3 years 10 months 3 days

Day 1402. At 5:30 the alarm clock woke us up after a VERY short night. Our friend was gonna come at 7 am to pick us up, but already arrived earlier, which was perfect, as we were all ready early too. Randy had bought three more car seats for little or no money and managed to put them into two suitcases, which left 3 suitcases for all our stuff. That way we can leave those car seats in America and still have the three in Austria to use, and can fill the two suitcases up with the stuff we'll gather in America.

Randy and our friend put everything into the van, including the wheelchair, and we put the kids into their seats. They had been looking forward to riding a car again and were excited to be in there.

Once at the airport, we got a cart and made our way to the check-in counter. It was a challenge doing that by ourselves. Once at the check-in, somebody took us to the front of the line, to the "special assistance" counter, which was a blessing. We'd had to tell them about Sammy's wheelchair and they assigned us a person. After we'd finished checking in, we walked over to the waiting area, where someone soon came to help us. That guy then ended up pushing Sammy, and leading the way, which was nice, because we didn't have to figure out where to go. I'd never gotten on a plane to the US in Vienna, as Air France always goes through Paris, but this time we were flying Austrian Airlines, so our first flight was gonna take us to Chicago. We walked and walked, Randy pulling Tammy and Emmy, who were both sitting on their dogs. We finally reached the security check, where the kids were upset, when we had to put their dogs on the conveyor belt together with someone else. I told them they'd get them right back after walking through the machine. As for Sammy, they patted him down and checked his wheelchair, then we put everything together and continued walking to get to our gate.

We sat down at our gate, and the assistance guy left us. Tammy and Emmy wanted their tablets so they started watching and playing. We still had a long wait ahead of us, and the kids were getting more and more impatient. They just wanted to get on the plane. I told them to run around a little, as we were gonna sit on a plane for 10 hours. Emmy did, and we were running around together playing. He was having lots of fun, and his giggling brought more smiles than frowns to people. But Tammy, I simply could not get her off the tablet. I took it away from her, and she threw a fit, screaming and trying to scratch me. Everyone was looking at us. I finally gave it back to her.

After they had checked our papers, we still had to wait more and finally walked to the front of the line and got to go onto the plane. We had to leave Sammy's wheelchair at the entrance to the plane, then got on and walked to our seats. I let the kids play some more on their tablets at first, then they soon ran out of battery power anyway.  I was sitting with Tammy and Emmy, while Sammy was sitting with Randy. It was a really long flight with nearly 10 hours. They were watching bits of pieces of different films and shoes on their screen in front of them in the course of the ten hours, but only the boys took a nap. Tammy stayed up the whole time. Ever so often they asked, whether we were about there, and I showed them on the map on the screen where we were. It sure was a long flight.

At 1:30 local time which is 8:30 pm Austrian time (bed time) we landed in Chicago. It then took a long time for the plane to taxi to the gate, and they were really impatient during that time. After we got off the plane, we had to wait for the wheelchair to be brought up, which took a while. I was just glad that we got it. However, they did not give us a person to help, which was disappointing.

And so the five of us started making our way to immigration. Just before, they were was a group of lots of assistants gathered, and I walked up to the boss and asked him for somebody to help, as we had signed up for that. He said "no problem" and gave us a young guy to go with us. He started pushing Sammy and leading the way to immigration. We had a 8 hour layover, but everything took so long that we needed hours before we got to the gate of our second plane, so we needed the time. The guy took us to the wheelchair line for immigration, which moved really fast. When it was our turn, the officer only asked how long we were going to be in the US, no other questions. Then we walked on to the baggage claim area, as we had to pick up all our luggage, go through customs, and then recheck them. Little did we know how long we were gonna be just there.

The assistance guy stayed with me and the kids, while Randy went to the belt to pick up the suitcases. As we were waiting, the guy told me that it's been taking a very long time recently to get suitcases, up to 90 minutes, and that may be how long we were actually waiting there. Tammy and Emmy started running around, playing and giggling and having fun and finally moving after the long flight. Most people around us were smiling watching them and listening to them, but sometimes they were running in front of people trying to walk by. I let them move after the long flight. I finally took Sammy out of his wheelchair, when it became obvious that it would still take quite some more time, and he sat on the floor. He wanted something to eat, so all three finally sat down on the ground eating. We were relieved, when Randy finally got the remaining three suitcases. We had them all, praise God!

