We Made It!

We arrived just before 7:00 A.M. on December 29, 2011. I had to include the year, so when I bind this blog, I'll always have the official date. The planes were uneventful. We traveled from Peoria to Chicago, Chicago to JFK in New York, and New York to Brussels. The kids were fantastic! Thomas slept one hour on the last leg of the trip, and Allison fell asleep just 40 minutes before we landed in Brussels. Needless to say, she was a little grouchier when we arrived. Our wait to get through customs was about 45 minutes, but all of our luggage came out together at baggage claim. Maybe the folks loading the bags noticed my obnoxious yellow ribbons on each one and thought it might help to keep them together...and maybe it was just a fluke. Our friend, Ben, met us at the airport, so we could get the car we purchased from him. That was handy. But, there was a bit of a glitch with Chris getting his rental car. First, the original car didn't have a navigation system, and with only one GPS, Chris thought he might need it. So, he switched to another car, which had a manual transmission, and well, he can't drive a stick. Then, he finally got a third car that is just like mine. He was hoping for something cool. :) The biggest problem was the five pieces of luggage he had to keep hauling back to the desk in the airport (not close at all) and loading and unloading in the cars. Meanwhile, I was waiting at a gas station outside the airport and was worried sick, but it all worked out after about an hour and a half. After an hour stop at the bank (I waited in the car while the kids slept...I've now been in the car for over three hours...as if 9+ hours in a plane wasn't enough) we went to the house. And, the house was freezing. That made the over-tired children REALLY happy. They complained for about 2 minutes and then fell asleep on the couches...phew! They were out for another five hours. We did some unpacking, went to the grocery store, and finally went out for a nice little dinner in our nice little town.

Zonked out on the couch!

Today was spent unpacking our air shipment, hooking up Internet...YAY!!, hanging curtains on 13 windows, and catching up on Facebook and Skyping with family and friends. We are slowly getting adjusted. I think with another week at home, the kids will be ready to go to school. The kids will ride the bus with the boy next door. We lovingly refer to him as Ben 10 (named Ben and 10 years old.) Seems like a neat kid. He told us he is half Californian. Hmmm....sure we will find out the story on that in due time.

Talk to you soon!

Wendy