Our Cramazing May, Episode XII

We finally were able to go to sleep, only to be awakened soon after by our breakfast trays being delivered to our seats.  It's hard to complain when people are serving you, and it's even harder when you are on your way to meet your SON!  So we just stretched, rubbed our weary eyes, and tried to live in the moment and enjoy it.  Flexibility and adaptability would be key on this trip, so we'd might as well start practicing it right at the beginning!

Soon after breakfast, the map on the screen told us that we were just 30 minutes or so from London.  I was so tired but so excited at the same time.  My SIL, Jill, would be picking us up from the airport and taking us to their lovely home in Surrey.  This was my third trip to their home, and I just love it!  I love visiting England and taking in the different culture--so similar to ours and yet so different in so many ways.  I love seeing our family and getting to spend time with our nieces, E & P.  I love having dinner with the fam and listening to our BIL, Peter, tell stories of English lore, teach history lessons on all things Great Britain, and just amuse us altogether.  I love hanging out with Jill, catching up on life, having her take us on her many fun outings, and eating her delicious cooking.  Being in England with Hoffbeast's family is wonderful, and it was a great place to get to spend a few days while we worked on our jet lag and prepared emotionally for what was to come.

But first, we had to get through customs.  The line was sooooooo long, and let's put it this way:  Rex wouldn't exactly say that this was the favorite part of the trip.  He went from eager and excited at the beginning...

...to really tired of waiting in the middle...

...to crabby and complaining by the end.  Of course, who could blame him?  He had only slept a couple of hours...he'd probably never slept so little in a night!

Luckily, we made it through (and while we were there, confirmed that Tom would have no trouble going through customs on the way back without a transit visa), and our silly Rex returned at the first sight of a vending machine--our first out-of-the-airport sign that we weren't in Kansas anymore....a vending machine entirely devoted to Cadbury candy!

Hoffbeast loaded up Jill's car while she went and paid for parking,

I counted all of our bags obsessively,

...and all the while, Rex "supervised" while reading his 2012 National Geographic Kids' Almanac, his non-Waldo book companion.

We had made it to Europe!  Only one more continent to go!!!