Home again, home again

Day 11: unexpected

Weather: hot still

Our unexpected last day had us getting up at 8am thanks to blackout curtains. We headed to the restaurant for a buffet breakfast, we had thought how much Pumpkin would enjoy it, and he did, but not as much as the two teenage boys on the table next to us!

We followed this with a swim and Bean rather adventurously went down the slide with daddy. The boys really took on board when we said they had to change fast and get packed and they were ready before mummy and daddy! As we checked out we learned that the flight would not be leaving for a further delayed 2 hours. However, we still had to be at the airport for 12 noon to check in. So, here follows a how to guide of  how to entertain three smalls for nine hours in an airport.

Firstly, queues. We didn't do too well at this until we remembered the back packed with activities that I had bought for the flight over and not used ( as the boys were loving the entertainment system) Pumpkin was happiest playing with the shuttle he had bought from the Space Centre and Bean looking at his Where's Wally book. We stood in the first queue for an hour just waiting for check in to open, not moving at all! Fortunately, Plum was sleeping soundly in the sling.

Now, to give daddy some space to contact work and cancel our food delivery and contact lovely friends who had originally offered to meet us at Gatwick when we returned. I took the smalls for a walk around the shops and we found toy Pheneas and Ferb and Perry and Agent P in the Disney store which were just the right price for spending our last few dollars (although I didn't tell the boys this an wanted to check with daddy if we had another planned use for them) When daddy was finished we went and got some lunch and had our last chick-fil-a of the holiday. There was a huge fish tank in the middle of the food court. All three smalls spent a long time watching the fish.

A toilet stop next followed by some lolly eating and constantly explaining to Pumpkin that riding the exterior of the travelator was not a safe idea and distracting him with aqua draw and colouring. Daddy took a walk to see if he could find a place to charge any of our devices but there were no USB charging points :(  Next, we got changed into our 'return to England, it's going to be cooler there' outfits. This was not the best hour of the day. Plum kept running off into the men's toilets!

Daddy and mummy had decided that spending the last few dollars on the gifts for the children. We took the boys back to the store and they both choose an Agent P to take home. We then joined the next queue of the day and went through passport control. This was decidedly quicker than expected and kept moving rather rapidly, although Pumpkin had flaked out on the floor and I thought he was going to go to sleep (which would have been disastrous!) On the other side we found a comfy carpet spot and daddy took the boys to find drinks and cookies :) We spilled most of the drinks! We played naughts and crosses and drew pictures and played snap with the cards, we played catch and I-spy and rock, paper, scissors. Daddy took Plum for an extended walk and Pumpkin found the water fountain and went back and forth for repeated trips. Then, for no reason, other than we had sat there for over an hour, we took the final walk to the gate.

Here we watched planes take off and land and Plum walked around smiling at all the other babies. We watched then bring our plane to the gate and unload and load it with the food and suitcases. The boys ran around the seats and we joined a collection of exhausted parents who had been entertaining their children for 8 hours and still had another hour to go! They were tired little smalls and hungry little smalls by now. It was 7.30 and there was no sign of boarding and we knew food would be at least another two hours away.

And finally, they called us to board. Blessed relief. They have the entertainment system ready to go immediately so that was the next distraction until, at last, we took off and then food was served. Both boys ate well. Plum had fallen asleep on daddy's lap. Pumpkin turned off his computer about 10pm and curled up and went to sleep andPubeqn went to sleep about 11.30pm. I watched two movies and then tried to rest but found it really difficult especially when Pumpkin was restless and needed lots of cuddles and blanket tucking.