The morning of our departure. It was a rather emotional and tense morning. Enzo was eager to go and we were wanting time to stand still. 
One eager Enzo.
All our bags and stuff. I swear I packed light. Took about a weeks worth of clothes for the kids, maybe a little bit more for Aleksander but he's a baby. I don't even think I took a weeks worth of clothes for me. But then the travel bed is packed in there, a mattress and all the other baby essentials. Plus we had to have three suitcases so we didn't exceed the weight limits. UGH!! This was my least favorite part of the trip...baggage!
Days prior to our departure Mattias was trying to get some extra cuddles from Enzo but Enzo was being Mr. Tough guy and he would say, "I'll give you a hug when we leave" or he would laugh about the fact that Mattias was going to be home alone and we were going to America. But the true colors came out when we were at the airport. At the security check when it was time to separate, we all kissed and hugged and as we proceeded to walk through the entry way to the Enzo took off screaming for Mattias. Not once, but four times. It broke my heart but at the same time it made me smile to see him show his real feelings for his Pappa and for Mattias to see those feelings.
The flight went well. The boys were excited, well Enzo was, Aleksander was just nosy. He was so nosy that he only slept about 3hrs on our first 9,5 hr flight to Chicago. And of course he slept while Enzo was awake and when he woke up Enzo went to sleep...so typical! This meant very little almost non existent shut eye for me. Thankfully we sat by a decent guy who could watch Aleksander when I needed to go to the bathroom or take Enzo so we never had to test having all three of us in the bathroom at one time.
In spite of the fact that Aleksander insisted on being awake more than sleeping, he was happy. I got several compliments about how well behaved my boys were and how easy Aleksander seemed to be. The guy who sat beside me told me as we were landing that he was nervous to sit by us at first but was relieved when he realized how calm and easy my kids were.
Big boy Enzo. Enjoying his flight, he requested that we sit by a window next time. Hmm, not sure. Having the bassinet for Aleksander was helpful.
So our first entry into the US was Chicago which meant we had to go through customs and pick up our bags and then recheck them. I had a bit of anxiety for this procedure. It was about 6:30pm when we landed in Chicago. We had to then stand in an extremely long line for customs, I had an extremely tired baby on my front and heavy backpack on my back and Enzo's trunki that I somehow got the responsibility of pulling along. After we made it through the line we then had to pick up our bags. Here's our two carts...this was hilarious and exhausting! After dropping off our bags we had to then go stand in a security line that must have been the longest security line I have ever stood in. Then again, everything seems long and draining when you are exhausted and are carrying more weight than you should.
Our first day in St. Louis. The weather was beautiful!
The boys taking a bath in Granddad and Nana's tub. They loved it, especially Enzo.
Doesn't this look like the Blair Witch Project?? It's the park behind their house. We were headed out for a morning run on Monday.
Pre-run but it wasn't much of a run as my tire was low on air...UGH!
Black Jack Park, Black Jack MO