Travel Day

March 2^nd 2:53

We arrived at the Mpls airport at 12:15 and unloaded the 5- 50lb pound bags to ck and the 4- 44lb bags of carry-on's (2 each) and headed in. A special thanks to our neighbor Sven who brought us to the airport and has been waiting with us ALL day:) Because he works for Delta he has special clearance to come thru to the gate and could wait with us. We were suppose to be able to board at 2:12, make it to Chicago. by 4:44 for our connecting flight to Brussels by 6:01. It is now 3:15 and we are sitting in a nearby cafe waiting for our flight. It was pushed back to 3:30 and now to pushed back to 4:30! We will obviously miss our connect flight and Llonda is very worried, and I have another tall one. Llonda has gone to stand in the long line to find out what is going on, and I am working on my first attempt of the blog. She sends me panic stricken texts from the line that we are totally screwed and I try very hard to not get too worked up, as I already had melt down #1 early this morning on the side of the road at the school.

Llonda has returned and she convinced the attendant to move us up in seats to be closer to the front so we can “run” off and catch our connecting flight in Chicago. Security check in was probably one of the best expierences I have had yet. Amazed that in the 88 pounds I could get on and the quart size bag fully packed with liquids and PASSED through I am pretty confident that we did good in our choices.

With our 5 bags everyone of them ranged from 49.7 pounds to 51!! And they were so impressed at how close we were that they let the 51 pounder go! The amount of time spent packing repacking, weighing and re weighing, was truly time well spent! We were able to board the plane in Mpls and officially hit the airways and are now en route to Chicago. Text's and phone calls have been exchanged by all the kids and we hope to have contact on the ground in Chicago but time will be limited and we will be rushed. In order to get on earlier, Llonda and I could not sit together and for sure I got the better of the deal. We both got middle seats (yuck) but I was fortunate enough to have the exit seat so I am free and clear on one side while Llonda a row back sits between to men sleeping.

Break time and will write more once we get on the long overnight flight to Brussels.

Once aboard our flight to Chicago we were still hoping we would make our connecting flight. It was a quick flight, and there and they were anxiously helping us off the plane to make our connecting flight that was right across the way. I was surely not going to board though without hitting a bathroom first which made us literally the LAST TWO to board. Which also means that two of our carry-ons (not the backpacks) had to go to checked luggage. So as we sat right outside the plane doors rearranging all of our bags trying to make sure we had our most important items with us, as we will not see those bags again until Douala. Neither of us were happy about that as now if our luggage is lost or delayed in getting to us, we don't even have a set of underwear with us!

We are Currently on the plane to Brussels and at the moment right over London. Every seat has a TV screen on it and has the option to view a map of where the plane is and its starting and ending point. I have taken a few pictures along the way and will try to post one at a later time. We also have a visitor with us. Flat Stanley is along for the ride! He is part of a book that a first grade classroom in Spokane Washington is doing. We received Stanley from our friends Paula and Noah who received Stanley from her Cousin in Washington. So periodically you may see a picture including Stanley.

As far as the flight to Brussels after kicking a couple who had moved into our seats out, we tried to settle in as best as we could with a back pack each that started off somewhat organized and now is a total mess. Llonda watched a movie or two while I listened to a book on tape and both of us have tried to sleep a bit. I befriended a cute little girl in the seat ahead of us, who has what must be her twin sister with and their dad. They couldn't be much more than 2 or 3, but we have had fun playing peek a boo. We occupied more time with a cribbage game (that I won) and of course ate. The food was certainly not terrible for plane food, but I wasn't hungry to eat the breakfast. We left Chicago at around 6:30 pm Friday the 2^nd, and it is currently 1:30 am in MN and 8:30 am here. We have about a half hour left of the flight with about a two hour lay over in Brussels to aboard another long flight to Douala.

Wishing everyone well!

Here is a view of the Sahara Desert.