WOW, was that an adventure! For those of you who are into details, I can tell you more later. But for the rest of you, here's the skinny: Our flight out of Raleigh was an hour delayed. This wouldn't have been a big deal, except for the fact that we already only had less than two hours to make our connection in Chicago as it was, and this would take us down to under an hour. Apparently, that's a big deal for an international flight. At O'Hare. With two toddlers. (Especially if you want your bags to make that same connection.)
Looking back, I admit that I have absolutely no confidence that we did everything legally (meaning, security & customs wise) as we rushed through the Chicago airport. The minute we walked into the international departures terminal we could hear them paging our names. When they used the phrase "make yourselves known" I knew we were either about to miss a flight or were about to star on America's Most Wanted. The rest of our Chicago time is a fuzzy memory. We were physically whisked from check-in to security to the gate and to our seats by security all in just a few minutes time. They closed the plane doors the moment we stepped onboard, and we didn't even have our seat belts fastened before we were taxiing to the runway. For those of you scowling right now, thinking: It's people like you who arrive late that make our flights delayed, allow me to tell you that a tail wind is a powerful thing. We still arrived in Dublin 35 minutes early.
Thirty five minutes early, smelling like vomit (Riley's x 3) and exhaustion, but thrilled to be on the ground and able to stretch our legs. Justin's parents were already there to pick us up (at 4:40am), so we headed to baggage claim. Once we discovered the futility of that particular stop, we jumped in the car for our 4.5 hour drive to Dingle (cue Riley vomit #4). We made one stop for snacks, and a second stop for a change of clothes (poor Riley was down wearing to very, very little clothing by this point) and we arrived at the house in Dingle safe & sound around 2pm. That's 22 hours after our travels began. In that 22 hours of travel (planes + car), Avery slept 4.5 hours, and Riley slept 3. Anyone who knows us knows how insane that is, and would know the intense stress that this momma feels when her girls are tired and off schedule.
I say that not to host a pitty party, but rather to brag for a moment about how amazing the girls did, despite ALL the chaos. And there was MUCH chaos. They have rebounded remarkably well from it all, and are having a wonderful time.
Today was a morning at the aquarium (which we'll be doing several more times while we're here, I'm sure) and an afternoon at the beach. Yes, I said the beach. Ireland is experiencing "an extreme heat wave" for which they are advising people to drink more water, avoid being outdoors in the middle of the day, avoid strenuous activities, etc. It cracked the 80 degree mark. Funny how something so typical at home can be so out of place somewhere else. Low 80s seems mild for the middle of July to us, of course. It just doesn't happen here -- there's no air conditioning, you couldn't buy a fan if you wanted one, and restaurants are apparently rationing ice. All that to say, it made for a really fun, and surprisingly beachy afternoon today. Pictures of these activities to follow... I'd do it now, but our suitcase with the girls' white noise machines still hasn't arrived, so my phone is doing double duty tonight.
Fingers crossed for our last suitcase to arrive tomorrow, and grateful thanks to you all for your prayers for the girls -- it really, really has made a difference!
Looking forward to the next week and a half of sightseeing and hanging out with my little family. Will check in again soon -- and pictures next time, I promise!
xoxo,
J
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