Greetings from Orlando!

Well, the girls (Hana, Vienna, Petunia) and I have made it safely to Mimi and Pappy's lovely home in Orlando and are settling in nicely after one of the worst 24-hours-of-travel of my life, lol. Our last plane flight ended almost 25 hours after our first one took off! When Hana finally learned we were done flying (a prospect she was initially excited about), she started squealing "yays" and clapping like mad. The poor thing had it REALLY rough. I think the flights would have gone off without a hitch were it not for that pesky flight-attendant-enforced regulation that seatbelts must be worn, even if the cabin light advising such is not lit, whenever you are in your seat. Poor Ha couldn't lie down or get comfortable for the life of her! Normally I am not one for breaking rules, but I did let her break that one--but we got caught and were told to comply. :O( She also loved the built-in movie screens on most seatbacks, but hated the earphones--so that was more drama. In all, she tantrummed for about 1/2 of our 8.5 hour flight from Tokyo to Seattle, but was fairly docile for the remainder of our travel, although she hardly slept. We also had this annoying guy in front of us on the Tokyo-Seattle leg who would turn around and look at us every time Hana started screaming, as if he didn't know what was going on, or as if I had some control over the situation and might be able to calm her down, provided I knew the noise level was irritating to him. I'm sure people like us annoy people like him, but people like him annoy people like me, lol. Seriously, I can 100% guarantee my flight was worse than his and that Hana's was worse than either of ours. I really think a grown man should be able to handle a couple hours of interupted sleep/mild unpleasantries. Anyway, for the last two legs of the trip, I pulled out Ha's savior, the portable DVD player. She was in the process of yelling at and hitting me when I finally got it out (I had to save it until the end because the battery life was not long enough to last all the way through and our layovers were far too short to charge it in between flights). When she saw what I was up to, she actually started PETTING me and saying "nice, nice" and "sorry", as if to calm me so I wouldn't change my mind about letting her use it! Too cute. When it was finally set up, she leaned forward and kissed the screen. She was adamant about not wearing headphones (another requirement if you're going to be using portable entertainment), but not a rule than anyone seemed to mind my breaking (I think they knew what they were in for if we turned the player off!).

Tunia fared well on the flights (in that she survived), but traveling 1/2way around the world, on 4 different flights, with a dog in the baggage lock, is by no means an easy feat--especially when you are already burdened with more luggage than you can physically carry, an infant, and a very grumpy toddler. What made it so difficult was that, in between every flight save the last, I had to go get her from somewhere and take her somewhere else, on very limited layover time. Most of the flights were actually paging us to board by the time we made it to the gate!! Here is a brief synopsis of Tummy's journey and how to travel internationally with a doxie. First, a couple of days before the flight, she had to get some shots (she was administered a 3-year rabies shot in the US, but Japan has an annual requirement, so she had to get a booster before her health certificate could be issued). Two days before the flight, Da had to take her on a 1-hour drive to the airport for inspection by the Quarantine Office there. Day of, we checked her in to the first leg of the trip very easily. When we got to Tokyo, however, even though our bags were checked through to Seattle, we had to run down to baggage claim, pick her up, and re-check in with United. This is also when I realized her water bottle was leaking and 1/2 of her bedding was damp. So I refilled her tank and handed the wet bedding to the United rep because I couldn't get to a trashcan without giving up my place in line. He was really grossed out; he probably assumed it was urine--but I promise it wasn't! Then, even after we checked her in, we still had to cart her over to the oversized baggage area--and then sprint to our flight. When we arrived in Seattle, we had to pick up all our bags and clear customs. Tunia also had to be cleared through customs and additionally we had to meet with TSA for a kennel examination because the US has more stringent pet-carrier requirements than Japan. Her bedding was damp again, so I had to throw it out and give her my sweater! The poor thing--it was a tough call deciding between dehydration or damp bedding, but she didn't get sick, so I guess I made an okay choice. Thankfully, coming off this fllight, there was an extra wheelchair booked that was not needed, so we were able to use it and the person accompanying it helped us through both security checks, customs, and all the way to our gate--where we got absolutely no help at all (from United anyway). Eventually some passengers stepped in to help me carry the girls and all our junk to the very last seats on the plane. The United attendant greeting people as they boarded the plane actually said to me: "I'm sorry--I don't have kids, so I have no idea how to help!" When it was pretty obvious I just needed someone to carry things. On the deboard, I gathered up my nerves and told her that I would have to make 2-3 trips off the plane if I needed to carry everything by myself, so finally her and another attendant decided to help me. Thankfully, between the Chicago-Orlando flights, we didn't need to pick anything up and were able to proceed directly to our gate. By this time, Ha, who had only slept 2 hours the entire time, was so exhausted she could barely stay awake. Luckily she was willing to ride in Vienna's carseat-stroller, but every time I stopped moving, she would wake up, crying, and only really wanted me to hold her in one arm, Vienna in the other, and walk (she got very mad whenever I would sit) around the airport, bouncing them both.

By the time we got to Orlando, we were happier than ever to see Mimi and Pappy. Hana had been talking about them for weeks (I was trying to help her process what was going to happen, but I don't think she entirely grasped it--she definitely understood that Mimi and Pappy, a,k.a. "Me-Happy" would be seen, but I still don't think she realizes how long she will be without dear Da). Perhaps thanks to such, she is adjusting wonderfully here.

Anyway, I am going to try to get a little more sleep before Hana wakes up--Vienna had me up at 5 this morning, but is now settling back down. Figured I'd do a quick flight post. Vienna, by the way, flew amazingly. It never ceases to make me chuckle when I think about how difficult I thought newborn babies were to handle when Hana was an infant--but now that I have some clue as to what I am doing--and realize how much more difficult toddlers are--I am like "newborns are a piece of cake!" The hardest part is still finding the time to do what I want with both girls, given their different needs, but we seem to be managing. :O)