Then it was time to go through customs. This time there was no separate line, so we had to slowly move with the people. Randy had the one cart with all our suitcases and also tried to pull the kids on their dogs. We handed the form to the officer, and that was it, even though we had said we had some snacks for the kids.

We walked out and then waited, while Randy and the guy rechecked our luggage to go on the next flight. Tammy was really thirsty and had been whining for a while; we had made sure we had no water left in the bottles, as we still had to go through security. So our next stop was the bathroom, where we put some water into a bottles and where I changed Sammy's dirty diaper. Then we walked to a little train that would took us to our terminal. The kids were getting cranky as it was way beyond their bedtime and impatient for us to get to the gate as they wanted to play with their tablets.

But first we had to go through passport control and security. We got to go to the front of the line at passport control and then found out that our electronic boarding passes were not working. So they sent us away to get them printed out. It was a long walk back to the check-in counters, where it was quick to print them out at the machines. Then we turned around to make the long walk once again and went through the check. It was very obvious that we were in the north of the US, as some of the airport employees weren't very nice, compared to the ones in Atlanta, where I'd always land first. Our assistant was like that at first, but then warmed up, as we spent so much time together.

We had to get everything out at security, then I went through the x-ray machine with the kids, while Randy and Sammy went elsewhere for his security check. They swiped Randy's and Sammy's hand for drugs, while I was with the other kids and the assistant at the exit of security waiting for them. They had a big fan standing there, as it was pretty hot, and the kids enjoyed standing in front of it, as did Sammy once he returned. Once we were all done, we continued on to walk to our gate.

And of course it was the one as far away as possible. Tammy was getting pretty cranky, as she hadn't slept, and I was impressed with Sammy who was smiling and fine. We finally made it to our gate, where we said good-bye to our assistant. We still had about 2 hours to boarding, so it had taken us 4 hours since arriving. Good to know for next time.

We found some soft benches which was perfect as I was hoping they'd lie down to sleep a little bit. It was after midnight for them. However, there was no sleeping going on. They played on their tablets briefly, but then there was no battery power left. I left to get them something to eat after Sammy had asked for food, but they only ate little. They started running around and playing, and Emmy loves talking to people and talked to a few people around, having fun with them. Not having the tablet, Tammy started getting really tired and finally lay down and fell asleep. At 7 pm, an hour before departure, we walked around the corner get to the gate. Randy was carrying Tammy who was fast asleep and then sat down with her by the gate. Emmy started playing with the straps that pull out to make barriers, while I was playing with Sammy, with his little toy horse that he loves so much. It still took a long time until we were able to board, and Emmy was getting pretty impatient. Finally the time had come. Since Randy was carrying Tammy, I had to take Sammy as well as the stuff, which was challenging, but we made it to the plane. Randy went on with Tammy and Emmy, while I got Sammy out of his chair and took him and the rest. I thought he'd put Tammy on her seat, so she could continue sleeping, but when I got to our seats, she was sitting there screaming. We all sat down, and Tammy continued screaming and trying to hit and scratch me. When she's like that, there's noting you can do. We had everyone's attention on the plane. She went on and on, then sat down and started to calm down. When I tried to put her seat belt on, she started again. The flight attendant came and said they could not leave until everyone had their belts on She then sat down on the empty seat next to Randy, but continued her fit. Then she wanted Mommy again and returned next to me. At some point she finally quieted down, especially after another passenger came to her and gave her snacks, then the flight attendant came and gave her more snacks. I was able to put the seat belt on her, and she was quiet again.

Then it was Sammy's turn to have a fit, because Randy put him into his own seat and put his seat belt on. He was about to fall asleep, but not in a seat, so he cried and cried. I tried singing, and it helped a little, but not for long. Then I had the idea of using his beloved horsey that we had played with before getting on the plane. I asked Randy to give it to him and played the role of the horse again, speaking for it to Sammy, and it worked. He stopped crying right away and held his horsey tight. It didn't take long for him to fall asleep, and so he slept together with Daddy next to him. And it didn't take long for the others as well. I encouraged Emmy to also lean against me and sleep, so he was on my left leaning on me, and Tammy on my right, and soon they were both fast asleep. I moved their legs onto the seat so they'd be more in a horizontal position, and also fell asleep. We missed the beverage service, so I never got the cup of water I wanted.

