Never mind that it was winter. Never mind that it was an Illinois winter.
And so it was that we found Mummy with both kids winging it to Urbana-Champaign via Korea. Yes, the grandiose plans of "divide and conquer" didn't work out as there were not enough seats left on Daddy's flight. Bummer. So on New Year's Eve, after half a day of school, Daddy dropped the family off at the airport and waved goodbye. A short-ish flight to Korea and a transit stopover overnight in a hotel were next. It took an hour to find out where exactly to go - and to what hotel - through security like you would not believe. Sebastien chose this as his moment to sleep - the first of only about 3 hour-and-a-half-long naps that were to serve him for the trip's duration. Alex delighted in pushing him in the stroller.
We were shuttled out of the airport (necessitating another security pass through) and taken to the Hyatt hotel. Nice. Check in was reasonable and we headed up to our room. Back down a short time later (having dragged the kids kicking and screaming from the television) to the ballroom where dinner was served for transit guests - after all, it was New Year's Eve. Mummy had a rushed buffet dinner - nothing much was there that either kid would really eat - and it was back up to the room for a "wim".Yes, we have only showers in China and so Sebastien was excited to find his own "wimming pool" in the bathroom. Rushed the kids through the bedtime routine hoping to get them to sleep and enjoy a wine or two sent up by room service to see in the New Year. It wasn't to be. Alex had great difficulty getting to sleep as she had one ear blocked and the buildup of pressure was hurting her. So we had tears all night until about 4am when she finally fell asleep (note to self: pack kids pain meds in carry on). Sebastien was just so excited about the furniture arrangements that he was bouncing all over the place. All night. He barely got two hours sleep - and those at a different time to Alex. And so there were tears - Mummy's - as she thought ahead to the next day and the slog of travel still to go. Happy New Year - no wine.
Breakfast time and Alex is asleep and Mummy loathe to wake her. But time was a-ticking so everything was packed and Sebastien dressed and watching a cartoon when Mummy woke Alex. Here is the view out the window - bleak and cold Korea with patches of snow on the ground.
Down to breakfast and check out - Sebastien and Alex entertained themselves with Thomas but were under security's watchful eye as there were a few art installations in the foyer that were in potential harm's way.
Then, the stroller is found to be broken and the seat barely hanging by a thread - great. The shuttle bus to the airport is late because of a car accident outside the airport that was blocking traffic. Back through security and we have about an hour to kill before our flight. First we burn off some energy in the play area. 
Then we eat our first snack of the day while watching our plane being refueled. cleaned and loaded. 
No sleep for Mummy on the 14 hour flight. No sleep really for either kid - Alex was too busy watching the kids' channel and Sebastien too busy whinging about there being no Thomas the Tank Engine on the kids' channel. At least we had the three seats on the side to ourselves. We had a layover in Chicago of several hours which allowed us to meet up with some friends from Xiamen who had moved back to the States and were coincidently catching their own flight out of O'Hare a little earlier than us. It was wonderful to see Ellie, Steve and the boys and they introduced us to this great play area in terminal 2 - Sebastien had a ball as did Alex.
Alex "flying" the plane.
Sebastien looking up at the control tower.
Sebastien about to "drive" the refueling car to the plane.
Alex and Sebastien in the cargo hold of the plane.Sebastien kept looking at people in the playarea and grabbing their hand to take them around with him - it was almost as though he was thinking "wow - you look a lot like me. Come play." This was not something he'd ever do in China!!
We headed to the gate but had to endure an hour-long delay as a late crew member was waited for - during which both kids fell asleep. Impossible for Mummy to carry both on board by herself so she shook Alex violently awake and endured her "I'm really asleep though my eyes are open" tantrum that she didn't want to go anywhere. She promptly fell asleep on the plane.
We arrived in C-U - and Mummy had to wake Alex again from a sound sleep. Not fun. We were hoping that there would be taxis working this New Year's Day - and a lovely gentleman who came off the same plane called the taxi company for us rather than us use the public phone. It was bitterly cold and blowing hard as Mummy loaded the kids and luggage into the taxi van. Off to collect the key from Sonia who had kindly gotten it from the office before it closed for New Years.
And then we were there. We had a quick dinnertime visit from Teresa, Paul, Emily, Liz, and a friend which really helped a lot as they brought PIZZA! Then it was time to (finally) crash.
And crash they did - after next to no sleep in the past 36 hours. So did Mummy.
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