23 hours, 30 minutes. That's the time we spent in planes and airports during layovers today. Not including checking-in in Singapore or collecting the luggage in Seattle. The trip comprised of three legs - Singapore to Seoul, Seoul to San Francisco, and San Francisco to Seattle.
With the reshuffling of the luggage, we barely made it to the plane on time. By the time we got to the gate, the plane was already boarding.
The kids were brilliant on the first leg. Little Lady slept through most of it. Little Man got a little angtsy around the 5 hour mark and wanted off the plane. However, he was able to keep his cool until we landed in Seoul. The Seoul layover was supposed to be 1 hour and 5 minutes, but after disembarking, going through security and early boarding with young children, I think we effectively had 5 minutes at Incheon. But I think the kids managed to stretch their legs and were more settled for the next leg.
The kids were once again brilliant on the second, 10 hour 45 minute leg. After the meal, Little Man again wanted out, but after a bit of convincing, he agreed to sleep. He slept through breakfast, and by the time he woke up, it was almost time to land in San Francisco.
At SFO, we passed through immigration, picked up out luggage, checked the luggage in at the transfer area, and then went to check in for our final leg. Mr Milo was able to change his flight to the same one as the rest of us were on.
We had some time to kill (maybe half an hour to 45 minutes left of our 3+ hours layover), so we had a quick bite (since Little Man missed his meal on board) and watched baggage get off-loaded from an A380.
The kids slept through most of the final leg. They even slept through the landing!
We were met in Seattle by Mr Milo's friends, S and TC. They were very kind to drive all the way to the airport to pick us up. TC even drove to our apartment here in Seattle to pick up our car first! They helped us to load up our numerous luggage, drove us home and then help us unload!
After unloading, we rested a little to recover, and then had dinner at a nice Thai restaurant in the neighbourhood.
Little Man slept peacefully, but Little Lady woke at 2am and stayed awake till about 5am.
25th March (Wednesday)
We all woke up late, and had brunch of waffles and luncheon meat made by Mr Milo.
As Mr Milo had lost his wallet back in Singapore, we spent the afternoon getting a replacement driver's license and SIM card as well as a SIM card for me. I was very sleepy for a couple of hours, partly due to jetlag, and partly due to Little Lady's shenanigans the night before.
On our way back from the errands, we stopped by the neighbourhood QFC and bought some supplies.
Dinner was naan and roast chicken ($7.99) from the supermarket. It was as yummy as the ones from Woolies and Coles in Perth. I then deboned the chicken to use the carcass to boil up some stock.
Once again, Little Lady woke in the wee hours. Slightly better though. She fell back to sleep at 4am.
26th March (Thursday)
We had pancakes for breakfast.
After lunch (chicken noodle soup made with left over chicken and the stock made the night before), Mr Milo brought us to see the children's school. They had a lot of fun on the playground on a hill just behind the school. School was out for the day, but we looked around the compound, and the children had lots of fun playing with the toys in the schoolyard.
After that, we walked further up the hill behind school and came across a community garden. It looks wonderful. I must figure out how we can get a plot.
Dinner was fried rice. I am glad to report that the children ate well for both lunch and dinner. It was a relief as I hadn't cooked for a long time, and the children are generally picky eaters.
Little Lady again woke in the middle of the night. This time, she was joined by Little Man.
27th March (Friday)
Mr Milo's first day back at work. Since I wasn't comfortable driving yet, he drove to work. The children and I spent a nice relaxing day at home. I made meatballs and patties with the ground pork and turkey we bought the other day. We had some for lunch and dinner and froze the rest for another day.
28th March (Saturday)
We ventured to a Target in Bellevue today. Bought some stuff for the home. We also applied for the Red Card, which gives us a 5% discount. However, because there was an issue, they moved us to another cashier without a scanner. There wasn't a price tag on one of the items, so the cashier charges me $1 for it. Score.
Little Man wanted pizza for lunch, but we could not find any in the mall we were in, so we settled for some Greek food. Both Little Man and Little Lady loved the pita bread. Mr Cuppa and I much preferred the traditional gyro to the chicken.
In the afternoon we went to the Mercerdale Park and met up with K, C and family. The kids had fun on the playground.
After that, we all had dinner at Szechuan Chef in Bellevue. It was yummy, authentic Chinese food.
When we got back to the apartment, we watched the live streaming of LKY's funeral on the laptop. I couldn't help but tear a little too. He was instrumental in a lot of what we take for granted in Singapore.
