The Adventure Begins, Eventually...

 Kia Ora! 

June 18th is the day I had been counting down to since purchasing our tickets the beginning of April. Our flight wasn’t until 6 pm. So, we ran a few errands that day, had frozen Costco lasagna for lunch and then headed to the airport, getting there just after 2 pm. Mom and Dad Bodily and Sadie drove us all there. We had 15 pieces of "luggage" to check - 3 actual suitcases, 6 cardboard boxes wrapped up in plastic and 6 big ol' duffle bags made from tarp. Did you know that you can check cardboard boxes? Yup. I purchased these for checked luggage. For the most part they worked well, however one was ripped pretty badly (the airline put the whole thing in a giant plastic bag) and a couple others had a little bit of damage. But, for the cost (about $8/each) I am happy with them. Oh, I did have to sign a waiver for the boxes and bags, but beyond that the airline didn't have a problem with them. Now, back to checking in...

When I went to check in, they were able to check me in, but not any of the kids. There was an issue with their tickets. It’s a bit confusing and still doesn’t make much sense to me, but apparently the travel agency (I bought the tickets through Kayak who routed me through to Underpricer, whom I’ve never heard of) had a glitch or a mistake or something and didn’t book the kids tickets. Which I don’t get, because I was able to pick their seats, but apparently they didn’t have tickets. Anyways, I called them and we waited. And waited. And waited. About 40 minutes into the wait to hear back if they fixed the tickets, the Spirit whispered to me. I had the thought, “Lyndsay, just go home.” Not permanently, but just don’t fly out this day. When I had the thought I had instant peace. But, I did fight it, because well, that was just crazy. There we were with 15 packed boxes, our carry-ons, our personal items, all ready to go. Mom and Dad Bodily and Sadie had come to see us off. James’ friends had all come to see him off. We had to go. I had to see my husband, even another 24 hours seemed too long. About 30 minutes later I said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father for help. If we were not supposed to fly out that day I told Him I needed help to make that decision. I wanted to do the right thing, but honestly, at this point I was so mentally drained and exhausted I didn’t trust myself and said, "Please, Heavenly Father, I’m not trying to ignore a prompting, but I just can’t do this by myself. If we aren’t supposed to go today, help that to happen." And He did. Just about 1-1/2 minutes after the deadline to check in for our Tuesday flights, our tickets were fixed. How’s that for an answer to prayer? I cried and was sad at not seeing Brad in 24 hours, but I had such peace and knew that this was the right thing. Poor Daniel, he also started crying. It had been a long (4 hours) wait and seemed to be for nothing. He wanted to see his dad. We loaded the truck back up with boxes, Kevin came to help get us home (Sadie had to leave for piano lessons) and we headed home. And honestly, it just felt right. All the kids and even Mom and Dad said the same thing. We have no idea why, we’ll probably never know why, but we were not supposed to fly out on Tuesday, June 18th.

Trying to check in all our baggage.


James' friends that came to the airport to say goodbye. They're pretty awesome.


During the 4 hour wait we had to move all our baggage up against the wall. Autumn was a trooper and sat guarding it for us.


We went home and had Beef Wellington (that we had made months ago and frozen and forgot about and then defrosted to have a few days before we left but forgot about it again) and just enjoyed one last evening together.

We had unassembled the bunk bed and so the boys just slept on mattresses on the floor in their room. 

The next day, we had to leave for the airport at 10 and everything went smoothly. We got checked in, hugged Mom and Dad Bodily goodbye and then made it through TSA (a bit of an effort, we forgot there were Nintendo Switches in Daniel’s bag and so he got flagged for not taking them out – oops!). Then we settled in at our gate for a nearly 4 hour wait until our flight. Autumn actually saw a classmate, who was leaving from the same gate we were (just 2 hours sooner than us) so that was fun.

Waiting at the Boise airport.


The flight to Los Angeles was so turbulent for the first 8 or so minutes. I was quite nervous, poor Brynn was a wreck, but then it smoothed out and was okay the rest of the way. We made the long, long trek from our gate to the international terminal at LAX (we were about as far away as you could be from where we needed to be). And once again settled in for a long (6+ hour) wait for our next flight. We ordered burgers and pizza, played games, went for little walks and tried to find an outlet that actually worked (Autumn ended up finding one in the ground that worked) so we could charge our phones and electronics. 

Waiting at the LA airport.



Once the NZ flight attendants showed up I tried to see if I could get our seats moved (all but two of us were spread out). We couldn’t, but we ended up not being too far apart. Daniel and I took the seats that were next to each other, Ryan, bless him, took the seat that was way isolated and the other kids were within view of each other. Poor Ryan had the worst seat, clear in the back and no extra leg room (somehow we all ended up with extra leg room seats) and it was a bit stinky and warm where Ryan was, but he was a trooper. He didn’t have anyone in the seat next to him so at last he had that.


Finally on our way!


Glad Daniel and I were able to sit together.

Air New Zealand dinner. I really liked the vegetable salad thing.

After landing, everyone took a bathroom break and then we got our baggage. Each of us took a trolley (they’re free in Auckland) and loaded up our luggage. Some things were a bit beat up, but we gathered everything and made it through customs. Customs was so much easier than I had expected. I know they x-rayed Brad’s boxes, but they let us go through no problem.

I knew that Brad was going to meet us at the airport, but none of the kids (except Ryan who had figured on his own he would) knew that. Once we were out the exit we saw him waiting and I just ran and hugged and kissed him. The kids all hugged him. Brynn and Daniel were crying. It was an awesome reunion. Our driver (I forgot to mention that I had booked a shuttle van to get us from Auckland to our home in Hamilton) helped us get to the shuttle van, he even pushed my trolley for me. I had a nice visit with him – his name is Willem (pronounced Vilam) and he emigrated from South Africa 27 years ago (on June 25th). He was so friendly. We got everything loaded into his trailer and shuttle and he took all the kids and Brad and I hurried off to where he was parked to follow them home. 

In the airport parking lot, just finished loading up the shuttle.


Together at last!



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