So we finally arrived in Santa Cruz after a crazy two days of traveling. First we left TASIS in a van to arrive at the Milan airport hours early. We get checked in which was crazy enough because we added Chloe to the 2nd leg of our roundtrip (she wasn't born for the first). This made for long waits and a paper ticket (which caused long waits at EVERY check point).
So after making it through all of those checkpoints with two babies, and changing diapers and so on at the departure gate ... our flight is cancelled 10 minutes before we board the plane. This means an entire plane's worth of people are all in a mob heading for the baggage claim, to get their begs, to all beat us to the ticket counter ... which means an entire plane's worth of people are ahead of us and yelling at the two poor clerks, 5 days before Christmas, about how they all need to get to that special place yesterday. Lily was great and was playing with all of the kids around, actually two of which went to our school and recognized us from around campus. Finally a nice lady told Lauren (carrying 2-month-old Chloe) to go to the front of the line and get a ticket first.
She did get our tickets, and then came over to me and told me our new flight is in 23 minutes ... so, throw all the bags and babies onto our shoulders and shuffle quickly to the checked bag counter. We head to first class because we have less than 23 minutes now, and there is an obviously wealthy and impatient man there who is having a problem iwth his ticket. The agent asks us to come up. She tells us there is no way we can make it to the fight, and we beg and maybe complain a little ... and she says she will pass us through and basically just says good luck. The whole time she is dealing with this (and still a paper ticket for Chloe) the rich man is berating her to be served immediately and waving his gold card in front of her. He then cuts in front of people at another counter and berates that later and there is more than a little yelling in Italian ... and we get passed on through with about 10 minutes or so until our flight. We run to the security check ... and there is a family line that is quicker, hooray! wait, there is a huge huge line of families, damn ... we ask the clerk if we can go to the front because we now have 7 minutes until our flight, to which he says no. Luckily nice people in front of us say, "go ahead!" We hustle and shuffle and plead and thank each family and we squeeze by. We practically throw the kids through the x-ray machine in our rush. We then begin sprinting through the airport with a baby strapped to both of our chests and carry-ons flailing about. Lauren self-sacrificingly gasps, "go on without me! I can't keep running! Go!" and so I leave her. Good riddance! I'll get on that plane with Lily and fly home! (or just ask them politely to wait).
We make it there red faced, sweaty, and gasping for air at the exact take-off time ... to find a huge line and them just boarding the plane because of a 15 minute delay. They come out of the line and ask if we are from the cancelled flight and they see the babies and usher us to the front of the line. They then ask for our tickets (one of which is paper) and we proceed to make the entire line come to a stand still while they take 3 or 4 attendants to look at our paper ticket in confusion. We felt so bad!
Then we flew for about an hour, of which I remember very little. We weren't sitting together, so we each took a kid and said, "good luck" to the other. Lily and I plopped down in a window seat next to a nice business man. I gave Lily a bottle and fell asleep. Gladly she followed suit rather than climbing down off my lap and running amuck. We land in Frankfurt and disembark. We throw everything down and start with the turn-taking going to the bathroom and leaving two kids, changing one diaper at a time as one of us stays with the stuff and the other takes one of the girls to the bathroom ... and upon Lily and I's last return ... Lauren looks up obviously not happy and says, (at about 4pm) "Our flight isn't until tomorrow morning" ... haha
We head to baggage to find out our bags are being taken care of and will end up in San Fran ... and they give us some overnight bags which were pretty nice. Then some more bureacracy and we have an overnight stay at a hotel airport. We get on a shuttle and stay in a pretty nice hotel. They had a baby bed they wheeled in, we were given a change of clothes, toiletries, a killer buffet meal, and everyone was super nice. We get some sleep (everyone but Lauren ... poor Lauren). We have to pry Lily out of bed in the morning and she does not want to wake up ... poor Lily too ... and after a quick, delicious buffet breakfast we're off to the airport again by 7am!
We get this flight without any problems and then it's just 12 hours in a plane with two seats, two adults, two babies, and bags and bags of stuff. We make it! A few highlights were Lauren feeling sick, walking Chloe up and down the isles in the dark for a few hours straight because she can tell if you are sitting down while holding her ... Lily screaming during take-off and landing because she hated being strapped into a chair ... and of course Lauren throwing up into a doggy bag while our wheels are touching down on the tarmac in SF. That was classic.
The flight attendants were all amazing and carrying our bags off the plane and LOVED Lily and Chloe. We then strapped the babies onto the chests (and Lily started SCREAMING because she was tired of being strapped down). We then got to immigration for the longest line EVER ... and this isn't Europe or Ecuador where people let families or pregnant women go to the front of the line. This is the American line where everyone is cutting in front of you, just unclipping the barriers and walking through them, and so on. We FINALLY make it through that after a lot of Lily screaming to find we are missing a bag ... and Lauren has to wait at the lost baggage counter behind utter madness while I let Lily run around and watch the bags (which means Lily screaming every time I pick her up and bring her back to the bags, then fun happy laughing Lily running away and being carried back crying, haha, what a game!)
... and minus a bag, after just 38 hours from leaving our apartment in Switzerland, we exit customs and see family. As soon as we get in the car Chloe decides it is going to be a screaming trip to SC and Lily just crashes out because it is now 10pm by her clock and she has basically gone without a nap for an entire day.
Happily we made it home intact and had a great time hugging and being welcomed home. We went to sleep and what's that I hear? Christmas Carols? No? It's just Lily screaming at 2am because she has sores all over her arms and face and a fever of 103. What a trip!
Though in the end ... we're home, with family and friends, during the greatest holiday of the year, and we couldn't be happier. Here are some amazing photos of our family (or at least the small portion inside the quarantine zone).
Chloe being held by her great grandmother who has the magic touch and loves nothing more than holding her sleeping great grand baby in the rocking chair ... we need a rocking chair in Switzerland ASAP
Lily already trying on some new presents
... and Lily's godfather came over to visit our first night home
... and then dad went out to see his sister
Mama lookin' good in the morning. It was a rough night, but that's a genuine "I'm home" smile.
... and Grandma was pretty happy to have us too!
toys!
... and keep that immune system on full power. We've got newborns to visit soon!
Believe it or not, this was one of Lauren's toys from when she was a child
Lily loving Christmas, even with a fever and a sore throat
... and her smiley little sister, maybe happy she has two cousins her exact age!
Hot mama gettin' out of the shower. She loves being home ... not in any small part because we have hot water here!!
Books! New books!
... Just chillin' with my mom
Trying to get some pediolite into Lily so she doesn't get too dehydrated
Lily found Lauren's childhood rocking chair and decided she should rock her baby too. First we need to check and see how to do it right.
... then hug tight!
"Did I do it right?"
Awwww. Chloe and her great grandmother.
Lily wouldn't eat anything, but dad knew what to do. He went and got some blueberries from Lily's other grandparents (he wasn't allowed inside because of the quarantine). Lily couldn't stop eating them, except to hand feed her dad. That box was finished in less than a day ... I guess she's getting her appetite back, if only for fruits.
Hushh! Leslie hears her favorite song and is really into it
... and baby Chloe waking up on Christmas eve cute as anything you've ever seen!
... and on Christmas eve morning, here is Lily with most of her happy energy back after the worst of hand, foot and mouth disease ... she's playing peek-a-boo with her mom.
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