Our Journey Finally Begins...September 21, 2012

I don't think of our family as a huge sight to be seen.  Yes, we can be a little loud and busy at times, but nothing out of the ordinary for a family of 5 :)  Maybe it was our 14 pieces of luggage not including our carry ons.  Maybe it was American Airlines new rule that you can't check anything bigger than an umbrella stroller in at the gate, so we had to take wild man out of his stroller and he found sudden freedom.  Whatever it was, one nice couple, who had just found out their flight was delayed for 4 hours, finally asked us where we were headed.  "Santiago, Chile...we normally don't travel this heavily, but we are moving there for a couple of years."  

"Wow!  You are brave!" was their response, as Luke was weaving in and out of other travelers and I was running to capture him.  "Good Luck!"   And they walked away.  A few minutes later, while we were still trying to control the crew, and the lady returned and handed me a little hand puppet.  "Maybe this'll keep your little one happy."  How sweet of that woman!  Most stare and you know they are thinking plenty of things as they watch our circus unfold.  I'm so grateful for kind folk!    

Notice Luke is Blurry?  Yes, he knows he is free.  He was non-stop. We were counting on locking him in the darn stroller :)

Frozen Yogurt and cool red chairs slowed him down for a few minutes. 

And made everyone else happy too :)

Our saving grace was Business Class.  Can you imagine our crew in front?  Thanks Roche.  The kids were sooo excited.  Half way through our first flight to Texas, Kate looked at me and said, "Mom, is that where we used to sit?"  As she pointed to the back of the airplane...The guy sitting in front of me almost spit out his drink he laughed so hard.  She had heard Joe and me talk about what "The Company" would pay for and what we would pay for, that she assumed "The Company" was taking care of us from now on and we were officially living the life.  How dissapointed she'll be when we fly home for vacation and we go to the back of the plane:)

A few things their awesome cousins gave the kids to keep them (and the flight attendants) occupied for almost 20 hours... 

We were actually surprised by how smoothly everything went-- delays, customs, moving through crowds, agriculture checks...We were so relieved we had a chance to do it ourselves a month before without all of our baggage :) 

We found our taxi and who was waiting for us, and more and more little men came out of the woodworks to help with all of our things.  I'm still not even sure if they were technically with our taxi guy, but it made the trip much easier! 

Let just say we know how to pack em in.  The van was completely full.

All in all... we made it, our luggage made it, and everyone was smiling...tired but smiling.  What a blessing!