okay, I admit it, I was nervous! The thought of taking two little ones on a 10 hour flight to Brazil was daunting! I am not that big a fan of flying myself, so to do it with my kids was a little anxiety filled, but the idea of not doing it was not really an option to me. I really wanted the opportunity to introduce my kids to Brazil, my grandmother, my entire family, to be there for my Tia Stela's 60th birthday party, to share part of my childhood with them. Sure they are a little young, but I wasn't going to let anxiety or fear stand in the way of this trip.
For months I worked on getting passports in order, both Brazilian and American; I got all kinds of travel gear, and polled other mommy friends who had traveled internationally with their little ones on what to take. I bought boxes of Ava's rice milk, snacks for the plane; I bought carseat carrier bags, I made surprise/reward bags of little treats for the plane, I made a felt board with shapes and letters to take on the plane, I packed and repacked as the weather forecast changed. In September, I bought Alex summer clothes up a size or two to make sure that by December the clothes would certainly fit him. All this was like a sort of therapy, helping me relax and get ready to enjoy the ride.
Finally, December had arrived and it was time to go! We packed up the car, and got ready to go to Dallas - after all, that is where we were flying out of. I wanted to do a direct flight, and wasn't about to do a 45 minute flight to Dallas and have a layover, only to risk Ava saying she didn't want to get on the plane again. So we went to Dallas a day early, spent the night with Uncle Trey & Aunt Missy, enjoyed hanging out with them and then on Sunday met up with Bobby & family to go to Brazil. It really worked out for the best, since Ava got to have some fun with her cousins and also had the opportunity to get some rest in before we left.
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