48 hours

the title reminds of that show on tv where they track the first 48 hours of a missing person..... well here's my 48 hour account of our trip to the netherlands.

we woke up sunday morning, the kids were very excited to get to the airport... i think graham probably asked me about 10 times "is it 1 o'clock yet?"(the time we told him we were leaving for the airport). i think i processed about 8 loads of laundry throughout the morning as i tried to find a place in our suitcases for all our remaining 'stuff'. as the time approached noon, ross ran a few errands with the kids, including a run to target for another piece of luggage. we had lunch and realized that we were going to need ANOTHER piece of luggage - so ross ran to target to get another bag... er should i say 2 bags. good thing he got another bag - we needed it! we loaded up the car around 1:45... yes, already 45 minutes later than our targeted departure time! i pulled the cloth diapers out of the dryer and we headed to the airport. ross dropped me off at the front door at o'hare with 13 pieces of luggage and 4 kids! ahhhhh! fortunately i had some help to the check-in counter. we got all the luggage checked in and ross returned the rental car. then we proceeded through security and on to the business class lounge. not too bad! the kids got some snacks and about 25 minutes later we made our way to the gate and after 2 rides on the moving belt, we boarded the airplane and got settled. the boys found video games on the plane and helen was entertained by the window shades.... open.....close..... open ..... close....open...close ... you get the idea. we took off and dinner was served. after dinner, helen fell asleep and the boys played video games and watched movies until about midnight chicago time (our flight left around 6pm chicago time). where was jillian? pretty much sleeping the ENTIRE flight! i actually watched a couple of movies! i didn't want to fall asleep because i had to hold jillian on my lap.

we landed at schiphol airport around 9:30am local time. proceeded to claim all 13 pieces of luggage, 4 carseats, a stroller, and kept track of 4 kids :) ross had to arrage for a taxi to take some of us to our home since there were no rental cars available to hold 6 people. so, graham, helen, jillian, the13 pieces of luggage, and i got in the taxi.... ross gave me 200 euros and told the driver where our house was located..... 30 minutes later we arrived at our home!! (please note - i didn't have any way of getting a hold of ross if we got lost - my cell phone didn't work in the netherlands!)

at our new house, we were greeted by our friendly neighbor who had a special flower arrangement on our table and chocolate bunnies for the kids. they had also filled our fridge with some essential foods to get started. about 25 minutes later ross and jayden arrived. after a tour of the house and a nutella sandwich for everyone.....jillian went down for a nap and so did i!! about 3 hours later i woke up feeling so much better!! ross had taken the kids on a walk around our estate with the neighbor and he showed them where to feed some deer. the kids came inside for a drink of juice. graham was so tired that he forgot that we have an elevated table and he fell off the chair! graham and juice went everywhere!! the kids decided to play some board games in the family room until dinner.

warning....this paragraph may contain too much information for you...... :) i was putting some of our stuff away and noticed something on the family room floor...... somehow helen had pooped (keep in mind she has been potty trained for a while!) and then prcoeeded to track it around the first floor.....ughhhhh! gross! now i had to find something to clean it up and clean her up! yuck!!!!

the kids went to bed around 9pm local time....jillian fell asleep around 10:30pm and i crashed! on tuesday morning, ross headed off to work and i stayed home with the kids. the kids slept until almost noon! (not jillian, of course!) they all woke up so thirsty!!!