Monday, August 10, 2015

Post Travel / Travel

We told the kids we were going back to Latvia about a month ago. They all took it well at first. Then this past week they all freaked out differently about the trip. Spencer has been taken it the hardest or at least from the outside. He will grab me, scream, jump, yell, and thrash around. Sometimes I have to pin him down so he does not hurt himself or me. He started by only doing that with the five of us then he started to do it public. I told the daycare if they have issues they can call us. They only had issues with Spencer the last two days before the trip. He started not wanting to listen to anyone and just stand in the corner. We kept telling him that he was coming home but he is right at the age where he just does not understand.  Hunter was just clinging more to us then normal. Elliana, I originally thought was taking it really well. We talked about it. She wanted to see this one friend but she did not know the girls last name. I was not sure where the girl came from so we were not able to make a connection. We talked about the girl and Elliana said she was nervous but we kept talking. Only when we were days away did she start to cry about it. She was scared she would not be coming back. I told her over and over again but she just kept on crying. I finally ended up holding her and one night I slept with her. I honestly wish we did not have to take the kids back. Being 7, 6, and 5 they don't understand and they really are stressing out about it.

My father came up with an idea to have the kids bring back pressed flowers so they would know they are coming back home.  I did help calm Elliana down a few times. I brought some wax paper with us so we can press the flowers.

Travel...
Well we decided to drive to Toronto and fly over to Latvia by means of Canada. No one in our agency has done that before. I also reached out on the two support groups and no one has done that either. In fact some people said they found cheaper flights but decided not to.  We are saving over $2,000 by flying in and out of Canada so we are going to find out how easy it is to get back in the Country or we will be living on the border until we figure it out.

Well the drive was long to Toronto but no delays with the flight. Hunter slept the most with about 2 hours. Elliana had close to that. Spencer did not sleep at all. He really liked to watch out the window the entire time. The flight went surprisingly smooth.  One big thing that made it easier was that the kids now understand English better and could pay attention to the movies they had.  The only issue we had was the fact our luggage did not show up. Jeff and I are light packers so the fact that one of three pieces of luggage was lost was horrible especially being the one with all our clothes, 110V to 220V converter for plugging in the cell phones, computer etc. We had packed a change of clothes in one of the carry-on so that helped the first night and of course we carry all our important documents. However, I was so worried about a change of clothes for the kids and Jeff, I did not pack myself a change of clothes. Luckily the luggage showed up late the following day (today), I was starting smell ripe. For Spencer he was jumping up and down not because he got his favorite car shirts back but because we can now make pancakes (we had packed some Hungry Jack pancake mix in the lost luggage).

We are staying in the same Riga Apartments. We just got a different smaller one to stay in. We asked for three cots for the kids to sleep and ended up with a pack - n - play and a bed. So Jeff and I took the couch and put the kids in the bed. That lasted only about a hour. Elliana was scared and wanted me and cried and cried. Hunter could not sleep and wanted only to be held. Spencer was the only one who actually slept and it was 12 hours. I really hope the kids are better tonight.

Doctor...
Today we had to visit the U.S. Embassy doctor. It went really well. They checked how the kids were progressing. We did have to do a urine test. So make sure if you are adopting that you don't have the kids to go to the bathroom before the visit. It was very interesting trying to help the kids go to a bathroom in a cup. It was not an experience I really want to do again. However, in the end all kids passed.  We also stopped by the passport place to get updated pass ports.

Tomorrow we have the day free. Hoping that the kids will be more stable we are going to try the beach. Tonight has been hard so maybe tomorrow they will be better.

4 comments:

  1. Hoping the rest of the trip goes smoothly. Sending lots of love and good wishes your way!

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  3. Thanks for sharing this beautiful post with us. Latvia is a small country located on the Baltic Sea, is a place which is immersed into ancient history and traditions and is a must visit place for all the travel lovers. Enjoy your Latvia travel with Baltic Transfers.

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