Travel Day

We woke up at 6 am after going to bed around 12:30. (The entire previous day was spent packing our 4 suitcases, 3 carry-ons, and 3 personal carry-ons.) Dave's dad was coming at 7 to take us to the airport. When I woke up Claire, she asked if it was time to go to Mexico! She was in a good mood considering that I had to wake her up and she usually sleeps at least until 7. A quick bowl of cereal for her, showers for us, shoved whatever else we could fit into the suitcases, and we were off.

Dave's dad picked us up in the Terrain and it was full to the brim. He could barely see out the back. I was already worried about us getting through three airports with all this luggage.

We arrived at the Detroit airport (a cold 7 degrees outside) and checked the 4 pieces of luggage to be shipped to Monterrey, Mexico. Then quick good-byes and off we went through security.

Claire did extremely well through this part and didn't even give us the usually "Why?" assault. She just took off her shoes and coat and followed all the directions. We decided to make her wear her monkey backpack that has a parent handle for easy wrangling and I am glad we did. We waited for our first flight, me with the luggage, and Dave and Claire wandering through the airport. Dave got us lunch before we boarded (at 10:10 am), sandwiches for us and a bean burrito from Taco Bell for Claire. (What else do you eat before heading to Mexico?)

I thought Claire would be really excited about the airplane takeoff, but she was too short to see out the window and didn't even know we were flying in the air. All she cared about was when she could use the Ipod! The first hour and a half went by pretty smoothly. Claire ate an oatmeal packet that we brought (thanks Marnie for the awesome suggestion). Then I decided that it was naptime, the only problem was that I had to get the Ipod away from her. She tried using her yelling voice to create drama and, of course, drive me crazy, but finally it passed and I got her to sit with me. After twisting and turning for at least 20 minutes and me glaring at Dave who got to sit by himself on the otherside of the aisle, she fell asleep for the rest of the flight!

We got to Monterrey and had to go through immigration and customs, then had to reclaim our luggage to transfer over to AeroMexico. All of this actually went smoothly, considering the amount of walking that we had to do and the number of times Claire asked if she could have her sucker yet. Finally, we rechecked our luggage and sat waiting for our next flight for two and half hours. Thanks to the internet site 'Slingbox', Dave and Claire were able to watch Olivia and Handy Manny to keep her busy while I tried to get a little bit of sleep. This is the point in the trip when I felt the worst with a headache, runny nose, and just exhausted!

We got on the next plane and I was awarded a seat by myself since there were only three seats across. Too bad this flight was only an hour and forty minutes! Even though this plane was small, it was nice because they check your large carry-ons at the steps of the plane (yes, I had to walk up steps to get on this plane!), so all we had to worry about were our personal carry-ons and Claire. The funny thing is that some man took Claire from me and carried her to the plane. I don't know which one of us was more weary, but we went with the flow and it wasn't a big deal.

We got to Monterrey at which point I was ready to fall over. It was 7:15 Mexico time (8:15 pm Michigan). We got a taxi and by looking at it I was afraid we were never going to get all the luggage into the car and that we were destined to use two taxis, especially after seeing Dave's dad's SUV that morning, but somehow it all fit and we took off for our new home. For some reason, there was a lot of traffic on the toll road and it took us an hour and forty five minutes to get home. Claire fell asleep after about an hour into the car ride, which helped, but by this time, I was so miserable that I thought I was going to throw up in the car and all the way I just kept saying, "we've got to be getting closer." My nose was so stuffy and runny and we had run out of Kleenex at this point. The next best thing I had to use was a pair of Claire's underwear that were in my coat pocket because we put her in a Pull-up at the Detroit airport before we boarded the plane. Note to self: bring a hanky for the next travel day!

We arrived to 44 Castillo de Pisa at 9 pm and it was raining. I got Claire inside and laid her on the couch. She was so tired that she stayed sleeping for about ten more minutes. Just enough time for us to get all the luggage into the house and call home to let everyone know that we had arrived. The house was freezing because the heat had been off for two weeks so Dave had to go outside (yes, outside in the rain) to turn on the propane. We turned on every room heater we could find, made some dinner (Easy Mac and Veggie Chicken Nuggets), and all went to bed in our room, Claire included. Thank goodness there is an electric blanket on our bed, unfortunately it only has one setting: hot!

No one seems to quite understand about the weather in Mexico. Everyone keeps saying at least it's not 0 degrees outside like Michigan! No it's about 61 degrees here right now, but at least at home, I could have my home temperature at 68 degrees. Here, it took two days for the house to reach 64 degrees. It reminds me of a bad camping trip where you just can't get warm. Not to mention that today the propane went out so we are starting back at square zero. I am really looking forward to our shipment to come since we have our amazing space heater packed. I only wish Dave had made it more clear that we should've packed our second heater!