That way the 75 minute flight was over in a moment. At 10 pm local time we landed in Memphis, which was 5 am Austrian time. All the kids were woken up, and all three were screaming at one point, one after another, rather than at the same time. They were so tired and just wanted to sleep. We let everyone get off the plane, as we gathered up our stuff. Then we had the challenge of getting off the plane with three sleeping/sleepy kids. Randy took Sammy, while I put sleeping Emmy on my shoulder and tried to push my carry-on through the aisle to get to the exit. A flight attendant came and helped me with my luggage. Crying/screaming Tammy was behind me following me out. When we got out, Randy was already putting Sammy into the wheelchair. Emmy finally woke up, and I put him down. Often, when Tammy throws a fit, when we're out and about, she wants me to put her on my shoulders, so I gave in after I had put Emmy down and put her on my shoulders. She was quiet right away, as we started walking to the baggage claim area. There were no people anywhere; it was pretty much just us walking and walking. With her 16+ kilos Tammy was getting pretty heavy as we walked on. When we reached the elevator to take to the baggage claim area, I put her down, and she was fine. A black lady in a wheelchair reached the elevator first and let us get on first. I believe she was on our plane, so she knew the screaming kids.

When we reached the baggage claim area, all the luggage was already out and most people gone. Randy got two suitcases, but didn't see the other ones. Then he saw another one sitting by the airline's office, and then he saw the remaining two sitting there as well. But the lady wasn't gonna give them to us unless we could show our luggage tags. As I had them, I walked over there, but she was still helping two ladies ahead of us, and then there was another guy waiting. He was also from our plane. As the ladies were wrapping up, I asked him to let me go first because of the kids. He immediately knew what kids I was talking about, and then Sammy started criyng in the distance. So he let me go first, and it took no time at all to get our luggage. We put it all on two carts and moved to the elevator. Once we got off, we still had quite a walk to the rental car agencies. I had Sammy and one cart, and Randy the other cart, and he was also pulling Tammy and Emmy who were both sitting on their dogs. We finally reached the rental agencies, and I was hoping that everything was gonna work out.

Leading up to our trip, we had been trying to find the best deal and the right size vehicle and had three different reservations at one point, finally deciding on one. There were risks with some of them, but I was glad that it all worked out in the end. We got the deal with the best price, and the car was bigger than expected, though Randy said it would also need more gas. It's the perfext size, in any case. When we got to the car, I started putting the kids' pj's on, while Randy was getting the car seats out and put them in, as well as putting our luggage in. At that time, the kids were wide awake and having fun. They were excited about the car. Because of an issue, Sammy's car seat couldn't be in the front, and so it was Emmy who ended up in the front, and the other two in the second row with me in the middle. The kids were getting impatient to leave, and then we were finally ready.

We pulled out of the parking garage and made our way to the interstate. We had a 2-hour ride ahead of us. The kids wanted their tablets, but I told them it was time to sleep, which they weren't so happy about. It did not take them long to fall asleep at all, and I also got to sleep a little. We were slowed down, when there was an accident, and we had to stop and wait for a while, and Randy made a stop to get some coffee and water, coffee so he'd stay awake.

I woke up not long before we arrived in Randy's little village. By the time we reached the house that he'd built and where his daughter lives with her family, it was 2:30 am. We started carrying them in, and soon they were all awake. And we were surprised to see Randy's third daughter up and waiting for us. She was excited to finally see her half-siblings, and our kids were excited to see all the toys there, as they have two nieces that are younger than them. Our kids started playing with the toys, and they were excited about the two cats. After some time, we finally went upstairs to put them to bed. We put their mattresses on the floor in the little room we were in, and by the time we were all going to bed, it was going on 4 am. Thankfully everyone fell asleep fast, though Emmy was saying he was scared and climbed into bed with me.