traveling with anton {+ kid traveling tips}

We've had many questions about why we only brought Anton on the trip with us...and in all honesty, he's the only one who wanted to go!

He asked for months & months leading up to our trip to Ethiopia & Ben and I saved our pennies and prayed that flight prices would come down enough that we could give our sweet 6 year old the experience of his life.

And it was amazing.

We flew out of Denver International a few minutes before midnight, landing in DC around 5am.

To the chagrin of our stomachs, nothing was open yet so we {not so patiently} waited for a breakfast place to open.

We had bought Anton a Nook before leaving and loaded it full of books and learning games, so he was content...I had a trunk show a few hours before driving to the airport {yes, really!} so I used our 7 hour layover to put in the ladies orders {doing it on my phone was certainly not the fastest!}.

Oh Elsabet. Just like your Daddy & I, Anton loved you the moment he met you.

And as I mentioned before, Anton & Aberhem formed an instant bond.

By day 2, they had a Secret Handshake.

We walked absolutely everywhere, but when we took a taxi, Anton was very nervous about the lack of seat belts and especially that there was no car seat for Elsabet.

Before leaving on our trip, Ben & I asked Anton what he'd like to see or do while he was there.

His top 2 things {other than spending time with his new siblings} were going to the museum to see Lucy...

...and going to the zoo. It was so fun bringing Aberhem with us since it was all new to him, as well.

Each day we would walk to a nearby hotel in hopes to use the internet. While there, Anton would work on his reading or in workbooks we had brought.

We loooooved spending time with the other kids from the Transition House {orphanage} and took the older kids out on a couple outings for dinner, soccer, etc.

I have SO many fantastic photos of them playing, but since I don't know all their parents for permission to post them, I included only a these which do not show their faces. But oh.my.goodness, did they have fun together!

It didn't even matter Anton couldn't really converse with them.

There were SO many times where sweet Anton would just have to sit and wait. Whether it was somewhere we could get an internet connection so Ben could try and do a little work, to all the places we needed to go for the adoptions.

Here Anton & Ben sit, as we wait {and wait and wait...} to talk to some government officials about Aberhem & Elsabet's passports. And then more waiting as we get their passport photos taken.

This is only a TINY glimpse of the passport line. There are thousands and thousands of people here every day.

It bothered me that though we still had to wait some, we were allowed to essentially skip through ALL of this. What took them from sun up to sun down, took us only an hour or two.

We found a few fantastic restaurants who served their version of American Cuisine...but for the most part, we tried to eat local food as much as possible.

This {Sambusa} is one of Ezekiel's favorites and because all of our trips to our favorite Ethiopian Restaurant here in Denver, he got Anton loving them too!

I was a little nervous eating off the streets, so I didn't get any the 1st night we found this street vendor. But by the 2nd night {when I saw no one was running for the bathroom...too much information??} I decided I'd go for it, too.

Oh my, were they fantastic.

If anyone has a burden on their heart for donating to organizations that support small business loans in 3rd world countries, I HIGHLY encourage you to do so. This sweet girl has likely changed her future because of one. All she needed was a little fryer, a few cooking utensils, and the ingredients. Suddenly she's a business owner. She makes french fries and this sambusa...setting up her stuff a little before 6pm every evening and remains out there until her product is gone.

{We fed our entire family here for $1}

Repurposing at it's finest: I love how she uses someone's homework to wrap the food in. This night, we got a little glimpse of this student's history homework...in english, no less.

{video}Many mornings Anton got up early and went on a walk with Ben, often arriving home with a fresh baguette or doughnut.

He had his own money to buy snacks and such, so he felt like a big, independent kid.

{The doughnuts cost 2 Burr...which is equivalent to 11 cents. Crazy}

{Could this be any cuter?? Headed home with doughnuts for he and Aberhem.}

We wanted to show Anton more of the country than just the Capitol, so we set out for a day in Lalibela.

