We started out in Atlanta. Mac's wonderful parents took us to the airport and helped lug our ridiculous amount of baggage to the ticketing counter, then walked with us to security. I wish I had a picture of the girls as world travelers - they each had their own backpack and rolling carry-on bags (which they had each requested for their birthdays last year) and they looked ready for adventure. However, things were pretty hectic and I couldn't really spare a hand to find a camera, and this phase didn't last long. I think it was about 2.3 minutes into the trip where they started complaining about being tired, and their bags were too heavy, and they couldn't possibly walk anymore. After I made them soldier on for a little while longer, I either carried their backpacks for them or latched them on to the carry-ons, or some other configuration that wasn't so picture-worthy.
Anyway - security in Atlanta was probably the worst part of the whole trip. Good to get it out of the way early? They herded us through the line, even though the place was fairly quiet by Atlanta standards. Imagine me going through security - here's what went on the conveyor belt: one bin for all of our shoes, one bin or my backpack, one bin for my computer, one bin for Lily's backpack, one bin for Maggie's backpack, one bin for my jacket, 3 carry-on bags. Then Lily and Maggie go through the scanner, then me. OOPS! Cell-phone in pocket, back out, cell-phone into another bin, back through. On the other end - throw shoes at Lily, throw shoes at Maggie, send them to a bench to put on said shoes, try to wrestle laptop into backpack and fail so just jam laptop under arm, grab two more backpacks and three carryons and a jacket and OOPS! almost forgot the cellphone, all while trying to keep an eye on two small kiddos who aren't quite sure what bench they are supposed to be going to and are kind of wandering. I finally got us all settled and re-shoed and off. One helpful woman (the first helpful person of many on the trip) informed me that my kids were very smart - when she saw them wandering, she tried to give them to another woman, but they wouldn't go. Yeah kids!
We rode the train to the terminal, which was a hit, and got some Happy Meals (hey, McD;s had the shortest line in the food court) and took them to our gate to eat. At what I thought was about 45 minutes before our flight, I took all of us and all of our crap for a potty break before boarding. I got back just in time to board - turns out my watch was running behind all day. Good to know. So we get on the plane. Settle in. Take off. Finally! We're really on our way.
This was an overnight flight, so we didn't even take off until about 9:45 pm. They served dinner on the plane and finished that up some time around 11:30, or so. I was surprised that the kiddos got the children's meals I had requested, which was nice. Dino chicken nuggets, in case you were wondering (as I'm sure so many of you are).
After that they turned down the lights. Lily was fantastic - she wrapped up in her blanket, put her head on my lap and fell asleep. Not Maggie. Oh, sweet Maggie. Here's how the next 5 or so hours of the flight went-
"Mommy, can I have a snack?"
"Mommy, can I have a drink?"
"Mommy, is it time to get up yet?"
"Mommy, can I play a game?"
"Mommy, I love you" (she likes to throw this one in once in a while)
"Mommy, is Lily awake?"
"Mommy, can I have a snack"
Repeat.
She also didn't sit still for more than about 6 seconds at a time. She put her head on my lap, then her feet on my lap, then sat on my lap (pretty much on Lily's head, but she's a really sound sleeper), then tried to get up and walk around, then wanted to get my backpack, then her backpack. You get the idea. It was a long night. She finally fell fast asleep while we were descending into Rio. Figures. Then I had to wake her up.
I was worried about Rio, but it turned out ok. We were the last ones off the plane and the last ones in the "non-citizen" line at immigration. But after all the Brazilians went through their line, we were ushered to that side and went through quickly and with no problems. Then the part I was most worried about - we had to pick up all of our baggage and go through customs, then recheck it. So, we headed to the baggage claim (a very helpful man helped the girls take their stuff down the escalator) and I grabbed a cart. All 4 of our suitcases arrived (yeah!) and I was able to pile them all up on the cart. With the girls hauling their own gear (insert complaining here), we made our way through customs and out into the terminal. We were immediately approached by an official airport porter who grabbed the cart, put our carryons on top, and asked if we needed help and where we were going (through another man that interpreted). I showed him our itinerary, and he was off. We followed him upstairs and through the airport to the ticket counter, where he waited for us to check in and then took us to security. He was a life-saver.
Security in Rio was nothing compared to Atlanta. Left the shoes on, left the laptop in the backpack, and there was no line and no herding. We headed to our gate and sat to wait for our next flight. I let the girls watch a movie, since we had a 3 hour wait. Here's the only picture I have from the trip down, it's our little corner of the Rio airport-
Please notice the creative use of elastic to strap a large stuffed sea turtle to a piece of luggage. Lily insisted that she would absolutely not make the trip without Sally, and she didn't fit anywhere else...
The flight to Curitiba was short and sweet. But by the time we got off the plane and to baggage claim, I was tired, and frazzled, and about to fall over. Then I picked up 3 suitcases, and waited, and waited, and waited. I was starting to worry about that fourth bag, and Maggie was spinning in circles around the baggage claim area in what I can only imagine was an attempt to stay awake, and Lily was...well, I'm not sure what she was doing. But, the last suitcase finally appeared, I loaded it up and headed out. There was Daddy! We were here!
Wow. That was long. Sorry.
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