We are in Japan - Getting there

We have a lot of downtime here, so I thought I would pen a post about our adventures so far. Please excuse the punctuation because although all the letters are in the same place, the punctuation is not, and I do not feel like searching for them - thus, no contractions.

We survived getting here. It was awful, but not because the boys were particularly bad, but just because getting to Japan is awful in and off itself and adding in two boys to the mix, just does not make it better. We got up at 4 am Monday to make sure we got to the airport early (not the 3 hours they recommend, but maybe closer to 2) and got to the airport about 5 30 for our 7 30ish flight to Chicago. And so it began ... 2 adults, 2 still sort of sick kids, 2 strollers, 1 car seat, 3 carry-ons, and 3 checked bags. The flight to Chicago was pretty uneventful and after some breakfast and Andrew playing with some of the other kids, our two hour layover was over and it was time to go to Japan.

We were flying a Japanese airline there, ANA, so of course, they were all very nice. We had great bulkhead seats - so we had more room, a bassinett for Seth, and most of the people around us also had kids because they had bulkhead seats, too. We unfortunately had to wait an extra hour on the runway because they were deicing and who knows what else. I HATE THIS. This is at least the second time this has happened. As if a 13.5 hour flight isn:t long enough - let:s add on more time to the runway. So, both boys were already antsy. I finally relented and fed Seth even though we had no idea when we would be taking off, oh, well. Andrew was a real pill for the first 3ish hours, and kept screaming, yanking on my shirt, and biting me!!! And since you have SO many discipline options on a plane (we did try to do time out in the bathroom, but that doesn:t work so well), we just did our best. Thankfully, there are a few ways to pass the time - watching the in-flight entertainment (which only had about 2 hours of appropriate childrens entertainmnt in English, which we watched all of it at least twice), looking at the other bored, misbehaving children, eating the food (they had special kids meals, and even brought us baby food for Seth), and walking up the aisles. Feeding a baby who JUST started solid food on a plane is interesting, by the way. As is Andrew:s new habit since he got sick of spitting out half the food he eats. The hardest thing about flying with kids is that you can:t sleep - there is always someone to deal with. All the boys slept a bit, Katsu included and Seth slept pretty well in his bassinett, but i did not sleep a wink - not like I can sleep on planes anyways. The worst part was because of all the terrorism stuff, you couldn:t watch the map showing you where the plane is and how much longer you had. I got to the point where I felt like I couldn:t stand another second of flying and we finally asked someone how much longer, and we were only halfway done!!!

But, we made it. After immigration, grabbing our luggage, changing diapers, going through customs, buying bus tickets, and exchanging our rail passes, we boarded a bus for another 2 hours before getting to Katsu:s parents house. THe bus terrifies me, because there is no loud drone like the airplane to drown out your children:s voices, plus, you have to stay seated. Luckily, Andrew slept almost the entire time. Seth, on the other hand, was way too fascinated with everything to look at, to sleep. but of course, he was hungry, so I got to breastfeed him and was terrified. It was harder to do discreetly, Seth was pulling off the blanket, Andrew was pulling off the blanket, and the glass was HIGHLY reflective, so basically everyone on the bus could see my breasts. Of course, all the people sitting near us on the plane probably could, too, as Seth LOVES nursing under a blanket. Let:s just say, welcome Amanda to Japan. ha ha ha. So, then, after a short walk with all the boys and luggage, and strollers, and going up the elevator to their 22nd floor condo, which absolutely terrifies me, because it is all open to the outside. Just, the metal railings keeping your toddler from plummeting 22 stories to the ground.

I was exhausted ... I hadn:t slept in over 24 hours, so after some very brief perfunctory greetings, putting together the Pac n Play that the we had ordered off of amazon.co.jp, feeding Seth and putting him to bed, I finally went to sleep.