Playing in Virginia Beach: part one

Monday morning I got up and took Kamele to school and then headed to get donuts for the kids.  On our drive down, we must have passed 50 or more Dunkin Donut's and since the kids were so amazing in the car, I promised them donuts for breakfast... Little did I know how bad morning traffic in Virginia Beach would be or I would have NEVER agreed to that!!  It took me ONE full hour to find the Dunkin Donuts (it was only about 12 miles away) and get back to Amy's.  

All I could think is about while in traffic was how much I hated being away from Spain... The grass was definitely not greener on the US side!!  

Amy and I spent the day starting wedding prep, going to Target (A MUST), and picking up last minute items for the wedding.  

After school- the kids were so happy to be together!!  

  

 These two were so cute together!

Liam was obsessed with their stairs.  He played on them for hours- sliding down any way he could!

 

 He even got Leilani to try it with him...

 In the evening, we took the kids to see Capitan America 2.  The kids had a great time.

The picture is dark... but this is all I was able to get:

 These two only stayed awake for the first 15 minutes and then slept the rest of the movie.  I was actually able to watch it without Liam getting bored...

Tuesday Amy, Morgan and I drove around to ever Dollar General in VA Beach looking for glass jars for the table center pieces.  We found the perfect jars while looking in one but of course they did not have enough.  We needed 10 large jars and 30 small.  VA Beach is so spread out and full or traffic that we spent 3 and a half hours driving from one store to the next.  Morgan was done shopping with us after this!!  

Liam and Leilani playing in the back:

After school- the kids played their hearts out!!  

Just Dance was a favorite game to play:

 After dinner, we played Chubby Bunny.  A game to see how many large marshmallows you can fit into your mouth at one time.  After each marshmallow, you have to say 'chubby bunny' and if it is clear enough, you can stuff another one in your mouth... the kids loved it!!

Back in the good ole US of A (for a while at least)

Our flight left at 12:30am and had us arrive in Bangor, Maine at 3am(ish)am local time.

We stayed a few hours in the hotel across the street from the airport until the rental car office opened and to sleep a little before beginning our 13 hour drive to Virginia Beach (Amy's house).  

Once we got on the road... we quickly noticed white covered grounds and piles... of SNOW.  What?!  How did we leave perfect sunny warm weather to come to this frozen tundra?  Amy... you better know how much I love you!!

 Maine!! We are in the US open road.

 NH must LOVE their liquor.  There was a sign for the liquor store every few miles:

 Missed the welcome sign... but we are in CT

 And NY 

 Really- lime green taxis?  Where have I been??

 FREEWAY!!

 New Jersey turnpike:

In the 13 hours we were on the rode, we went through 9 different states: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.

We arrived around 8 pm and could not be happier to be with the Perez family again.  These next few weeks are going to be amazing... I may never want to live this far away from them again.

Flying to the USA

While living in Spain, I thought we would NEVER come back to the states; or at least I didn't want to.  I figured we would make the most of our time and travel around Europe as much as possible with the little time we had there.... that was until Amy (one of my closest friends and kids auntie) got engaged and asked me to be in her wedding.  With a reason like that, it was only obvious that we would come back and that is what we did.  

Steve was too busy to take more than a week off so he had to purchase commercial tickets.  The kids and I were able to get on a Space A flight on a military aircraft making our flight home something to remember.  Although it took us a week to finally get on a flight due to the lack of flights and seating open on the planes that were en route to the US, it worked out to be the best case scenario for us.

Liam was able to play with another little boy waiting to leave.  His parents were awesome and packed a suitcase of toys for him to play with... and Liam loved his willingness to share. 

 And we are getting on:

 Our seats:

The plane we flew out on was a KC10 (I think) and was carrying the wing to a plane that was no longer in working condition.  We were sitting in jump seats placed along the outer wall of the plane with the wing taking up the entire middle.

 Our view: (part one of three pieces of the wing to an airplane)

 Part two:

We had the BEST pilot ever who let the kids have the best once in a lifetime experience of getting a tour of the cockpit and sitting up front for take off (Aydin) and landing (Morgan).  

To our pilot who I do not know the name of: Thank you so much for making this trip memorable and special!  You were fantastic.  

Some may say that flying Space A is not worth it or too much of a pain.  I beg to differ.  Although not knowing if we will get on a flight or not or how long we will have to wait for seats, when flying with flexible dates... I do not know if there is a better way!!  

Game before the flight

Today would be Aydins last game of the season. 

There was a flight to the states later and we did not know how long we were going to be gone... so we did not know it at the time, but Aydin would not make it back before the season ended.

It was a home game and Aydin played great!  I love watching him grow, improve and enjoy playing a sport I understand :) 

Knockout

The neighborhood kids came over this afternoon for a game of knockout.  I am so happy that our kids have friends close by and that they will come over to play whenever they can.