and...we're back!

We just returned from Ben's family reunion in Branson, Missouri. Everyone had a great time and it was especially fun to see the kids reunite with their cousins. Five of Ben's six siblings were there, along with his parents and all 19 grandchildren.

We flew to Kansas City last Wednesday and the kids were excellent travelers. Once in Kansas City we rented a car and drove about 4 hours to Branson. We were relieved that everything went so smoothly. It always feels like a bit of a circus moving kids and luggage and car seats between cars and shuttle buses and airplanes.

We drove back to Kansas City on Sunday afternoon. We were relieved to make it to our gate with 3 relatively happy children and only a short 2 hour flight separating us from home. We watched our luggage get loaded onto the plane as the arriving passengers deplaned. Then nothing. We were eventually alerted to the fact that the airplane lavatory was broken and they were working on fixing it. Not a good sign. Then we saw our luggage being removed from the plane. Definitely not a good sign. The flight was cancelled and there was a mad dash to to the ticket counter to reschedule. The United ticket agent booked us on an early flight the next morning on American. We made our way to the hotel, had a late dinner, and finally got the kids to sleep around 10. Woke them before 5 a.m. and made our way back to the airport. When we tried to check in we were told that United gave us unconfirmed seats and the flight was full and there was nothing they could do. Ben spent the next 2 hours on the phone with United and at the ticket counter trying to get a new flight. We almost got booked on a 7 am flight but American hadn't released our tickets so they couldn't make it happen in time. We finally got booked on a 7 pm flight through Chicago that would arrive in DC at midnight. As we were contemplating how to handle being in the airport for the next 12 hours, a US Airways ticket agent took pity on us and looked into more options. Four seats miraculously opened up and she got us on an earlier flight through Charlotte. We were so relieved. We made it to Reagan around 3 pm yesterday and took a taxi home. Later that night we drove out to Dulles to retrieve our car.

But enough about travel woes. We're happy to be home. But not happy to be back to work and laundry and no cousins to entertain the kids. After I catch up on a few posts from the week before we left, I'll sort through the reunion photos. Because you know I took a few.

Leaving Dulles. The girls were so excited about the trip and their Starbucks pastries.

Driving from Kansas City to Branson. Sleeping, reading, and ipod-ing.

Elsa fell asleep in the airport while we were trying to find a new flight early Monday morning.

the last of the peru posts...

...until I sort through all of my videos. And develop the film from my Diana.

We spent our last morning in Cusco wandering the narrow streets, visiting another museum, buying chocolate at the chocolate museum, and lingering in a very beautiful church and convent (Iglesia de la Merced). We flew back to Lima that afternoon and then flew home the next morning.

temple of the sun + chi cha

After visiting the ruins we headed back to Cusco to tour the Temple of the Sun and the Cathedral. We relaxed a bit after lunch and then made our way to a large market. Stephanie, our fluent Spanish speaker, was very helpful when it came to bargaining (and a lot of other things). My parents did pretty well with their Spanish and Erin busted out her high school Spanish. I pretty much never knew what was going on. After a few hours of shopping we made our way back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. We had reservations at Chi Cha (by the world famous chef Gaston Acurio). It was a fun spot and the food was interesting and delicious. We were all ready to crash by 9 p.m. Those early mornings were catching up with me.

These school kids were really cute. They wanted us to teach them some English phrases.

Our sweet ride while we were traveling in and around Cusco.

There were several of these guys on a main street in Cusco. They wore masks (so nobody could identify them) and carried ropes to whip anybody that jaywalked. Really. We saw it happen.

Browsing the menu at Chi Cha.

Guinea pig crepes.