My story.   I just have to share this.  Its like a scary episode of Barney mixed with a little Friday the 13th. LOL!

It starts on July the 2nd 2008.  We had a 5:00 p.m. flight witch was a smart move on our part because the kids would sleep most of the way at night.  Mind you that we had been planning for this trip months in advance.

(Be sure to check out Part 2!)

What did we do to get ready for the 18 hours of traveling  with 3 small children?  We bought a portable dvd player with head phones, hand held video games, cards and travel games,  a lap top loaded with games and 4 controllers, coloring books, packed goody bags filled with great treats, extra clothes thank the (Gods for that), oh and Benadryl. LOL.

 Ok before I proceed with the Brazil trip lets go back a bit to when there was JUST 2 children, lol...


It was February 2007 and I was 8 months pregnant with my 3rd baby (Shakari).  My Mother had passed away and the baby was due in less then 4 weeks.  We had no one to stay with Shinobi and S'nai for the 3 or 4 days I was going to be at the hospital.

My grandma said she would stay with the children if we brought them to her all the way in Connecticut.  So my husband took them and came back with a story about how flying with the kids was the worst experience he ever had in all his life. LOL   Something along those lines.   O.K. Grandma said she would keep the kids for a month so we can relax and focus on the new born.  Wow that sounded great but it didn't work out that way.

Grandma has a at home child care service  so she knew how to handle children.  At least that's what we thought!  Shinobi was 4 years old and he raised hell.  He wanted to be home with his new brother.  Boy was he jealous.

He would scream and fight with the other kids and tell grandma that he was a vegetarian and he wasn't going to eat the meat that she cooked or drink the cow milk.  Oh and how she was so crazy for eating like that. LOL he drove grandma mad.  After one and a half weeks she said we are going to have to come and get him.  Well that wasn't in the plan but I was ready for them to come home as well .  So Grandma agreed to bring them to me.

Imagine this scene but with a Puerto Rican lady with 2 kids, lol

Grandma almost jumped off of the plane.  They screamed because their ears hurt, because they were hungry, and Shinobi managed to crawl all the way up to the front of the plane.  He actually crawled under seats and through people's legs, lol!  Keep in mind, they were sitting in the back.  She also said that the plane ride was the worst experience she had ever had in her life.  Something along those lines.  But this really helped me to be prepared for the big trip to Brazil.

Don't let this be your children!

So back to our adventure.  Yes I left off at the Benadryl.   We were ready for war with a 5 year old a 3 year old and a breast feeding 1 year old. O.k. lets cut to the battle lol. Getting off the plane was the only good part about the trip.  My husband and I sat right across from each other He had 1, S'nai and I had 2, Shinobi and Shakari.  At first it was cool we had the portable dvd player on equiped with hours of Dora the Explorer, Yo Gabba Gabba, The Wonder Pets, and a few others cartoons from Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network that the children really enjoyed.

Oh but that only lasted for about 30 mins..lol then Shinobi had to go to the bathroom..man he needed help meaning one of the babies had to be put down.  Yes that meant chaos.  My husband took Shinobi and S'nai did not want to stay in her seat.  Me with Shakari and that was the start of the yelling spree.  But it was quick so I thought after a few minutes here they came but Mike my husband said he wouldn't use the bathroom. I said why  because he did not want to sit on the toilet to do number 2. Uh Oh...Shinobi was scared of the green water getting his doo-doo...OMG! LOL

So I had a little talk with him and he decided that he could hold it until later.  Then I gave him a toy out of his backpack to change his mind a little.  Then the stewardess brought food and drinks (Antartica Brazilian Guarana Soda) yay eat time they all was happy!  They ate no big mess  but the doo doo man struck back.

lol Now it was urgent and the doo doo was not taking no for an answer.  So back to the bathroom back to the screening and musical chairs and finally a happy Shinobi came running down the aisle but dad's face not so happy but we all was re-leaved that it was finally over.  That's when I popped out the Benadryl after all that we deserved a good night sleep. Yes we all slept till we got to Brazil!


Boy I wish I had one of these (Flyebaby Fly Baby Airplane Seat) for the trip..Technology makes life so much easier.
But yes that's how we  survived the 1st round.


Round 2.  WE finally got to Brazil.  A city called Manaus.  It was like the twilight zone and we stuck out like a colored pencil in a crayon box. And to make it all better there was a little person checking the bags as we walked in to the terminal.  Yes a midget.  Not that I have a problem with little people.  I love every one who has a positive vibe.  But I had  a few little people with me who don't see things like this all the time so I was really thinking hard to myself, I hope this is over with quick.

Not a minute  later when it was our turn Shinobi looked at the man and started grinning.  I looked at him with a big smile on my face thinking to my self (OH NO)!  Then the man gave us our luggage tags I said Obrigada (thank you) and Shinobi said mom why is he so little.  I knew that was coming but Thank the Orishas (Brazilian Gods) the man didn't speak our language.  I just kept smiling and we all grabbed our bags and went on our way.

