Italy Day 12

Finally the day has come for our vacation to end. We all got up around 7. I started packing while Joel tried to keep the kids craziness at a minimum. With two kids and two parents it seems that man-on-man coverage would be effective but when those two get together, the screaming, shrieking crazy energy they create is unstoppable. Packing completed, we left the hotel around 8:45 for our 11:44 flight. We were planning on leaving at 9 but I'm glad we made it out the door slightly early. It took us a bit to find a taxi, then a few minutes to buy the ticket. When we were buying the ticket, the machine warned us that we had two minutes to make the train. "Would you like to purchase?" Joel looked at me and I exclaimed, "YES!" The. We were in our own episode of The Amazing Race, rushing to find the platform and get on the train. We were literally the last people to board. There are always train personnel waiting on the platform, prior to the doors closing so I did my biggest crazy person running, hoping they'd see me and know we wanted to catch the train. Luckily for us, it worked. We weren't on the train for more than a minute before it left the station. The train arrived at the airport around 9:53. Perfect for checking in two hours before our flight. Unfortunately for us, it wasn't so simple. We needed to walk from the train platform, to the airport terminal, a 5-10 minute endeavor in itself. Then come to find out we needed to take a shuttle to a different terminal. So again we needed to find the shuttle and wait... Time ticking by and me getting more anxious. Eventually it arrived and we went to the correct terminal. Then there we needed to pass a preliminary security check, then check in. They asked for Caroline's ticket, which we purchased in Minneapolis. They didn't say we needed it in Rome and we assumed there'd be records of it in the system. But there weren't. Then started the frantic search to find it because we didn't want to pay a few hundred dollars again. We were both sweaty from anxiously searching. Just when we were about to give up and buy it again, also because I was freaking out because it was after 10:30, we remembered a hidden pocket in one of the backpacks... And there it was. Saved the day! Then more waiting while the ticket agents sorted through the paperwork. Security check completed... Then we realized we needed to take yet another shuttle to our gate. Ugh! We arrived at our gate just as they started boarding families. We needed to collect ourselves so we didn't board right away. Plus, any extra time in a confined space with the kids sounded terrible. Also, I was hungry and wanted food. While Joel found food, I challenged Bennett to do exercises. Jumping, hopping, spinning, arm circles, anything I could think of to help tire his restless body. A lady nearby watched and smirked. I think she appreciated what I was doing.

Before boarding, we asked the gate agent if there were any open seats near us. She said the flight was getting full and she needed to seat about 30 standby passengers, but there was two open seats in the row behind us that she'd try to keep open. As soon as the plane door closed, the seats were wonderfully still open, and I told Joel to jump into them. 

The flight was LONG and tedious. It was Horrible. Since we were all on Italy time, we basically were flying during our awake hours, and the kids had tons of energy and no where to expend it. Bennett was okay watching videos, but was tired and would get mad about everything. Caroline wanted everything Bennett had, didn't want to sleep and didn't want to sit. On top of that, she kept screaming. I'm positive everyone around us hated us, although, I kept looking at a group of college aged guys sitting next to us. They always had their eyes closed, seemingly asleep, so I just hope they were in fact asleep and no hearing Caroline. But eventually we made it. Somehow all 10 hours passed by and we were back home. Surviving the 10 hours seemed like an impossible feat while we were going through it. Of course back in MN, our bags didn't arrive. I think it was because we checked in so late, due to Caroline's ticket fiasco, but who knows. Back at home, the kids were crabby but thankfully there was plenty of space for them to be crabby and throw tantrums. We all went to bed early, anticipating an early morning due to jet lag.

Honesty Joel and I couldn't be happier for this vacation to end. It's just so hard to be with toddlers, when their schedules are nonexistent, and there a time change, and hot weather, just everything. There were definitely amazing moments in every day, and extremely frustrating moments in each day too. I loved going into churches with Caroline. She was always in awe of her surroundings and eager to point out animals, or whatever she saw. It's a shame she couldn't express more but she was really observant. With trying to keep her occupied, stringing beads and Play Doh were the most effecting. She has more patience for things like that than Bennett does. Despite all the millions of tantrums, and I'm sure there were a million, especially towards the end of the trip, I could see how much she craves our attention. Like wanting to show Joel things she saw when I was the one taking her around. She really wanted to share what she was thinking with the both of us. I think she has also bonded more with Joel on the trip, instead of always defaulting to me.

Bennett was more of a joy to travel with. He's more flexible and reasonable. I actually had fun with him on the beach. It's amazing to see how little he needs to be content. On the other hand, being a 3 year old boy, he needed more open space. That was hard. There were times he just wanted to run. He clearly is becoming more independent, not wanting to hold hands like a baby. It was surprising to see how observant he was and how much he wanted to fit in to the culture around us. When we got home, he was eating string cheese and held it up to his mouth like a cigarette. He said, "Look at me!" and I asked what he was doing. He said, "I'm doing that thing, where you put the thing to your mouth, and stuff comes out," making big sweeping gestures with his free hand, mimicking cigarette smoke. Great. I think maybe once he asked me what someone was doing when they were smoking. It was so prevalent around us, and of course, that is what he picked up on. By the end of our trip, he was saying, "Chao!" to people who would greet him. It took him a while to warm up to it, preferring to say, "Hello," at the beginning of our trip. Throughout the trip, I could see him wanting to fit in to those around him. Despite his lack of interest in churches, it was really fun to hear what he thought about the places we were in. Rome doesn't look like home, they have dump trucks in Italy too, but they look different, etc. He was actually really sad to go home. He told me a few times that he wanted to stay in Italy, and once we were home, that he wants to go back. I asked him why he wants to go back, and he'll say he wants to go to the Trevi Fountain. I wonder if he misses seeing new things, or if Italy was just more exciting than home, or if he just liked the culture around him. I feel like he likes the excitement of going to new towns, towns that don't look like home, and exploring.