 |
| Recovering from an international trip is exhausting :) |
Our last day in Japan went like this: We had breakfast at the hotel, then we had a few hours to relax and pack up our things. (The only stressful thing this morning was that I was expecting a package from Benesse and it didn't get delivered until the last minute!). We walked around the hotel lobby and shops, and bought some food for our bus ride.
The bus ride to the airport was about an hour long.
Once at the airport, things went pretty smoothly. We had help checking in our bags and we met Aya-chan (Clara's friend from Japanese school, who was traveling by herself). We did some last-minute souvenir shopping. I think our flight was delayed by an hour or so, can't remember. James mentioned that he had some itchy red dots on his knee.
A few hours into our flight, James once again complained about his red dots. Chris checked him out and whispered to me, "Don't freak out, but I think James is sick with something." James had a growing number of red spots on his arms and legs and had a slight fever.
The kids slept for the majority of their flight to Chicago, thank goodness.
By the time we landed in Chicago, James was covered in a rash all over his body. Thank goodness there were only a few spots on his face, or else I think he would have been detained! As we made our way through the loooong line at customs, all of us had to pass through an area where they take a picture of you and answer some questions on the screen. We all passed, expect James. He got a big X on his face, probably because the computer could sense he had a fever. Because of that we had to wait in another line or further questioning, and we were super stressed because we only had a few minutes to make our connecting flight. Poor James was miserable! Thankfully the customs officer let us though.
Then it was run, run, run, through the Chicago airport (which we all know is HUGE). James was whimpering because his feet hurt (they were covered in red spots). I felt so bad for him. We finally made it to our gate and what do you know... we made it, because our flight was delayed (gotta love airports-- not!)
Anywaaayyy... we eventually made it home. Home, sweet home.
The kids sleep schedules were very messed up for the first few days and we all felt like zombies. I could not for the life of me keep them up past 2pm. Then they would be awake during the night.
 |
| sister love at the hotel |
 |
| our view out the hotel window |
 |
| the cutest age! |
 |
| the airplane food was very good |
 |
| and cute! |
 |
| James' spots |
I made an appointment with our doctor's office right away, and it was determined that James had a bad case of Hand-Foot-Mouth. Japan had a bad case of it this past year, apparently. And since James likes to touch and lick everything, it's no wonder he got it.
James looked pretty bad for several weeks. Eventually most of his affected skin peeled off like a snake. I won't post pictures for your sake, but it was very gross. We were so very lucky that our girls didn't get it... or if they had, it was a very mild case. Also, we thanked our lucky stars that this happened on our way home and NOT while we were in Japan.
Oh, the ups and downs of international travel... with kids! As you have seen, it was an epic, wonderful, whirlwind trip of a lifetime. The kids' Japanese improved and we saw as many relatives as possible, which were our two main goals. My third goal was to eat tons of yummy Japanese food, and I think we accomplished that as well.
