too...tired...can't...post

I am so tired right now that I think I will never be able to sleep enough to feel awake again. I spent some time on the various planes writing blog entries in a notepad, so I've got them for some day in the future when I can type them up, but it isn't going to be tonight.

Here's a brief rundown of the last 48ish hours:

8:30 am - left our eurocamp and headed to the airport

12:15 pm - got on the airplane without getting one last croissant. sad.

12:55 pm-4:15 pm - 10 hour flight from Paris to Houston, Texas. Kids were great, Darcey slept for a while, she's very calm. Turns out, it's because she has a fever. But at least she's calm.

4:45 pm - We get sidetracked into an extra security screening because Ryan mentioned we had brought an apple in our carry-on bag.

5:50 pm - Our flight is supposed to leave in 15 minutes, but the plane isn't there yet. I am called up to the desk and offered a deal to take a later flight because the plane's overbooked. He offers a hotel room, meal vouchers, and $200 per person. I ask for 2 rooms and $300. He counters with $250, and I take the deal.

6:30 pm - The ticketing lady is mad at the guy who made me the $250 deal, because "the system" is only able to do vouchers for $200 or $400. She hands my case over to another lady, who is nicer and just wants to go home, so without any encouragement on my part, she decides to give me $400 per person. $2,000 in flight vouchers, cha-ching!

6:31 pm - I start fantasizing about where we can go with $2,000 in flight vouchers. Ryan picks up some Essentials Kits, which as it turns out, were not filled with food, shelter, and love. (That came courtesy Brian Regan the comedian. We need more comedy in the airport.)

7:30 pm - We get taken by shuttle to a hotel in Houston. I get the good combination of kids in my room (they didn't connect) and we are all asleep by 8:00.

4:30 am - My room (Noah and Darcey) are both awake and we get ready to go. The room next door has been awake since 2:30 on account of Zacky falling asleep in the stroller at the airport. He is the only perky one of the group.

5:30 am - I use $21 in meal vouchers to buy muffins at Starbucks for breakfast. I have $49 left and don't know what to use it on.

6:40 am - 3 hour flight from Houston to SLC. Uneventful, Darcey slept again in my arms but cried more, especially at the end. The other kids were excellent.

9:00 am - We get to SLC, use $7 in vouchers to buy some Krispy Kremes for the kids, then split up. Ryan takes Darcey to get the van and drive it around to pick us up, I go to pick up our luggage which made the original flight and was waiting for us.

9:15 am - I went into (a different) Starbucks and grabbed $44 worth of whatever was available, to use my remaining $42 in vouchers. I got: a pack of gum, a bottled water, 3 chocolate chip scones that no one liked, and some chocolate covered caramels.

9:20 am - I go to the baggage claim office and naturally, our bags are no where to be found. I think we offended the extra security people with our apple-bringing audacity, so they sent our luggage to Bora Bora.

10:15 am - We're home. We spend the day trying to stay awake or to take a nap or just to feel like a human again. Nothing's working.

7:00 pm - I laugh for the first time all day at the tv show Wipeout, which is a remake of Takeshi's Castle and is the most hysterical thing I've ever seen. Or I could be punch drunk from the lack of sleep.

9:00 pm - Ryan looks at me like I'm crazy when I say I'm going to finish my blog entry before going to bed. I'm also going to run the dishes. There's no sign of our bags, although they said they could have gotten here this evening. I don't think I cared about much in those bags until they said I couldn't have them.

There you have it. I've got much more detailed descriptions of my day, but you know what? I think this sums it up well. And I'm trying to be more concise, so maybe this is good practice. I should write all of my blogs with my eyes half open and my stomach hurting from being so tired. They may not be amusing, but at least they'd be short!

I'm glad to be home. As much fun as I had, it's nice to be back home.