Tallahassee to Berlin

I was going to be really clever and have our travel post titled: 4 Kids, 3 Cameras, 2 Weeks, 1 Wicked Long Slide-Show

However, I think the telling of our trip will be better breaking it down in segments.

Monday, December 15th:

I spent all day packing and cleaning. I mean, who wants to come home to a dirty house, right? Plus, I take great pride in my packing prowess. (There is a picture in the slide show of everything we took with us.) Even though we tried to get to bed early, Gideon ended up being awake until around 10:30 and JR and I didn't get to bed until well after midnight.

Tuesday, December 16th:

We arranged with Debby for her to pick us up at 9:30 am to begin our "trek". The kids are great in the car on trips. So we made our way up to the Atlanta airport. We stopped at Chick-fil-A for breakfast AND lunch. I mean, we all like it, so why not, right?

Upon arriving at the airport (around 2 pm) we contacted Katie and told her where to find the car and headed inside.

We are trying a new sling for Naomi. It's fairly involved and ends up being like a baby bjorn type carrier. So she was strapped to JR who also had a big back pack on and was carrying a duffel bag. I was carrying a duffel bag, diaper bag, and Naomi's back pack. Debby had her suitcase, her purse and her wool coat. And Gideon carried his back pack and tried to keep up with us.

Despite having so much in hand and having little ones to deal with, we made it through security and every check point along the way with relative ease. So we headed to our gate, explored a little bit and waited for our plane.

In the Atlanta airport, I had seen a Curious George sitting on the suitcase of someone sitting at the bar. So, to get some of Gideon's wiggles out, we went to see if he was still there. And he was (several times). It made Gideon's day to see Curious George in the airport. He kept wishing him a good flight.

Also, as Gideon is notorious for, he "hooked up" with 2 chicks. (two little girls (5 and 3) on their way to Poland) I overheard him telling the older one that his name was Gideon and his sister was "Nanomi". Then he said, "Say, "Nanomi." (funny kid)

And at 5ish, we boarded our flight. Did we get the hook up or what? Jr and I were seated right behind the bathrooms and were provided a bassinet for Naomi. Debby and Gideon were right behind us. Gideon was facinated that he had his own tv and was able to watch "Finding Nemo".

The only one who slept on the flight was Naomi. And she slept for pretty much the entire thing. But since there was turbulance JR and I weren't able to leave her in the bassinet for most of the last half of the flight. Gideon slept for MAYBE 2 hours our ENTIRE journey.

Wednesday, December 17th:

We landed in Amsterdam around 7am local time. And after having slightly more trouble in customs, we headed directly to our gate where Gideon and Naomi made more friends.

The entire trip (as well as the previous week), Gideon was fixated on "Baby Simon's House". Well... now that we were only ONE flight away, he talked about it constantly.

Finally that flight came and went and we could see Kelli waving at us through the glass. We grabbed our bags and made our way to "Baby Simon's House."

Rachel was still in school, so Gideon had free-reign over all the toys. He still didn't sleep. The kid is a machine.

I got to run errands with Kelli while Debby and JR stayed with our kids (who were supposed to be napping).

We spent time chillin' until dinner. JR and I broke out Kelli's Wii and played it for the first time. It was awesome!!! I beat JR in baseball and bowling. That would NOT happen in real life. After we put the kids to bed, Brent introduced us to Guitar Hero (Band). JR is obsessed. But it's tons of fun. And we stayed up way too late.

Thursday, December 18th:

Gideon does not handle jet lag well. He was awake most of the night. And Naomi was up often too. But we made everyone get up before 10.

We got ready and headed to a Christmas market by the bombed out church building. Gideon rode on a carousal that had cars on it. He loved it at first, and then he turned around and saw a weird yellow and purple bull on the front of the car behind him. He would NOT take his eyes off of it. JR and I stood on opposite sides of the ride trying to get him to stop staring at it. He looked terrified and couldn't look away... and then he started screaming (not taking his eyes off it or moving, mind you... just screaming) and tears were shooting out of his eyes. He was pitiful, but it was hilarious at the same time. The ride finally ended, and he was calmed down easily.

And I had a Nutella Crepe.

(yes, that did deserve it's own paragraph, thank you)

We shopped in the market while Kelli picked up Rachel from school and then Kelli drove us around Berlin showing us the sites while all the kids but Naomi slept in the car. Naomi, who was in my lap for lack of car seats ended up peeing all over the both of us. (nice memory, huh?)

At the house the kids played until dinner (which is later in Kelli's house than mine) and then after dinner we put the kids to bed. Since Brent wasn't feeling up to Guitar Hero, we finally got a chance to watch "Transformers". It was really good.

Friday, December 19th:

JR and I got up and started getting ready and packing for our trip to Scotland.

Slide-show: