About half an hour into our train ride to Tallinn I get a phone call from Ivika telling me that our ferry line, Linda Line had cancelled all their trips for the night because of windy seas... NOT COOL! The train we took was only going to get us to Tallinn in time for one other possible ferry, with Tallink across the Finland straight that would get us to Helsinki in time for our flight the next morning. I immediately called Tallinnk, who kindly informed me that we had no prayer of getting on to their completely booked ferry that night. My initial panic was a little premature because Ivika had called Linda Line for us at the same time I'd called Tallinnk, and Linda Line supposedly had tickets for us to get onto the Tallinnk ferry that night at 9:00pm. We could handle that and I was thrilled with the idea of actually getting to Helsinki and catching our flight home with no additional costs than what we had already paid to Linda Line for our initial tickets.
When we got to Tallinn it was about 7:45pm. Our taxi, which Ivika had kindly booked for us, was waiting for us and took us right to the Tallinnk terminal. We took our places in line and waited to pick up our tickets to go home. But once again panic set in, and very much justified this time around, when the kid at the window told me there were no tickets registered in our names and there was absolutely no way they would honor our Linda Line "reservation". He then told us if we wanted on that boat that we would have to buy new tickets for the equivalent of $115. Uh... we really didn't have a choice did we? It was either $115 or about $2,000 to find new plane tickets home. So I handed him my credit card and asked for the tickets... Oh Wait! "We're sold out." WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
That's right - they had no more available tickets and he asked me to step aside and "wait".
Pretty sure Spencer and I were having a panic attack. I was literally flipping out. This boat was the very last and only other ferry leaving from Tallinn and going to Helsinki that night. Our plane left from Helsinki the next morning at 7:30 am and the next ferry in the morning that would get us to Helsinki didn't leave til 7:00 am - which caused a slight problem because we definitely wouldn't make it in time to catch our flight. AHHHH!!!!
In the meantime, Ivika is trying to talk to Linda Line and figure out where the "tickets" went that were supposedly booked for us and Spencer and I were waiting very much impatiently the miracle that was going to get us on the boat. While Linda Line keeps insisting that they'd booked a ticket for us - Tallinnk kept insisting that there was absolutely no record of tickets being available for us and we just kept waiting for no-shows so we could pick up a couple leftover tickets.
After waiting and panicking for about 30 minutes it finally looked like all booked passengers had made it through and I jumped in front of the line and into the window to grab the first unclaimed tickets. At his point I didn't even care that I was throwing another $115 out the window because it was worth it to us to get home. We probably walked towards the giant ferry in utter and complete disbelief at what had just happened and still not believing that we were actually going to get on that boat. When we walked into the boat it was like walking into a giant hotel or shopping mall. We both kinda turned in circles and had to ask to make sure we were actually on a boat. Spencer says it looked more like a cruise ship than a ferry - but I've never been on one so I can't compare it to that.
Unfortunately our troubles were not quite over - but at least we on that boat and headed to Helsinki. We now needed to let Ivika know we were on the boat, we had bought our own tickets and that Linda Line needed to refund us our money AND we needed to find a way to get a hold of Uncle Kim and Aunt Pam so they could pick us up at a different port and at a different time.
As usual - there was no such luck with either of them. Linda Line insisted that they had actually gotten us tickets and couldn't refund us because Tallinnk was already going to charge them for "our" tickets. LAME! And we also realized that we didn't have a phone number for Uncle Kim and Aunt Pam. JOY! Oh the joy! :/
We kinda gave up a little with Linda Line on the phone and resorted to email and gave them every possible detail they could need about us and our tickets from BOTH lines so that we could get SOMETHING back. But at least we were headed in the right direction - HOME! It even somehow worked out with Pam and Kim because by some sort of divine guidance, when no one showed up at Linda Line half an hour earlier, they just decided to go to the Tallinnk terminal to "see" if they could find - and no sooner had we walked out of the terminal they drove up. We waved them right down and I about started to cry. It was so good to see a familair face and I couldn't even believe that we were going to get to the airport.
