The Journey

The journey here was both smoothe and horribly annoying.
We got up around 6:30 am on Tuesday-me and Shaina anyway...and left for Chicago around 9:30 am. I (even after Shaina purposely reminding me) forgot Matthew's charger so we went back to the house (it was about ten minutes out) on the way we went to some places from Lori's childhood.

We also went to an awesome resturant called Portillo's...ahh...I had the best mango smoothie-Ari thought it was good too.

We got to the airport around one something and worked on getting checked in.

That was a bit scary...they had trouble with Ariana's passport and since I had got them online I was having doubts about whether or not they were real.

They did get everything through though and then we went through security and headed for our gate. Now we flew though Iberia...which is a Spanish airline. We were seated in front of about 25 teens from Spain...which while loud...was quite entertaining. From there singing and the scoldings to shush that they got twice in the middle of the night, to the way they cheered and clapped when we arrived in Madrid.
After supper they set up Ariana's bassinet seat. It was a nine hour flight from Chicago to Spain and Ariana slept at least eight of those hours...she woke up to eat every once in awhile.
We arrived in Spain at 7something in the morning and our flight to Latvia was not until 2 in the afternoon. We transfered a tiny bit of money ($5 for me) and bought a few small gifts...Shaina was in desperate need of water by that point so we found a cafe that had bottled water and she got some.
Then we had to take a train underground to the main terminal and from there a bus that looked as if it was headed to Madrid but actually was a 15 minute ride to the other terminals.
Once we got there we had to get in line in the Air Baltic section so we stood in line for about an hour before anyone showed up to help us. Then they VERY CRABBILY told us if we wanted our bags to get to Latvia we had to pay 30 Euros  each for our checkins. I am upset about that...that should have been included in an international flight....arg!!!!!!!!!!!! They also took Shaina's carryon and made her check it.
That all madeus pretty upset....then another security another wait...Ariana was getting tired and God sent a little girl to make faces at her in line. I was so grateful for that.
Our second flight was three hours and 48 minutes. I was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo tired of travel at that point but so so thankful that Ariana did not have ANY trouble with her ears. Yay God! We arrived in Riga-had no trouble with our luggage and went out to find our waiting people...but they were not there.
We waited about 30-45 minutes. I couldn't figure out how to get Wifi without joining Baltic Miles and I don't have a smart card so I couldn't use payphones. Well then Ernest's...Elina's husband walked in with thier little boy Roberts, and I was so happy. So Elizabeth had been on her way when thier car broke down and they sent him to us. The weather is great here. So refreshing.
Last night Ariana did NOT sleep well. She woke up sobbing and would not calm down for anything so I turned on the light and she stopped crying and every time the light went off she cried for quite some time. Poor little lady. I think she missed cuddling with Mama and Papa at night. She seemed to feel very insecure.
She finally got to sleep though. Please pray she'll sleep better though.

Today we walked around Ogre: We went to a second hand shop, the bank, a grocery store, an icecream place and out to eat. Now we are resting back at Elizabeth and Janis's house resting. All the little'uns are sleeping. Janis is working. Matthew is out picking blueberries and mushrooms, Shaina is resting, Sissy is making supper and talking to Marmie and I was working on all this. I will hopefully have some pictures up soon.
Have a great day everyone!