getting on the correct shuttle to Zama we were all so tired and after the bus finally left the airport we all fell asleep. Needless to say we all went straight to sleep when we arrived at the Zama Lodge at 10pm. Mike and I could've slept all night but the kids woke up at 3:30am because of jet leg. We were able to get them to sleep for another hour and then we were all up for the day. It was exciting to finally be in Japan!