Alexander Family's Big Adventure: Whew! That was tough (Part III) and a festival

There was a big line to get to the baggage claim, but fortunately an airline person directed us to the elevator, and told Dave to go up one level. But what does that imply? Of course, that one knows what level one's on, which Dave didn't, nor did he ask. So we road the elevator up and down a couple of times while Griffy complained that he had to use the bathroom urgently. Of course we figured it out and made it to the baggage claim where, blessedly, all of our suitcases were waiting for us. Dave pulled them off the carousel while I took Griffy and the others. When I came back, an airline person informed me that the car seats were in a different location, and when Dave came back, he got 3 luggage carriers and loaded everything up on them. Meanwhile, we were waiting for our ride. Dan, my sponsor, and one person currently on rotation, Megan, were picking us up in two big vans. I had a feeling we would have to go through the "Nothing to Declare" door before seeing them, but I was still working on figuring out how two adults would push three luggage carts. I just about enlisted Alex when the same airline person offered to push it through for us.

Dan and Megan were waiting for us and it worked out well. The twins were still pretty grumpy but they were walking while whining and crying. Hey, at least they were moving. Alex was doing quite well and being a big boy. We made a fuss over him. It took a while to load the suitcases and the car seats up, but we got Lilly, Livvy and Griffy in and buckled, and then called Alex and got him buckled, too. At last, we were ready to go to the Army Lodge in Wiesbaden to check in. Hallelujah!

When we started driving away, Alex said to me, "Mommy, I'm so sad." I asked him why, and as he answered, the tears starting coming, and then came harder and faster. "I saw my first German caterpillar and I don't think he's going to live because the cars are too close by." And then, once the flood gates had opened, he lost control and he just couldn't get it back. I tried to reason with him that the caterpillar was in its natural habitat and God always takes care of all his creatures including us, but it didn't matter. He was too tired and simply couldn't get a grip. My poor sponsor just drove patiently and was very good about the situation. I finally told Alex, "This isn't my big boy. Where is my big boy? Try to lock it down, honey." And by the time we made it to the Lodge (about 20 minutes), Alex had it under control pretty well.

But by the time we checked in to the hotel at 0930 German time (only the small room was ready), Alex and Livvy both lost control again. I had to carry them separately. I was helped by a friendly family who waited with Alex until I came back to get him. It was the whole length of a very long hallway, but we're on post and as a result, are pretty safe here.

So we got into the small room, and I made the 3 big kids lie down on the floor with their pillows from Grandmaw and their blankets from Aunt Michelle. Did it take them 10 seconds to fall asleep? Well, yes, but only because Lilly was climbing on them because she was all giddy from her exhaustion. But I lay on the floor and barricaded her from reaching the kids and let Dave take a snooze. We had to be up in about 2 hours for the i.d. card appointment, so I watched Lilly while everyone else got some shut-eye.

It was kind of nice, really. The travel is hard on my bad neck, so I lay flat and let Lilly play up / down. She was, it seemed, happy for the peace and quiet, as was I. Next to sleep, I really needed some quiet time. And although I haven't seen it often since, I watched Lilly take her first 3 steps. Boy, was she proud of herself.

It was a long road. The first two nights the kids (all 4 of them) woke up in the middle of the night and stayed awake for several hours. Tuesday night I got one hour of sleep, and then my sponsor called me Wednesday morning and told me I had training to go to in an hour. It was supposed to be a day off. I was not happy about that. But what could I do? So I went with my one hour of sleep and listened to the training. At least it was relatively mindless. In the early part of the week, things were so unorganized and the small room we had first checked in was a complete disaster. You can see for yourself how ugly it was. Every bedtime the kids were utterly exhausted, but they took all of this change in stride and seemed happy just to have their Legos to play with.

Now that it's Sunday and we've been here 6 days, we are getting things together. Yesterday and Friday we went to the German-American Friendship Festival that was just off post. Friday was family day and the rides were cheap! I hadn't brought my camera so my pictures are from yesterday, but the rides were crazy expensive yesterday. I let them ride one ride but it cost about $11. Whew! On Friday I rode a ride called The Starlight with Alex. I have ridden similar rides at fairs in the U.S., but I have NEVER ridden any that have gone as fast as this one. It was so much fun! But at the same time, I was acting as Alex's seatbelt because it was concerning me a little bit. He was probably fine, but I wanted it to be a little bit safer. The other thing about the rides was that there were no ins and outs under control like we're used to. The kids could walk right up to it at any time. Not hazardous as long as the kids know enough. So they figured it out.