We made it!

We made it back to Frankfurt on Wednesday.  All 4 of us, even though we ended up having to be on different flights.  We are happy to be back in our house, but it will be a while before I deal with going back to the USA.  It is such an ordeal to get there.  Even though we had a great time, it's tough dealing with 2 kids and time changes and incompetent airlines.

Let me just start by saying how much I hate Delta airlines.  Ever since the merger with Northwest, things have gone seriously downhill.  On the way to the US, the kids didn't get the children's meal we ordered, our overhead lights didn't work, and the children's shows on the TV were all inappropriate.  Not to mention that now they've cut the number of bags per person from 2 to 1.  On the way back, I checked 4 times regarding the kids' meals.  All 4 times I was assured they'd get them.  Even at check in, I was told they were getting kids' meals.  Imagine then, my surprise when dinner was served on the plane and I was told that there were no kids' meals.  Apparently, none of the special meals (i.e. kids, kosher, vegetarian, low salt) were delivered by the caterer.  I got a bit upset considering 2 hours earlier I was assured we'd have something for the kids to eat.  When I mentioned this to the flight attendant he responded "What do you want me to do about it?  We are 30,000 feet up in the air?"  Seriously, I did not pay $3000 for that kind of attitude.  I then asked, why did you not tell us this before boarding?  Obviously, the food is boarded first.  I was then told they told people with special diets before boarding but figured that kids could just eat anything.  I responded that had I known there weren't any kids meals I would have gone down the terminal to McDonald's and bought my kids something they'd eat.  At least then, Aidan would have had something to eat!  The best they did was get him a cheese plate from first class.  Then, the kids started watching TV shows.  I gave up and let them watch shows that are better meant for pre-teens, but that was all that was offered.  I figured it couldn't be that bad for once. I was shocked though, when at the beginning of each show was a trailer for another show (not a cartoon) that had people shooting guns at each other!  Really, Delta, that is your idea of appropriate children's viwing??  Later after all the incidents, they offered me a $50 voucher for the next time we fly.  I told them to save it, I'll be doing my best to avoid flying Delta ever again.

But, crap flights aside, we made it.  We spent the remainder of this week unpacking and trying to finish organizing the house.  On Thursday, I took the kids to the Opel Zoo (a later blog on that), then Friday was Open House at their school, and Saturday involved yet another trip to IKEA (with a big delivery on Wed. to look forward to) and a wine festival in the heart of Wiesbaden.  Today we went to a BBQ sponsored by our relocation company.  The kids had a blast and we met lots of other ex-pats, many originally from MI, from the area.  The only downside to this weekend is that we couldn't take Jason's convertible anywhere.  The stupid car's roof is broken.  Jason has driven the car 3 days.  When he got home from work on Thursday the roof got stuck, it wouldn't go up or down.  We ended up having to have it towed!  So another beautiful weekend goes by without the fun car we were supposed to have all summer. 

But, things are looking up.  Tomorrow the kids start school.  Both of them for full days!  Delainey is so excited and Aidan is happy to have 2 friends in his class.  Delainey wants to ride the bus tomorrow,  but I told her she is stuck with Mommy and Daddy dropping her off on the first day.  Little miss independent herself.  I'm looking forward to having some time to get the house in order and catch up after being gone for 5 weeks.  Plus, our first guests arrive on Friday!  Our friends, the Scarcellos, whom we met in Zurich but have since gone back to Detroit, are coming in this weekend.  Now, all I have to do is find a baby-sitter!