From Here to There

So we made it! Yes in one piece and of sound mind after 23hrs of flying WITH an 8mth old! It is indeed a miracle.

We had a lovely couple of days with Kathy, Alan, Zoe and Emma in London with our last English supper at the local pub. A great meal and even greater company. We've really enjoyed having family to spend time with in England and hope it won't be too long before we see the Rollings four again.

Sunday morning saw us sitting on our suitcases... ok it was only mine (Mez), to squeeze everything in, and off to Heathrow for one last time. The rental hand over was smooth and check-in line at Air NZ nice and short. Praise God there was a sky cot for little Abbey which made the journey a little easier. Ryan was approached in security by an officer with a suspicious smug look on his face who said "I'm sorry sir but we're going to have to search you" This made Ryan just a little nervous but he was soon relieved when it appeared that it was just our buggy they had problems with rather than himself and he wouldn't be strip searched.

The flights went amazingly well. Our daughter is a STAR traveller and if all our children can handle long hauls like she did then there will be more travelling in the years to come. I was a bit nervous when, because of all the goings on at the airport, she didn't manage to have her midday 2 hr-ish sleep and it got to about 8pm UK time on the flight and she was still awake. I just went with her though and decided it would be more stressful to try and make her sleep than to just let her get tired. And she did eventually sleep quietly snuggling down. After that when she was awake she was happy as Larry chatting away "da da dadada da da" or jingling her bells, rattling her rattles (thanks Tiddlywinks!). she and I did a few crawl laps of the plane and said hello to some random people. Abbey made friends with a Psychologist on her way to Greymouth (a small south island town) to speak at a conference. I was a bit nervous that she might be analysing my parenting but I think we do pretty well and don't play too many mind games with our daughter so I think we would have passed =)

Transit in LA was a bit of a drag but we just found a quiet corner and had a drink and a nap.

Abbey didn't cry not even a little (i kid you not) until our last flight from Auckland to Wellington buy which stage, like us, she was a little tired of aeroplanes and wanting a proper bed to sleep in.

Grandma Gwen was there at the airport very excited to pick us up and even more excited to be surprising Grandpa Vince and John and Grandma Judy. So Ryan and I prettied ourselves up with a change of clothes and wash and then headed to dad's office where he was told by a colleague that there was a parcel for him and SURPRISE!!! there we were. He was well surprised and delighted to see his granddaughter for the first time. We also dropped in unexpectedly on Auntie Joelle and Uncle Tony. Tony took us to Grandpa John's workplace so that he could also be stunned and as for Grandma Judy... we let ourselves into her home and had Abbey playing in a newly set up travel cot they had just bought as she walked in the door. Ryan and I hid down the hallway and all we heard was "Abbey? ABBEY?! That's Abbey! with a squeal.

In the days that followed we managed to surprise the rest of our sibling apart from two so I think we did really well. I highly recommend big surprises. They make you feel so good if you manage to pull them off!

So we've had over a week now to get over jet lag and into NZ time and finally feel normal again. We did find that for most of last week as soon as it got dark we were ready for bed but that seems to have subsided and we're back to our night owl selves. Wellington has been putting on the most stunning days for us and we are loving it.

To all of our friends in the UK we hope the beauty of spring has sprung and thank you for your prayrs for safe and easy travel with Abbey. God bent his ear towards you and gracefully granted us your requests.