LAX

As the ticker on our blog says, today is the day!!  It's crazy to think that in less than 24 hours we will be in our new apartment in Amman, Jordan!

One of my biggest worries was just getting to the gate.  We had our Chariot stroller, Bill's road bike in a hard case, and 8 suitcases to check.  Although the first attendant we encountered at curb side wasn't thrilled about helping us, he did.  He had a big cart that we were able to load almost everything onto, and he transported us to ticketing. We had a few hangups at ticketing while checking our baggage, but we expected it. Charlee wasn't in the mood to just stand there, running through the airport is so much more fun :)  The limit for our bags is 50 lbs.  Bill and I were up until after midnight last night, once again weighing and moving stuff around to make them all under 50. We expected we would have to move stuff around at the airport and we were right... that was loads of fun. BUT, we were lucky.. we only had 1 heavy suitcase. Bill's road bike posed a bit of confusion with the attendants, but they figured it out and we paid the $175 to check it. Then the real fun began (don't you love all the sarcasm in this post, lol).. with no cart and no further assistance, we had to transport all those checked items to TSA. I had to contain Charlee and watch all our items, so Hailee had to help daddy. Daddy headed over to TSA and Hailee rolled him the suitcases one at a time. We seriously couldn't of done it without her!  Bill's bike had to be taken to over sized baggage, and that was the last of our checked items.  Let me tell you, never have I been so happy to say goodbye to luggage.  We are very happy we don't have to see any of them again until we arrive in Jordan.

Next it was off to security-  girl's both have mini backpacks, 1 laptop backpack, mommy's purse, 2 stuffed animals, and 3 carry-on bags.  Security wasn't too bad. Mommy learned today that anytime you wear a long skirt, you have to submit to a pat down. It's usually my belt or my jeans or something similar, and although I wasn't expecting to be patted down, I'm used to it.  One of our carry-ons had to be searched b/c of baby wipes??? I'm just going to be thankful that they are so thorough and not question that one too much.

We are now sitting at the gate.. got to the gate with 2 hours to spare.  Although, I questioned Bill's desire to leave so dang early, it is nice that the few hangups we had were not so stressful because we knew we had plenty of time.   The girls are watching movies and reading, and mommy was able to type a whole blog. Daddy is doing what he does best- people watching.

I hope to do a short blog when we arrive in New York, but no guarantee.  Our layover is just under 2 hours, and not having ever flown into JFK, I don't know what to expect.

We'll post updates as often as we can, and will blog about our last days in the state as soon as we have the Internet.  About an hour until boarding...

Thank you Colt & Syd for putting up with us and getting us here this morning. We love you guys!