The Saga of visiting family in the states....Part 1

Well, It started something like this....after days of not getting out on hops we decide to take the only thing available....it's going to the west coast so we go for it....It's a freezing (not cold) but freezing cargo plane going to McChord (13 hr flight)....we get there, get snowed in, buy comm. tickets, they get canceled....we get out on another hop back to the east coast, Dad picks us up in the middle of the night. Yes....we're home.....but I start to not feel good, hmmm feels like a cold wait, the flu, no wait a real bad flu, I fight this flu through a trip to CT. We get back to MD, now everyone is feeling bad.... Christmas..... A few days after xmas....one of the baby nephews comes down with a vicious stomach virus. We all get this virus eventually...and it's aweful and if there's a better word....then it's that. John has to go back before me, ok so a day and a half before I have to travel with Evan by myself with a 9 hr lay over in Dublin....I get the bug, I up-chuck all-night and I mean all-night. The day we travel I'm barely making it but we get home....now for the last leg---we have to transition to Germany time (opposite of MD) so Evan has been up everynight practically all night. But we're making it....now John is the last with the stomach bug right now so I make him sleep at night as he has lots of important training going on during the day, poor guy, hope he gets well soon. Now I truely know the meaning of inner strength and patience that mothers develop the moment after giving birth, I have found some mental and physical toughness I didn't know I had...to be continued.... ok holidays over...back to work....and prep for the deployment....