Friday mostly consisted of packing and traveling so this will be mostly short-ish.
Phil has done his best to handle meals for the kids because trying to figure out how to feed everyone when one bite of food or drink of a beverage makes my stomach hurt. We basically just worked on packing, packing, and packing after breakfast. I took breaks off and on and then one big break for about half an hour about 12:30. I think the not eating has just made me get more and more tired. Plus, even though it's been fun and enjoyable and challenging, I think the stress and activity is also exhausting. Phil finished getting the odds and ends packed up and I got up and got bottles and stuff made for the day and finished up while he went and got a cart to load up our bags. Because we had so much laundry, and because we wanted to keep all the laundry separated from everything else, we had 6 pieces of luggage, even though we had basically just gotten rid of all the stuff from two suitcases at the orphanage!
Anyway, Phil checked us out (on a side note, after days of arguing who's turn it was to push the elevator buttons, we started making it one person's DAY to push the buttons that whole day, and the sequence is backwards alphabetical order just to keep it interesting for me) after Ian pushed the elevator buttons. And we loaded all our stuff into the van (3rd driver for the week so we decided to hold onto our driver gift and give it to someone else in GZ).
It was about an hour to the airport and once we got there, we loaded up two carts and Celine and Phil pushed them while I helped with all the kids and their backpacks. I had packed most of their backpack stuff into suitcases since it was a short flight (compared to the 16 hour one coming up) and so all the backpacks were much lighter. Celine took Phil to ticketing while I took all the kids to the bathroom, which was a mistake... because where are they all going to set their backpacks while they go? CERTAINLY NOT ON THE FLOOR - we are talking about squatty potty bathrooms. I'd prefer if we could hovercraft in those bathrooms, let alone put baggage down. So after I held Titus's bag so he could go fast, I marched everyone else back out and down to ticketing to wait until Phil was done to take the rest of the kids to the bathroom WITHOUT their stuff. That was a successful squatty trip and then we had to say our good-byes to Celine. She hugged everyone and we took a picture with her and the kids.
Off we went to security.
Chicago was stressful because of timing.
Xi'an was stressful because of...
The security guard filtering people into different lines was so kind and sent us into the "late passengers" line. It was VERY short. Sweet!
We waited for a little while and made it up to the entrance to security. Phil handed him the stack of passports, boarding passes, and Ian's adoption decree. Oh dear. It overwhelmed the good man. He sent Phil through, then proceeded to hand each child their own passport and boarding pass - say what?! So, I took them away and then after I took them all away, realized he had done that not because he had processed them and was finished but so that he could START. LOL He wanted each child to hand him their own passport/boarding pass. Oh well. I handed them back one by one, while at the same time Phil's taking stuff off the kids and me to start putting through the bins/scanner. The officer checks the passport and boarding pass, stamps it and takes the child's picture and they walk through the metal detector HOLDING THEIR OWN PASSPORT AND BOARDING PASS while Phil and I are still on the other side. FOUR children walked through ahead of us! Who does that?! Phil's still sending stuff through the conveyor belt when I (who was caboosing the Blechacz train through security and watching this all happen) realize there's an issue with Ian's passport and boarding pass. He looked scared. I stayed close to him. The man took his passport and boarding pass and went and showed it to another officer. That officer came over and spoke to Ian in Chinese. I don't know what she said. Ian had a hard time answering. I'm not sure if she was asking who his parents are, but he really uncomfortably kind of just pointed towards me. I have no idea what the conversation is about so I just kind of lean in and say, is there a problem. She shows me that Ian's passport number doesn't match his ticket and that it says they need to see the ID number from something. I call Phil over and he says, it's on the adoption decree. AHA! Sure enough, all is well and they realize that Ian has been adopted and send him through. Meanwhile, one of the kids is twirling with their passport and boarding pass waiting for all of us. I go through and they make me take Jemma out of the ergo, take the ergo off to send it through the conveyor belt, and then wand Jemma and wand me. At this point, our stuff is EVERYWHERE because it has literally been taken apart! We are so glad we went through THIS line because it was such a small area and there were so many security guards working this one spot that we had so much help with the kids. Having Jemma get out of the ergo to get scanned really threw me off because it added a whole other element of putting back together.
After all of that, we LEISURELY walked to our gate which was, back to normal, last one in the terminal. :)
Ian was SO excited! His first airplane ride. He saw his first airplane walking to the gate and pointed for all the others to look! We sat at the gate for a while, ate granola bars, went to the bathroom two more times, and finally our plane pulled up and I told Ian to go look. He was really excited and wanted to take pictures.
Phil had asked if we could pre-board and amazingly (because we are a circus in China) we boarded the plane VERY first AND our seats were together AND our seats were almost at the very front of the plane. The only bummer was that neither of us could sit with Ian because a parent had to be sitting with children who could not reach the oxygen mask.
