Week 30--Bergen, day 5 & our travel home

 Recap video is at the bottom.

Wednesday, July 22nd

Morning walk.

Morning snuggles.

Miss Ezra went with her parents to the library just steps from the house, so I dropped in.

After lunch, we did a choose your own adventure.  I walked halfway up the side of the mountain for more views.  Nathanael and Tina took the cable car up for another hike.  Some went souvenir shopping.  Some went down to the piers for some sushi.  Little of this, little of that.

The fountain in the center is the one right in front of the Airbnb.

This was one of Tina's highlights of the trip.

This was one of C3's highlights of the trip.

More from my afternoon walk:

Maddy found a cool dinner spot.  It felt like an indoor plaza with multiple food vendors, but it felt like we were at some sort of food festival.  It had different seating areas including the one we picked with a playroom we could watch Ezra from our table.  It was perfect for our group and everyone got to pick the food they wanted.

Then we stopped at the gazebo near the house for pictures on the way home.  Just missing Trevor :(

Before dinner we had stopped to chase the birds and feed them bread.  After dinner we stopped again to blow bubbles and chase some more.

Once back at the house, Maymee had one request for our last night together: A DANCE PARTY! (seen in video)  

Thursday, July 23rd

3:30 sharp our van was out front.  Once again, everyone was so cooperative, flexible, and good-hearted about another early morning and long travel day.  Ezra and Bo were just so great!  Finally we saw darkness on our trip!!!

Once checked in and through security, we soaked in our last hour together.

Then time for big hug squeezes, brave faces, and keeping the tears contained.  Hearts filled with gratitude.  And then we were off!  Maddy and Mason's flight left an hour after ours.

What was supposed to be a 4-hour layover in Amsterdam turned into 6, but with so many people, so many flights, multiple countries, layovers, and destinations.....I mean....it could not have been smoother!

I walked the airport while the rest of the gang nestled into this amazing area with rows of recliners.  

...update from the Rambo's who made it to their layover.

We landed in Boston and caravanned home, arriving around 7pm.  Just.so.grateful.  

Lisa and my dad had sneakily stopped by with the dog and flowers from Lisa and a sweet note, fresh milk, and a big pot of jambalaya from Dad.  Super thoughtful!!!

I forced myself to stay up until 10p and hopped back to CT time.

Friday, July 24th

We were ALL soooo thankful that we arrived home on the front end of a weekend.  We could acclimate back to the time zone and real life.  We discovered that Pop hid some dice around our house to hunt like I do the mini Jesus' when he travels.

Saturday, July 25th

I watched the livestream of my niece, Lainie, graduating from ROTC cadet training at Ft. Know.  She's a marvel!

Sunday, July 26th

He was happy to be home...and totally not supposed to be on the couch!

After church, we went to hang at the lake for a bit to reconnect with our people.

In my neighborhood walk, there's a house that keeps a seasonal scene on their front lawn.

Final thoughts on our trip:

The consensus was we loved it all, but most enjoyed Bergen more than Riga.  Travel was a breeze thanks to Colombo's perfect planning.  We planned well, but we also left much open to chance and somehow, we seemed to hit it all right.  Great Airbnbs, great locations, amazing weather (one hour of rain in 10 days!!!)   Everyone spoke English as well as all menus, airport signage, etc making it incredibly easy to navigate both cities.  We didn't have any air conditioning, but honestly it was fine with windows open and thankfully no bugs.  Both cities felt safe even though there seemed to be little police presence.  We heard one siren in ten days.  We are so grateful for the memories we made, but also feel like both cities are now checked off the list.  Our biggest disappointment was not getting actual stamps in passports.  I'm really very proud of everyone.  They've all always been great travelers, but we've added in-laws and babies.  There was room for complaining, grumbling, testy attitudes, and short fuses, but there was none of that.  As I told the kids after, "high fives all around".  Everyone seemed to just really appreciate the time together and the adventure of it all!  Grateful to the marrieds who sacrificed time and money to make it happen.  No small feat!  All more than we deserve!  "Sing" was the soundtrack of our trip, so as Ezra would say, "Don't you worry 'bout a fing!"

*** BERGEN day 5 & travel home recap video: CLICK HERE ***