15 Hours, 3 Countries, 1 Birthday

Today is E's first birthday. We celebrated with a small piece of cake at dinner yesterday. Our flight this morning was at 7:25 so we left the hotel at 4:15am. After a quick run to the grocery store (thanks to our driver, M!) we made it to the hotel in record time. This was much better than last time as we rushed through the check-in and passport control. There were no airport delays in Spain so we were looking forward to a smooth flight. We stepped up to the Iberia check-in counter and there was a problem. N, N and C did not have tickets. What?!

On Saturday we discussed the possibility of splitting up to get home. I would have to take E since my name is in her passport, etc. Well, I thought we were going to avoid this but it appeared to be a possibility. It seems that AA/BA/Iberia did not ticket N, N and C. E and I both had tickets, however. After a long call with AA we were finally able to get them tickets. We checked our bags and now had to race to the gate because of the delay. Passport control was smooth again and we made it to the gate on time. Our seats were not together but we did have some space to spread out a bit.

We knew the connection in Madrid would be short. Arrive at 10:30, out at 11:50. We joked that as long as we get on the plane it doesn't matter if our bags don't make it. Well, there was a strong headwind and our flight arrived late. We had twenty minutes to make it through the terminal. Of course, the Chicago flight was boarding on the opposite side of the terminal. We exiting the plane and made our way through security again. They decided to frisk me at least three times while explaining something in Spanish. It was not looking good. One of the workers said, "Chicago?" and I nodded. She said you better hurry. Two adults and three children ran down the terminal. We made it, sweaty, finally on our way home.

The 9+ hour flight was long. E did her best and C was still struggling through her fever. But when it was done, when the airplane wheels touched down we held the newest U.S. citizen. We worked our way through passport control and were told to meet with an immigration officer after we picked up our bags. Well, the bags never made it (haha) and we waited for some time to be called. E received a stamp in her passport and we were on our way. We made a claim with Iberia for our bags and met my parents outside. My mom cooked us a traditional Chinese dinner and we crashed.

15+ hours of flight. Three countries. One complete family. What a first birthday!