We told all the kids to chew gum. Celine had told Ian what it would be like and that he'd have a meal and where to go to the bathroom and if his ears hurt what to do to help. As we were taxiing, his face was excited. Then we lifted off and he put his hand up to his forehead, which we've come to see a bit more often recently. It means he's scared or uncomfortable. He did not like taking off but he did great on the flight and during the landing. We had a meal (yes a MEAL for a 2 hour flight).
I gave Jemma and Lily dramamine. Lily wasn't feeling the greatest and asked for some and we know to give it to Jemma.
Phil and I switched places towards the end of the flight so he was sitting by Jemma and Titus and I was sitting by Sammy and Phoebe.
All of a sudden - we're about to land and Phil says, she just threw up everywhere. I'm in total shock - but clearly not as shocked as he is. I realize it was probably that she just put a piece of gum in her mouth and maybe gagged. She has a bad gag response and can throw up at the drop of a hat. Anyway, he asked me to get wipes, which of course are in the overhead bin (when will we learn?) and so I break the rules and risk my safety by unbuckling and getting the wipes from the overhead bin. He starts to wipe up the puke and Titus is exclaiming about all the throw up and Phil's gagging. At this point, I decide it would be better for all involved if I offer to switch places with Phil, again risking my life (LOL - I'm kidding) by unbuckling. Phil was out of that seat so fast it was comical. I worked for the rest of the landing on wiping her up and the seat and seat belt. Titus was still in awe and continued to color commentate the events as they were playing out. Phil said later that he was just sitting there and Jemma patted his arm and said, "Daddy can I helpie you please?" and that is when he looked down and saw all the puke. Sweet girl.
The plane had to be refueled before we got off of it and in that amount of time, I was not just glowing with sweat, I was literally pooling sweat everywhere. We got off the plane and went to baggage claim. Having a teenage boy is AWESOME! I sent him over to Phil to help get our luggage because when 6 bags are coming off all at once, a Dad can only do so much by himself. Ian was ready with carts and Lily helped too. We pushed the carts out, met our guide and then crossed two busy roadways to get to the pick up spot... along with like a million other people waiting to be picked up. If I had been pooling sweat before on the plane, I was creating a lake at this point. We are now in the tropics. Lily is so befuddled and annoyed at this point that she's hot and we're not doing anything about it and Sammy and Jemma are purely exhausted and about to lose it completely. Finally our van pulls up and we all jump in and breath in the air conditioning and relax.
OH! I forgot a really awful part of the day - "relax" made me remember it. So, before we drove to the airport, we had to drive to the government building to pick up Ian's passport. On the way, the guide asks if we have Ian's immunization record - a little green book. I said, I thought we didn't need that until the consulate appt. Phil said, no we need it at the medical appt. Okay - no biggie I think. That's not until tomorrow. Except that Celine and Phil want to know where it is. That is the ONLY important document I've even touched this entire time. It was handed to me on Ian's adoption day. All of our suitcases are jammed in behind me and I have NO idea where it is. I tell Celine to call the hotel to ask if it's still in our apartment and the stress meter on Phil is reaching dangerous levels... I can almost hear the emergency alarms going off and I'm trying to figure out how to handle the situation... I opt for just putting it all out there - I don't know where the document is. Period. I ask Celine what happens if I lost it. She says we will have to get another one (which wouldn't actually work because we need it by the morning). I tell Celine and Phil that the only place I think it can be is in the bag that I got from the adoption day along with all the other stuff I was given (a bag of earth from his orphanage, a little baby apron, and a few other things in it including Ian's camera box and instructions). I'm not exactly sure which suitcase that brown bag is even packed in but based on my packing from the morning of pain and delusion almost from my stomach, I was basically throwing stuff in. Phil and Celine go into the office and Sammy and Titus and I have all prayed out loud about the booklet that I need to find. The drive jumps out and pulls out the first suitcase. He and I unzip it, and it has the brown bag. I open it up, sift through it, and there it is. I hold it up, as if it was my lost diamond and shout HERE IT IS! PRAISE THE LORD! I keep saying that over and over and the driver is shouting and all the kids are and then we realize all this is happening in the middle of the driving space. So he indicates I need to close the suitcase. I shove stuff back in and he zips it up and puts it back in the van while I run around and show Ian we found it. I let him hold it until Phil comes out and then we all quietly just waited for Ian to show Phil that we had it. Phil quietly (and possibly with slightly persed lips) said Praise the Lord and took it and put it with all the other important documents. Poor guy. He's had a few more gray hairs sprouted on this trip... I hate being one of them.
Anyway, we pulled up to the Garden Hotel late and walked in and OH to be greeted by that beautiful Garden smell!!!! It's pure luxury. Miko and Phil went to check us in while I waited with the kids. Jemma and Sammy had passed out in the car (after Jemma threw YET ANOTHER I AM NOT BUCKLING MY SEAT BELT TANTRUM) so they stayed asleep. The hotel gave Ian a little backpack and he was overjoyed to get a gift filled with goodies.
We got a two bedroom apartment and after Phil tipped the bellboy, we worked as fast as we could to figure out who was sleeping where and all fall into bed. What a day!
And that, was not at all short-ish!
No comments:
Post a Comment