{More photos to come soon on our trip there. Incredible.}

I wasn't sure how well Anton would do this part of the trip. We spent hours and hours walking around touring the old rock-hewn churches.

But he loved it.

He may be more like his mom & dad than we realized, and loved learning about all the history behind these beautifully chiseled churches and asked tons of questions.

{Though many of them were something like, "Can I climb that?!"}

Our guide told us that if Anton lived in their village, his job would likely be to take care of the animals. We talked about King David in the Bible and how he had been a shepherd when he was a boy. Not only had he killed Goliath, but he'd also protected his sheep by killing both a bear and a lion.

So Anton decided to try and shepherd. The poor animals looked at him like he was an alien and ran from him as fast as their thin little legs would carry them. Anton just laughed.

I love this photo and how he has a map in his back pocket. He was very interested in knowing where we were and how to get to the next church.

We had a long lunch break and Anton became friends with some local kids. I think they were looking for kittens.

We stayed at the most fantastic hotel right on the mountainside. Do you see these views?? Incredible.

We talked a lot with Anton about how Ethiopia would put him outside his comfort zone. We warned him there would be times that he'd feel uncomfortable with his surroundings and with the food.

We stressed heavily that it was going to be an adventure and it was important for him to embrace the culture that 4 of his siblings have come from.

He was sometimes tentative about things, but he always tried it...and now his worldview {and palate} have expanded leaps and bounds.

As Ben & I packed our stuff up to head to the airport and travel back home, Anton took care of Elsabet.

I didn't take any photos of that though because there were A LOT of tears between both Aberhem & Anton. It 'bout broke my heart. Makes my heart hurt just remembering it.

Before heading to the airport, some of the amazing people who worked at the Guest House, wanted to do a coffee ceremony for us and the other adoptive parents we were staying with.

{video}

Anton, as always, wanted to help and learn something new. They roasted the coffee beans themselves and used this method above to "grind" them. Wow. Can you believe this is how they made our coffee every morning? And to think I get impatient at home when my Nespresso machine takes the 30 seconds to warm up.

Along with the {reeeally} strongly brewed coffee, it's traditional to eat hand-popped popcorn. Anton loved being part of it all!

We were finally on the airplane...2 weeks having gone by WAY to quickly.

Once again we were taking a redeye...a 17 hour redeye.

Anton popped in a stick of gum he got from a little kid selling them on the street corner near the market & was ready to settle in.

He kept himself busy on a couple apps learning knots.

{this one & this one were our favorites}

Though Anton could've played all night {technically it was day}, my eyes could no longer be forced open. I had spoken to some homeopathic friends and brought this with us to help him sleep & I highly recommend it.

We had an 8 hour layover in Washington DC on the 4th of July.

We had grandiose plans of showing Anton a few monuments rather than being stuck in the airport all day. He is REALLY into the military and patriotism of our country so we knew he'd really love seeing anything we could get to...especially on our Nation's Birthday.

BUT...of course customs took forever, as did getting our bags {which were now full of Ethiopian spices}, so we ended up only being able to go to the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum. But we were totally content with that.

I just wish the rest of our family had been with us...we REALLY had a fun time!

We called the kids to say hi and tell them we'd be home later that night and Anton told Ezekiel, "Don't worry Ezekiel...when I see Obama, I'll tell him you said hi."

We are so proud of you...you saw some really hard things that most people in 1st world countries never experience, and you only saw the positives in it. You saw the beauty amongst the poverty, were uncomfortable with new foods and smells, and yet stretched yourself without {much} complaining. You were exhausted and jet-lagged and hardly got grumpy.

You were sweet, caring, and generous with your new brother and sister, as well as the other kids in the orphanage.

You got a little crazy at times, but you were, and are, an incredible kid. Daddy & I hope you got the travel bug...there's not much better in life than seeing the world.

I hope and pray that this trip has opened your eyes and your heart to making a difference in our world. Maybe even in Ethiopia.