Getting there is half the fun..Right?

     We began our journey in Baton Rouge Louisiana on New Year's day. We rented two cars from the airport and drove to Houston, almost 5 hours in pouring rain. After arriving at the airport we proceeded to drag 3 kids, 13 bags, and a car seat to the check in while Elijah grumbled that me and Michael clearly did not know what we were doing. We made quite the spectacle of ourselves going through security at the airport, it only took us like 12 overflowing plastic bins in a row. Stella had been pretty nervous to go through the full body scanner, but after all the build up they did not make me or any of the kids go through, or take their shoes off. However, they did rummage through two of our bags, one because I had accidentally stuck a rogue butter knife in one (my bad) and the other because Elijah had apparently loaded up on rocks his cousin had given him as a send off gift in Baton Rouge. The lady in security looked at him and said "honey you got rocks in this bag" and he answered almost crying "just one my cousin gave me."

    After all that excitement we hung out in the United lounge for a bit for some free food and internet and (to the kids skewed view of airport travel) then we boarded the plane for the kids first plane ride ever.... that just happened to be 10 hours long. The kids were excited and everyone else in first class was either smiling or grimacing at their rather evident joy, but apparently the pilots in the cockpit could hear this joy and invited all of them to have a look at the cockpit and sit in the pilot seat. They got to press a few buttons and wear the captains hat, it was all over the top and did nothing to calm them down. After getting them settled, we showed them how to work the entertainment center and it was all down hill from there. Elijah sat in the middle on his own and did great. He even managed to order a cup of coffee without my knowledge. They ate their 5 course meal and I even over heard a flight attendant say to another " what polite children they are"( in a British accent). Yay! I almost didn't think they had it in them. Everyone went to sleep after dinner (except me, thanks to my fear of turbulence.) We awoke to breakfast and daylight and thankfully a smooth landing. The kids walked off the place to discover they could see their breath...German Dragon's Breath. Then it was another marathon though customs and baggage claim... good times :) We stood at the wrong baggage claim ...blah blah blah.

      We rented the largest van we could, so we did not have to tie our suitcases to the roof. Apparently that means a black Mercedes van that looks like we should either start an electric company, do some sheet rocking, or abduct some children. Unfortunately it was a standard and after loading all 13 bags Michael ran it into a wall. Yes you read that right, he ran it into the wall ! He could not get it into reverse and gassed slightly to much. Thankfully no one was in the garage so he put it in neutral and pushed it backwards. While the kids slept in the van Michael went back to the rental car agency to get yet another van... an automatic, 2 hours later we were on our way to the hotel in Kaiserswerth. We stopped at the German walmart (Real) for some snacks and to show the kids they still have normal stuff in stores; DS games, toys, etc.. they were very pleased with what they found. Finally, hours behind schedule we drove to the hotel, only to find the doors locked.  We rang the bell and tried to call a number on the door, but nothing. We were exhausted and had no where to sleep. We walked to the closest restaurant and said "Sprechen Sie English" the owner helped us call another number to a sister hotel 10 miles away in Ratingen. We set off yet again! The hotel was easy enough to find and we made a meal of sandwiches from Real supplies .... and finally 24 hours later sleep............