the rest of the story

i can't begin to recap the trip right now. but i'll share stuff from my last day and the flight which i find infinitely amusing.

let's start with the poor planning which resulted in my visiting bnei brak in pants. my family handled it well. i noticed people were nicer about it there, actually, then here. or even in NY. funny. points to my strikover chasid great-uncle. : )

oh! i went to the cemetary to visit my grandfather, and saw some ebautiful tributes. the one that got me crying was the man whose tombstone included a tribute to this three children who were killed in the Shoah... he lists them there so they won't be forgotten.

annyhow, back to the day i left. we were flying at minigh modany night/tuesday morning, so we firgured we'd leave close to 8. then we decided it was safest to do early check-in because my sister andi were flying with her three very young children, and we wanted to make sure our seats would be together, unlike the flight to israel where we got seriously farked. we call el-al, they tell us we have to bing everyone who will be flying to early check-in. so @ 10 am we start paccking like crazy women, i have to call She and cancel our 'date', and we sent the kids off with my mom's best friend and her amazing and talented daughter. they are so so good to us, btw. anyhow. we pack, we get the stufffin the cars (nice little caravan of 2 cars and a van - 7 suitcases, a stroller, 5 backpacks, and 2 children in car seats. plus 8 people)

we get to early check-in. they now charge, by the way. 20 shek a person, not bad at all, just be sure you have money with you. the people there were ammazingly nice. i was so confused. i had no red tape problems last week at the american consulate, and now el-al personnel were helpful. it was a total warp of all my fondest beaurocratic memories. anyhow, turns out we didn't have to shlep the kids along... misinformed again. gah.

ok. by the time that's over with, we have 2 sleepy and fussy kids, and one sleepy and crying baby. on to dinner, then bnei brak, then back to the airport. 7 month old baby gets strapped into the baby bjorn, and the 5 and 3 year old get into the stroller, her sitting, him standing in the basket behind the seat. we get a cart, pile up all of our beongings again (car sseat for the baby on the plane, 5 backpacks, and coats).

kids are in their PJs by now, excellent. we get in, and there's an escalator. ok, so around we go to #37, where they do a security check, then take us up in elevator. squishy beyond belief and funny, too. we get upstairs, and security won't let us go in with a cart. so the el-al guy, avi shimon who deserves a huge thank you, gets us a wheelchair, in which i pile all off our stuff. sara is shlepping 3 kids, i'm shlepping a half ton of stuff... off to a great start. especially when we get to the stairs at the gate that take us to the bus that takes us to plane where we have more stairs. ah! a very nice woman named shir-li helped us out by escorting the older kids (we had to check the stroller). sara had the baby and a back pack, i had 2 backpaacks and a car seat... fun and games.

i think i've told enough of the story for you all to glimpse the frustration of traveling with small children. wait til part two where you glimpse the frustration of traveling with small children who are not yours, and therefore refuse to listen to you while you watch them on the plane for 12 and half hours, and then in the airport after for another hour and a half.

or, you know what? on second thought - i don't want to relive that. not at all. i'm back. i am happy. thanks for coming out...