Day 9 ..or 1000

It felt like it had been about a 1000 days that we had been on the road but according to my calendar it had been a mere nine. When we landed in Amsterdamn Bill and I were so tired. While our children slept on the flight we did not so we had been up for over 24 hrs at this point. I don't remember all the details of the day obviously.

We were wandering the airport and we saw a place for the kids to play, a mini indoor playground so we stopped there and took turns watching/playing with the kids. On Bill's turn I think he actually did play with the kids... me I just watched them and made sure Benji didn't fall to his death from all the crap he kept climbing.

Finally we decided we should go find something to eat before we headed to our gate. I am wondering now if we decided it was time to go or if I had just had it with other kids and needed a coke to wake me up before I slipped into a sleep coma. Either way we were off to the other end of the airport to the restaraunt area.
The restaraunt area was upstairs and since we had the stroller the stairs were not an option. So I spotted an elevator and as we walked up the doors opened and people got off. The doors close and I am looking at it and I cannot find the button to open it anywhere. I know it works, people just got off of it. I stand there for about 5 minutes just staring at it and finally this girl who has been waiting behind us walks around me and pushes the button. Pushes the button immediately because she is not an exhausted person with mommy brain so she knows right where it is like some elevator ninja. The button was on the INSIDE of the door frame and low, like Benjamin could stand and reach it... I would have to bend down to hit it. It was not in the usual place which maybe is difficult to get from my toddler like drawing above. Ridiculous. I felt like a total genius next to the elevator ninja who also looked well rested and fashionable. I did not like her. Good looking and smart, yes that was us. World travelers extraordinaire.
Finally we were upstairs and we got McDonalds for the kids. Again. I don't know what I ate... maybe pizza I just remember drinking a really big coke that cost a lot of money. It was quite expensive to eat there. I want to say it was about $35 for us to eat and it was not a lot of food. {While eating I saw this Yotel... I think it is some weird version of a hotel... not sure but very curious if anyone knows.} It seems like there was some snafu clearing security again but I don't really remember so it must not have been that big of a deal.

We got on the next flight and headed for Leeds. I think Bill and I were passed out about 2 seconds into that flight. We buckled the kids, handed them their DS's, PS whatevers and were out. Slept for about 40 min. and then landed at Leeds airport. The plane was a smaller one so we had to disembark on the tarmac and then ride a shuttle to get to the building. I think the kids were amused by this. I was not.
We went into customs and Bill started filling out all the forms. Our entire flight leaves customs before we do. Another flight comes and we are done with forms and get in line. Part of the problem was we could not find a paper we supposedly needed to get into the country so we were a bit panicked about that. We get in line behind this couple and they are at the customs window for 30 minutes. Of course it is the ONLY window open for non UK passport holders. So the entire flight they had been on passes through customs as well and we are waiting on them. So 2 flights went through customs before us. We finally make it through, rush out to get our luggage and go to find our sponsor and taxi driver. They were getting ready to leave because they thought we weren't on the flight.Luckily they had not.

Get loaded into the taxi and the kids pass out. Arrive at our apartment and start loading stuff in. We had 8 suitcases U think it was, three carseats, a dog kennel, a stroller and us. And 2 1/2 flights of stairs to go up to get that all into our apartment. Lay the kids down. The company that had picked up Finely for us was suppose to deliever him the next day and they called and said they were downstairs now with him. He was slightly hyper. Bill and the sponsor left to go see where the bus stop was and to go get a few groceries. I turned on the tv to try and catch some of the royal wedding & log into the computer to email the family to tell them we arrived safely. I woke up a few minutes later because Benjamin was climbing on me and trying to type on the laptop which he couldn't do since my face was on the keyboard. When Bill got back we went for a walk to keep everyone awake so we could have an early bedtime and try to start getting adjusted to the time change.

All in all the day was not horrid. The elevator thing was crazy & the customs thing maddening but we had made it. We were here finally after all the chaos and it really is a beautiful place to be.