Packing to travel back to the Kingdom, after spending 6 weeks in the USA brings on a difficult challenge at times. It takes planning, well thought out organizing, and can be a task in itself to keep 3 sets of hands out of the bags. We've packed so many times that I kinda have a system down and make the most of it. I generally start packing 2-3 days before we leave. I HATE the feeling of being rushed while packing the day we fly out so I try to avoid that as much as possible. I usually pick up all the necessities that we want to bring back with us throughout our visit in the states so I don't have as big of a shopping trip and can organize things sooner. I bag all our stuff in Ziploc bags since I tend to take everything out of its boxes or containers to save space. This also helps to help keep things together. I organize suitcases based on weight- so heavy items will be paired with lighter items to maximize space and to distribute weight evenly. I always ship 1-2 boxes of clothes, crafts, toys, etc that are on our company's approved ship list. Anything that can't be shipped or would require a high duty tax on it is ALWAYS the first things to go inside our suitcases. For the most part, we manage to keep all 8 of our suitcases right at 50lbs, but that requires some heavy duty lifting to figure out. We've been over weight on a few bags, a few times at the airport, even after spending the time to weigh our bags, and we either attempt to move things around from one bag to another OR just deal with it and pay the $50 fine. My thinking is if I take the stuff out and ship it I may end up paying $50 in duty fees and shipping so might as well get it to Saudi with me and faster. 
Our trip back to the Kingdom in August was myself, the kids, and a dear friend, Heather, who doesn't have kids, but is pregnant and due in November. (Brooks was only in the US for 3 weeks before heading back without us.) Heather was gracious enough to travel back with me and help with the kids and I'm so thankful she was there! We met her at the airport, got checked in, after being told I had 3 extra bags and 5 bags overweight.... UMMMM NO, NO, and NO! A lot of arguing and pulling out policies and talking to administrators, and fighting to get our seats together.... let me just stop here for a minute.... What airline requires you to have a 2nd adult if you travel with 2 infants (Miles and Brooklyn are both under the age of 2) and then won't seat your 2nd adult anywhere near you and the 2 infants. DUMB if you ask me! None the less, everything got worked out.. Heather sat directly behind us, I didn't have any overweight bags and "the extra bags" were being counted as my stroller, Miles car seat, and his rolling cart that was attached to his car seat, along with too many carry ons... however, their policy is 1 individual carry-on per traveler, NOT 1 large carry-on for mommy to have every one's stuff in her bag, therefore I had 5 carry on bags and they felt that was too much. Um, hello-- I have 3 kids=3 carry-ons, my rolling carry-on & a diaper bag/purse! It's all the exact amount that goes with your policy. Geez people! So after an hour of checking in and getting through security... we were at the gate.
I went and got the kids some dinner, changed everyone into their pajama's, boarded the plane, administered the Benadryl and within an hour and a half of taking off.... everyone was asleep!!! Heather and I even slept. My "rule" when traveling with the kids is always I SLEEP WHEN THEY SLEEP. I made that mistake one too many times watching a movie or reading while they slept and then never had a chance to sleep the duration of our flight because someone was always awake! Both Heather and I took advantage of the down time and got lots of rest! The kids did awesome. We didn't have any issues. No one was sick- no one was fussy- no one cried! Miles woke up after sleeping only 3 hours and I did play with him for about an hour after midnight and then got him to go back to sleep. 8 hours later the kids were awake, ate some breakfast, played, watched movies, took 1 more nap, and then woke up before landing!! It was awesome. Flying back to the Kingdom is always 1000x easier then flying from the Saudi to the US. Since we leave at night, the kids are tired and want to sleep! Woo hoo!!
Once we arrived in Saudi we walked into the customs room and there were 2 lines opened. UGH. The line was out the door. Heather waited in the long line, while I walked towards the one line that was for Saudi's only. I stood there and waited until the 5 Saudi's went through then began walking towards the guard. He motioned for me to come forward! SCORE!! I had Gavin run grab Heather and she came up with us. We handed our passports and visas, got stamped and off we went! Less then 10 minutes! We found all our bags, made it through the "security screening" and once again, Heather and I were being watched instead of the monitor where our bags were passing through. We walked out to the main area and started looking for Brooks. He was waiting out in the open area and once Gavin saw him he dropped his backpack and took off running yelling Daddy. He jumped into Brooks' arms and it was one of the sweetest moments I've seen in a long time. I teared up. Part of this move causes us to make sacrifices and be apart for long time periods. That's tough for little kids so you can image the relief Gavin felt to see his daddy. Miles and Brooklyn were just as ecstatic and expressed it in their own way. I was grateful to be back with my husband, too.
Everyone fell asleep in the car by the time we made it back to our house. Brooks and I quickly changed the kids into their pajamas and put them to bed. Here comes the fun part! Since Brooklyn was rolling over, she needed our crib, which meant Miles was being moved into a big boy bed. For some reason, still un beknown to me, Brooks and I decided to introduce Miles to his new bed the night he arrived back to our Saudi house. That kid didn't know what to do, what to think, and was extremely perplexed with his new freedom. The next 20-30 minutes were very entertaining for us. Miles kept walking into our room and smiling. We continuously put him back into his bed over and over again until he was finally too tired to keep trying. He loved his bed and loved that it looked like Gavin's. The next morning we all slept late so daddy went into work, but came home around lunchtime to spend some time with all of us! It was a fun reunion and everyone was excited to be back together!!
Jet lag was tough, then again, it always is. This is something else we've done so many times that we have a routine and a way that we go about it to help get the kids over it, but ultimately, jet lag is just something we have to deal with. It happens and there isn't a way to avoid it with little kids. This is how the boys felt being woken up from their nap during the day.
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