THE LIMANITES!

READY, SET, GO.....

After our "Christmas" day (December 19th) it was time to get all packed and ready for Brazil. The suitcases had been in my room for days just waiting to be filled, but with all the Christmas activities, I had not filled them yet. Sunday, December 20th was crunch time. I had to be ready to walk out the door Tuesday, December 22nd at 7:00 a.m. Too bad I was deathly ill, and spent all day Sunday in bed! It was awful. I could not stay awake. I fell asleep in the bathtub, people! I had no energy and could not focus. I thought for sure I would feel better Monday morning. I was wrong. Kirk stayed home from work to help out, and we managed to get packed. I went to the doctor just to make sure I didn't have strep throat or anything and fell asleep while she was talking to me. It was the very worst feeling. By Monday night, we were not sure if I could even get on the plane Tuesday morning. We called Kirk's dad and explained the situation and came up with a back-up plan. If I couldn't get on the plane, then we would fly out Christmas Eve. Not ideal, but at least we had the plan in place.

After we were all packed, had discussed all of our options, and we were ready for bed, Kirk and our good friend gave all of us a blessing.

Tuesday morning the alarm went off very early. As I rolled out of bed I realized I was feeling much better. In fact, so much better that I was ready to go! Everyone was so excited and I was really relieved. I am so grateful for the Priesthood because I know that without that blessing we would have needed to postpone our flights. Everyone was ready quickly and we were out the door.

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS

Our first flight was from Denver to Atlanta. We met Kirk's dad, and sister and her family there. The cousins were so happy to see each other.





Olivia was still getting over her bought with the flu as well, and was still having trouble with her asthma, so she had to do a treatment while waiting for our flight in Atlanta.


After 4 hours in the Atlanta airport, we stepped on the plane for the 9 hour flight to Sao Paulo. I was very worried about Monique because she doesn't like airplane bathrooms and it's a long flight. I had nothing to worry about. She fell asleep 1/2 hour after we took flight and didn't wake up until an hour before we landed. Izabella slept most the time as well, and Olivia....well, she slept...on me. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much with a toddler asleep on my lap and spent a lot of time looking at the little "Indiana Jones Map" telling us where in the world we were. Luckily, we each had our own TV screen and I watched a few movies.

Once we landed in Sao Paulo (December 23rd, around 8:00 a.m. local time) we had another layover of about 3 hours. We grabbed a bite to eat and felt gross and tired. At this point, our patience was waning.



Oh, and let's not forget the fact that most Brazilian airports do not have air conditioning. Yup, we were sticky too! The only good thing about Brazilian airports is that if you have a small child, they will either move you to the front of the line, or open a new line for you. This did move us through the process a little faster. After they changed gates a few times without telling anyone, we finally boarded the bus that would take us to our plane.

After a short bus ride, we boarded our last flight to Curitiba. This was a pretty short flight and I dosed off for a little bit. Once we landed at the Curitiba airport we headed in to get our bags. I should have taken a picture of the huge amount of bags we had to pick up at each airport. Keep in mind...we were a group of 10, with 11 suitcases plus our carry-ons! It was quite the mound of luggage. On the other hand, we left the Curitiba airport with only 10 suitcases because they had lost one of mine! Luckily, it was mainly our toiletries and such, but still...ALL THE SIPPY CUPS WERE IN THERE!!! If you have a toddler, you know why those cups are so important. I was really, really hoping they would find it.

When we walked out of the airport we saw John the wonderful driver and headed to our bus. Yes, they hired a bus for us to ride in because we have so many people. It's about a 45 minute drive from the airport to the Fazenda (Ranch) where we would be spending Christmas with the family.

Whew! We made it through Phase One...everyone is safe and accounted for and we're only missing one bag. Not too shabby really!