I can't believe that it has been 6 weeks since my last blog post! WAY to long!
So much has happened in that time and there is no way I can sit here and write a post on it all!
Here is a very brief overview; the kids and I were sent home to Canada the first week of December! I think we left on December 5th, whatever that first Friday of the month happened to be! Evan stay back in Kinshasa to work but because of the unrest in the country due to elections Evan moved in with his Dad ( his mom also went home to Canada) and they were on lock down for approximately 10 days! I think I would go stir crazy! Before the kids and I left we were on lock down for 4 days and that was getting long! I shouldn't complain to much though because we spent most of our time sleeping, watching tv and playing/lounging in our pool! Lock down means that you can't leave your compound due to unsafe situations within the city!
Anyhoo, the kids and I started our 30 ish hour journey at 1:00 pm on Friday afternoon. Again because of elections traffic was VERY unpredictable so we left for the airport 9 hours before our flight took off! We made it to Evan's work in 3 hours, picked him up and then went to the airport! Now the Kinshasa Airport is nothing like any other airport I have seen, there is a very small waiting room and absolutely no where for the kids to walk/run/ play! We sat at the restaurant from 7:00 -9:30. at 9:30 the kids and I headed downstairs to get our bags checked and we were off! I was totally freaking out at this point due to flying with the kids alone and not being able to communicate super well with the individuals working at the Kinshasa airport!
At 10:00 ish our plane took off from Kinshasa, I was sitting in a row of 4 seats with my kids. Emmanuel was on the end, Micah beside him and then me, on the other side of myself I had a larger sweaty man who took up his seat plus 1/3 of mine! So uncomfortable!!!!!
Our 10 hour flight to Brussels turned into 13 hours as we sat on the tarmac in Cameroon for 3 hours....... I was almost going crazy but thankfully my kids slept of about 5 hours of the flight!
Our Brussels to Montreal connection was very tight due to my plane coming in late but the kids and I made it with no time to spare! We got off the plane running and made it to our gate just in time to board!
Our flight from Brussels to Montreal was pretty uneventful, LONG but okay! Air Canada has tv's so we were stoked! We spent most of our time watching moves, walking to the bathroom, chatting with flight attendants and sweet talking them into extra snacks and crawling on the floor ( Micah). Yes I was that parent who let her walk/crawl the isles while they were empty!
When we arrived in Montreal we had a very limited time to get our bags, go through customs, recheck our bags and get to our gate! I had all the paper work filled out and was ready to go, I was not expecting being stopped at customs because I didn't have a letter from Evan stating that I had his permission to take the kids into Canada! WHAT??????????
It took lots of discussion with the officer and they pulled the kids aside and questioned them! Finally I was allowed through......... next time I travel without Evan I will be bringing a letter! This was a big set back and then our bag were some of the last bag to be taken off the carousel, when I finally got them I loaded them onto a cart, put Micah on top of the bags, grabbed all of our carry on stuff, told Emmanuel to keep up and took off running! We were most likely a sight to see! At this point we had not gone through security yet, after dropping off our bags and heading through security I realized that our plane was taking off in 10 minutes and I had no idea where the gate was............... insert more running!
The kids and I made it to the gate and were welcomed by the nice surprise that our flight was DELAYED over 1 hour! Best surprise of the trip, we went straight to Tim Horton's because the kids wanted donuts and then walked around the airport shops!
Long story short we made it to Calgary and were welcomed by Blair, Anita and the kids! Thanks guys for grabbing us at the airport, I really appreciated it!
Hopefully over the next couple days I will fill you in on our holidays in Canada along with pictures!