I couldn't believe my eyes.  I swear there were chickens and cowboys, and big women with very little clothes on walking around and I felt like a child.  Everything was so different.  A muffled voice was on a loud speaker telling people what to do and where to go and we didn't understand a word.  We couldn't even read the tickets lol.  so I said we are going to have to find someone who can help us.

After asking about 7 people a young man said he knows English a little and he wrote some scribbles and symbols down and I was like NOOOO!  This cant be his English.  lol  I looked at him then at the paper then at him again I shook my head no and shrugged my shoulders and he smiled and took us to the gate and told us to wait and board the plain here.  Well at least that's what I got from the hand gestures and the words that I heard.

We waited a bout 1 hour.  In that time we got the kids fed took bathroom breaks and freshened up.  We were starting to feel the jet lag and we still had 2 more planes to take.  Thank goodness that plain ride was a short one and the kids slept the whole way.  My husband and I was really just ready for it all to be over with.  We flew the whole 2,203 miles in a semi bad mood but glad to be getting over the hump kind of mind state.

Finally, we mad it to Brasilia.  We woke the kids and made for the exit a quickly as possible.   Brasilia was nothing like Manaus.  Brasilia being the capital of Brasil I guess they had there best foot forward.  The airport was rather new very big and busy.  We spotted something we recognized  McDonald's!  We sat down to breakfast and coffee.  Then we were off to find the gate to board we asked several people.  We really got good at smiling showing my ticket and following the hand gestures and finger points.  We finally made it to our gate and found out that we had to take a bus to board the plain..That was a new one.  So there we was waiting with like 2000 other people to catch a bus that took us to the plane to then climb up 100 step metal stair case to then get on one of the biggest plane I had ever seen.  Boy was that a mouth full.  We all was really just happy to be almost done with the plane hopping.

With just a few more hours to go we popped in a dvd for the children the sturdiest handed out some really good pasta and juice for lunch and we finally made it.  Now the only problem was finding out how to get to the house we reserved.  We had a phone number for Jose who lived next door the the house that we was to stay in. So Shinobi spotted some phones but we didn't know how to use them.  My husband figures that they must run off of cards.  Phone cards.  We went all around the airport looking for phone cards then some one told my Bob had them...lol Who the hell was Bob!

We went up stairs and Found Bob it was a food chain like McDonald's lol.  I thought to my self why does bob carry phone cards?? But  what ever I was just happy to find the cards.  So we buy one phone card for 5,00 real.  And mad our way back to the phones and mad the call.  Now the thing was Jose didn't speak any English and I couldn't understand a word him and his wife was saying.  Then the Phone hung up.  Freaking Bob's phone card.  So I called back same thing but at least they know we was in town and to be expecting us I thought to my self trying to stay positive.

Then We walked to the front door where there was a travel agency I walked up and started talking to the lady at the desk.  I asked did she speak English she said a little I said that's great news hopefully her a little wasn't like the young man's a little back in Manaus. lol but yes she did speak well and I told her the address and that we had to get there and I gave her the phone number and asked her to call for me and she did.  She got all the information got a taxi driver and relayed it to him he said he understands and we was on our way to Mount Sorrat!

I couldn't believe my eyes.  The sight of that part of the city was so dramatic.  I felt like I was on the discovery channel.  There was big steep hills and stairs that went on for ever.  The dirt was red and the trees were Jurassic.  It was so busy packed with people and some people just lived right there on the side of the road with card board boxes and plastic to cover them and they had small children as well.  I was so discombobulated from that 18 hours of traveling I couldn't think I was just ready to reach our final destination.

Ok we made it but tell me why the house was on the cost on a street that cars couldn't go down.  The driver call Jose and Jose came to get us.  We thanked the driver he told us good luck (boa sorte)  and we headed to the house.  It was wonderful.  It was right in front of the ocean and there was bunch of kids playing out side.

There was an empty lot next door and there was chickens and roosters living there.  To top it off there was a man going to get him one for his family dinner.  Jose was so cool he showed us the house gave us the key and said welcome to Brazil and if we needed any thing just call him.  The only thing we wanted to do was sleep.

We all took showers and there was only 1full size bed we all got in it and slept till the next day.  And here we are 3 years later with a 4th child and wonderful story to tell if you ask me it was all worth it. We love our new home with all of our exciting adventures we are truly blessed, happy, healthy and wealthy.  That trip made us so strong and humbled us to the utmost degree.  Thanks for alowing me to share it with you! 


Click Here to read Part 2.

HERE ARE SOME FLYING TIPS!
Here is a link to the TSA traveling with children. Very helpful stuff!  http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/children

Here are some of the things the TSA has listed

• Travel Tips
• Baby Formula, Breast Milk, Juice, and Other Liquids
• Children with Disabilities

We have to screen everyone, regardless of age (even babies), before they can go through the security checkpoint.

We will not ask you to do anything that will separate you from your child or children.
We specially train our Security Officers and they understand your concern for your children. They will approach your children gently and treat them with respect. If your child becomes uncomfortable or upset, security officers will consult you about the best way to relieve your child's concern.
NEVER leave babies in an infant carrier while it goes through the X-ray machine.

Ad Council Video

• Click here to see our video on traveling with small children.
• Click here to see our video on self select lanes.