Pam and Kim dropped us off at the airport then, and after spending the night in the airport, a 3 hour plane ride to Paris, an hour trip to the other side of the airport - a little more panicking that this 1 hour trip was going to make us miss our plane ride across the ocean - we finally sat down on the small and wimpy plane that was supposed to take us across the ocean. It was probably half the size of the one that had taken us at the beginning of the summer and Spencer was NOT happy about the lack of televisions on the back of the seats. He probably ranted about it the whole 11 hours we sat there on that miserable plane. Neither of us were in a very good mood - but upon arriving home on Monday the 23rd, after more than 36 hours of travel time since we'd let Tartu I was certain I had developed an ulcer and was once again in tears to have my feet on solid ground and know that our journey was over.
It was so wonderful to see our families again! My mom picked us up and we went home to a bar-b-que for my cousin, Jordi, who was leaving on a mission to the Texas, San Antonio mission on Monday. I am so glad we got to see her before she left! I love family time and it was so great to leave that night for Spencer's family's house and get more family time in. We may have been exhausted - but we did well at keeping ourselves up and loved every minute of spending time with our families again.
Spencer's brother and sister-in-law, Brian and Amanda, flew in from North Carolina to visit the family this same week! It all worked out so perfectly for everyone and we were so excited to see them again. Their daughter, Micaiah, is gettig so big and cuter and cuter every time I see her. Here's their cute family at the pool.
Brian, Micaiah and Amanda
Look at Micaiah's chunky cheeks! I just want to eat them! I can't help it!
On Tuesday night, Brian and Amanda went out with one of Brian's friends and Spencer and I got to babysit. Aimee and Porter (my sister and brother-in-law) decided to come join in the fun at Spencer's parent's house and Spencer was loving his role as favorite uncle. Here he is with Micaiah and Oaklee (Aimee and Porter's daughter). They're all so cute!
On Wednesday we got to go on a beautiful ride up American Fork canyon in the back of the pickup truck.
Amanda and Brian
The ride was so peaceful and beautiful and I couldn't help but be so grateful to be home in the mountains, enjoying the beautiful nature and wildlife I'd grown up with. We even saw a moose! Can you see it in this picture? I couldn't get the picture fast enough to catch it when it crossed the road.
We stopped by Sundance and took a short rest on the dock.Spencer and me
Spencer, me, Amanda and Brian
Spencer's loving the ride home! Pretty sure we all fell asleep :)
That evening we got to go to the temple and see Stephen and Annaleise sealed for time and all eternity. What a special experience that was. I am so grateful that they waited for all of us to be there. It was so wonderful to be there and see Jayden sealed to them. I've said it before and I'll say it a million more times - I love the temple!
I need to grab pictures of our family from it so we can always remember how beautiful it was!
Thursday, Spencer and I got to run up to Logan and do a quick move in. We are so grateful for our wonderful friends and family who helped us get everything back into our apartment so quickly. We couldn't have done it without them and are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives. Our night in our own little apartment in Logan - even though it was mess and still covered in suitcases and boxes - was like a dream. It was so nice to be in our own place again and even though it's small and very humble, we love it here!
Friday morning, after doing a bit more unpacking and organizing, along with a lot of other logistical stuff, we headed up to East Canyon to spend the weekend with the family again. We had ALL of the Dearingers up there on Saturday and it was so neat to have us all together! We spent time by the pool, played games, ate lots of food and did lots of laughing.
I especially enjoyed the 3 little babies all in one place. I felt so baby-deprived this summer without all the cute neices and nephews that I've grown to love this past year, it was so fun to see them all again.
This is Amy and Brandon Wyatt's daughter, Brianna. 
Cute Jayden is Stephen and Annaleise's baby
I've already got a picture Micaiah earlier in this post - but having all three of them together was a blast! Uncle Bill's daughter, Rebecca, bought all three of them matching outfits.
I love these pictures of them! They all almost weren't awake and happy - but we got pictures of them together, awake and not crying. That's a miracle! :)
Cute babies, cute family and a wonderful week! It was a wonderful way to spend our first week home from our summer abroad. We love our family!
We're so happy you're home!!!!!
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