Our LONG day of travel: Germany to South Carolina

I'm writing this from South Carolina, so we made it.  And all's well that ends well.  But it was quite the adventure getting here.  I'll start with "hour 0" when we woke up at 6 am Monday morning to get ready for our long trip.

Hour 0: Wake up with the kids, feeling well rested, eat breakfast, and start packing up everything in the hotel room

Hour 5: Go to a farewell lunch with some people from Hyrum's unit.

Hour 6: Rush home to get the kids down for naps, only to discover that Tiago has the worst diaper rash in the history of his life.  (And he was completely fine 30 minutes before. Bad timing.)

Hour 8: Deal with toddler who is screaming with pain, and clean up the messes being made while he runs around with no diaper

Hour 12: Finish packing the carry-ons and move the luggage into one corner of the hotel room.  Do a final check of the two rooms before going to dinner.

Hour 16: After getting the kids asleep and finishing preparations, finally fall asleep.  (With Hyrum still turning in his work computer at the office... I'd call that procrastination!)

Hour 17: Wake up at 11 pm to the beeping phone alarm after only 1.5 hours of sleep. Load up the kids and get downstairs to the shuttle bus to take us to the other side of Germany.  (Tiago was really excited and kept yelling "Bus!"  It was a dream come true for him to ride in a bus for the next seven hours, including several stops.)  Sleep sitting up for a couple of hours with plenty of interruptions.

Hour 24: Arrive at Ramstein Air Base.  Check in for our flight.  Change the kids into 'daytime clothes'.  And let Tiago play with the toys at the USO.

Hour 27: Get in line for the security check, only to be told our flight was delayed 1.5 hours.

Hour 29: Successfully get all carry-ons, carseats, and stroller through security.  (Grateful the security people didn't ask any questions about our liquids for bottles and food.)  Wait for about 150 soldiers to board the flight before us.

Hour 30: (Tuesday, noon.) Listen to the gate agent to announce general boarding (with no pre-boarding for families, as promised!)  Then fortunately hear him correct the mistake a few minutes later.  Push through the crowd of over-eager passengers with a giant stroller. Then make it down the narrow aisle of the airplane with backpack, diaper bag, and car seat with baby inside.  (I felt bad for all the people who boarded before us and got smacked as I made my way down the aisle.  There's a reason for pre-boarding, and it's not to make people feel special.)  Then adjust car seats multiple times to comply with the crazy flight policies, resulting in a complete stranger sitting between me and Hyrum for the entire flight.

Hours 30-38: Entertain kids, eat airplane lunch with Siena in lap trying to kick everything to the ground, unsuccessfully try to prevent Tiago from kicking the seat in front of him.  Consider taking a few pictures to document the flight, then quickly squash that idea because you're no octopus mom with 8 arms.

Hour 38: Figure out how to get to baggage claim (and through customs) with three car seats, two back packs, and three kids without a stroller because they're sending the stroller directly to baggage claim. (Sometimes I really don't know what airlines are thinking.  Fortunately, a nice pilot offered to carry a car seat, and Hyrum carried the two baby carriers with Siena and Mila inside.)  Be grateful that we have two hours until our connecting flight.

Hour 39: Wait at baggage claim for stroller and checked bags, so we can take them to be re-checked. Keep waiting, because the Air Force doesn't have their act together and it takes them over an hour to get the bags out.

Hour 40: Run through the airport with everything as fast as we can trying to catch our connecting flight, only to be told at the Delta counter that there was no hope.  Cry.  Get booked for a flight the next morning.  Listen to screaming babies who are seriously sleep deprived and can't be consoled and for some reason just won't fall asleep no matter how much they're held or rocked.  Listen to strangers make comments about said crying babies.  Cry yourself.  And be sad that it's been almost 30 hours of sleepless travel.

Hour 41: Cry together while Hyrum borrows a phone at the USO and finds a hotel for the night.  Wait outside for the shuttle bus while Tiago continually yells "Bus! Bus! Bus!"  Why isn't he sleepy??

Hour 42.5: (6:30 pm EST). Get to hotel with three suitcases, two backpacks, three car seats, one diaper bag, one pack & play, one stroller, and three babies.  Put them in bed, brush teeth, and crash.  SLEEEEEEEP.  Finally

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It was a long "day".  I hate being sleep-deprived and I felt physically and mentally unstable at the end of it all.  We were lucky enough that our hotel room was big and there was free dinner and a great breakfast the next morning.  In better spirits, we loaded up our stuff Wednesday morning and had no problems with our next two flights.  (The kids slept the entire first flight!)  We picked up our rental car in Columbia, SC and were checking into our next "hotel home" by 4:30 pm.

I am happy to say that all of our flights in the foreseeable future will be domestic, and I plan to never travel again with three kids under the age of two!