Well, we made it to Italy. It seemed like an impossible feat when we were home planning for the trip, but then the day came and there was to turning back, and we survived.
The kids did a fine job waiting at the airport. I got Bennett to literally run in circles until he said his legs were tired. The agent helping is check in our bags moved us to the back of the plane, and said the rows in front and behind us were empty, so there was a chance we could move around and have more seats.
Unfortunately once we got in the place, the rows near us had people. They weren't full but weren't empty either. Noooooooooo! Luckily, Joel saw there was rows at the back corner of the plane that were open. No 3-seat rows but there were 2-seat rows. Once we got in the air, Joel moved back with Caroline and took turns sitting with the kids, mostly because it's too much work to manage Caroline alone for any period of time.
Bennett did great on the flight. He was content watching videos, as we knew he would be. He didn't eat much dinner but we bought the kids Burger King at the airport because we had a feeling dinner wouldn't be served until 7-ish and they'd be hungry. Eventually he went to sleep and all was well. Caroline was tough. Obviously not into videos or anything that needs more than 5 minutes of attention, plus she was over tired. It took some time but eventually Joel got her to sleep around 8. Before we left she had a cold, and was pretty miserable on the plane. Luckily, we gave the kids suckers during takeoff and her ears didn't seem to bother her. Since arriving, they seem to be an issue. Ugh. I was sitting with Bennett when they brought breakfast around about 1.5 hours before we landed , about 2 am MN time. The noise woke him up and I asked if he wanted breakfast. He had slept maybe 5-6 hours at this point. He sat up, said yes and had some yogurt. He was in a surprisingly good mood and watched videos until we landed. Such an easy kid. Caroline missed breakfast but we saved her a croissant, which she ate while we waited for our luggage. Also notice Bennett posing. He will only take a picture of he can pose or make a funny face...
Someone actually complimented us while we were waiting for our bags. He said the kids were cute but even better, they were fantastic on he plane. He didn't hear them cry at all, which meant he wasn't sitting TOO close to Caroline because she left out a few wails, but here were kids in our section who screamed bloody murder for the first few and last few hours of the flight. The guy actually commented on that one kids, but said our kids did great. Joel said it was because of capital punishment.
With our bags (all of them this time!) we were off to take the train to the Rome Train station. Caroline's first train ride:
We made it to Rome pretty uneventfully. Caroline was pretty whiny, probably tired or sickness. We had some lunch, which Caroline ate nothing of, and Bennett took two separate visits to the 1 euro toilet (once for a pee, then like 15 minutes later for a poop). Then we got on the train for a nice 3 hour train ride to Arrezo. (We actually thought we had to go to Florence, and then Arrezo but it turned out that Arrezo was on the way to Florence on this regional train. Still, three hours is three hours. Neither could sit still and Caroline grew increasing ornery. I had to break out the first, of a few, special presents I brought.
We both knew Caroline needed to sleep, but she was fighting it. Bennett probably should've napped but apparently didn't want to miss a minute of the trip, and didn't. He had a little attitude and was defiant but considering what little sleep he got, he did alright.
We weren't too sure how many stops we had before Arezzo but were looking at our location on Google Maps and knew approximately where we were. Plus, we knew the time we were supposed to arrive, although the our train left about 10 minutes late from Rome. Anyway, when I thought we were about five towns out, we were still sitting in our seats when I noticed we were nearing a bigger town, which I knew Arezzo was , compared to what we'd be seeing. I jokingly said to Joel, "Would you poop your pants if this was Arezzo?" And Joel said, "Yes, because we're no where near ready and they don't stop long at each stop." Then we passed one of the signs pulling into the station. "Arezzo". I exclaimed, "THIS IS AREZZO!!!!" We both jumped up. I strapped on the baby carrier and there Caroline in it, then started to shove our crap into the bags. Then I grabbed the smaller backpacks, while Joel grabbed the bigger ones and stroller. I glanced back and saw our seats were empty, which was a good sign. Counting bags as we jumped off the train, we had everything and were good to go. That got our hearts pounding. I laughed, as Joel scowled. "Would you poop your pants if this was Arezzo? Famous last words..." And we both laughed. Here are the kids doing a dance while we wait for our train to leave Arezzo. I'm sure it was a celebratory dance of some sort.
Being a season veteran of Arezzo, I knew where to go to get our tickets and which train to take. I think Joel actually appreciated that this time around, plus he could see how high the train was from the platform and understood my struggle with Bennett last time. Bennett was still happy and defiant on this final train of the first travel day. I got Caroline to sleep in the baby carrier eventually too. And it was pouring rain.
Once in Poppi, we walked to our hotel, checked in and went out for some well deserved gelato.
Caroline's first gelato. She loved it. Bennett loved feeding her it also.
Then we walked to the grocery store to buy water and some snacks. Back at the hotel Bennett got to touch image water in the pool he's just dying to go in.
Our night ended with me trying to get Caroline to bed while Joel and Bennett went to the restaurant to get pizza. Bennett fell asleep at the restaurant before the pizza arrived, so he was easy to put to bed. Caroline was another story. She started running a fever and would wail on and off. We pumped her full of Tylenol and by midnight she was dead asleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment