Great America Goodbye

FINALLY I've come to the end of my American Vacation pictures - The last week was a whirlwind... all in all we stayed in 5 different houses - one house 2 different times - one hotel, 4 airplanes, went to 3 different states and had a great time. We're so blessed to have such great friends - the Amoses had us stay with them at first, the Beans went to NYC and girls camp so we got to stay in their house and then again watching Ian's bff - Jared. Our other neighbors the Monks let us stay at their house when they went to Australia! It all ended up being a great trip away - which at first I was really quite anxious about. It all worked out - the kids spend most days (and nights!) with their friends.

But the last week we went to Great America amusement park - we went with my friends Laura & Tamara - we had 14 children with us but had a great time! We basically had 3 groups - the teenagers (13+), the in between boys (6-10) and Lucas (oh and the two infants). It wasn't crowded so the kids got to go on plenty of rollercoasters!


Ms. Laura & Tristy-Lu



In front of the famous double decker merry-go-round


All the kiddies


Ms. Laura's grandbaby - Lilly & Tristy-Lu

Finally the day came for us to head back to England. We were smart and took the 7PM flight so we didn't need to leave until 4pm so we got to say goodbye to all our neighbors and friends that stopped by. We even got in a last minute swim in Judy's beautiful pool!

The car service we used made me slightly nervous - I took all 5 kids on the airplane by myself - Mike couldn't come back to visit and ride back home with us - we did well however -

The car service called the night before and said how they weren't sure if they were going to send a van - I was a bit nervous - I said well, we have 6 people, 9 pieces of luggage, stroller & babyseat - we all had carry-on backpacks.

They sent us a Stretch Limo...the kids quite enjoyed it....


We turned on the neon lights in the bar for them - but he got all our luggage in the car....

The kids did great - they changed our seats so my original plan was shot - but in the end it worked out well. They all ate their dinner then slept the whole night - Tristan was on my lap for the whole time, I dozed but it was hard because she would wake up.

We got out, the kids got their bags - helped each other and Mike was there with our car and a taxi to pick us up. It took us a week to get over jet-lag - much longer than last year - but we planned well and had nothing else to do really.

So we had a wonderful 5 week vacation - now on to real lilfe!!