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It was six am.  So why was Jin up?  He was finishing packing for their four-day vacation.  Fall break started tomorrow, and today was Kookie’s birthday, so Jin was taking all five of them to California.  Maybe it wasn’t the best idea.  Taking five hyper kids on a flight and then to one of the world’s most popular theme parks, but it was something they’d never done before, so Jin figured they might as well do it once.

Thankfully, Yoongi and Chaeha had both offered to go with them, so hopefully it would make the trip a bit easier.  But for now, he was doing last-minute packing by himself.

They had to leave for the airport at eight, so he had about an hour before he had to wake all the boys up.

As it turned out, Jin didn’t need to wake up anyone.  Kookie woke up around 6:40 and started jumping on Jimin and Tae’s bed.  Jimin was up almost immediately, so the two of them headed to Hobi and Joon’s room.

Jin entered the younger boys’ room at seven to find Tae still half asleep.  He was curled up under the covers hugging Jimin’s stuffed elephant.

“Tae, you need to get up.  We’re gonna be leaving in an hour, and you need to eat breakfast and get ready before we go.”

Tae whined.  He clearly wasn’t planning to get out of bed any time soon, so Jin decided to go make sure everyone else was eating.  When Jin entered the kitchen, Kookie was inhaling his toast, and Jimin was patiently waiting for his toast to be done.  Joon and Hobi were both scarfing down cereal.

“Appa, is it time to go to the airport now?” Kookie asked.

“Not for another hour, baby.”

Kookie pouted but continued eating his toast.  Everyone appeared to either be eating or on their way to eating, so Jin headed back to the bedroom to wake Tae up.  Today would be a long day.

——————–

As planned, they were out the door at eight.  They barely made it, but everyone was at least wearing a jacket over their pajamas and had a pair of shoes on their feet if nothing else.  And Jin had triple-checked that they had all their luggage in the car.  He did not want to get to the airport and realize they were missing something.

In the short twenty-minute car ride to the airport, Tae took his shoes off and threw them under Hobi’s seat, Kookie managed to spill crumbs everywhere while eating granola bars, and Jimin had dropped Tae’s stuffed tiger on the floor and was throwing a fit.  It seemed at some point in the past year, the two younger twins had decided to trade stuffed animals.

Jin was not looking forward to the next twelve hours.  He had to brave at least five hours at an airport, two flights, and a long car ride with three little kids.  Thank goodness Yoongi and Chaeha would be with him.

Chaeha was waiting for them at the entrance when they entered the airport.  Kookie ran over to her and hugged her leg, a wide grin on his face.

“Ms. Jung!”

She laughed. “Hi, Kookie.  I heard today’s your birthday.”

Kookie continued to grin up at her. “Yep!  I’m four now!” he exclaimed, holding up four fingers.

“Kookie, we need to go check in, baby.” Jin called as he counted heads. “Minnie, get back here!  We’ll buy snacks later!”

——————–

Over an hour later, they’d finally made it through security.  Their flight left in an hour, so they needed to find their terminal, make sure everyone had gone to the bathroom, double check that they had gum, and most importantly, make sure they hadn’t lost anyone.

Yoongi had joined them a bit later than he’d planned, but he had had more of a drive than they had.  Jin was once again counting heads, adults this time too.  All eight of them seemed to be here, so they headed to find terminal eighteen.

By the time they were all seated, Kookie was complaining of starvation, and Jimin was saying he had to go to the bathroom.  It appeared Jin would be on his feet all day.  He decided he should take Tae to the bathroom as well, and Chaeha offered to join them.  So, the two of them took all three younger boys to the restroom before going to find something to feed them.

At this point, the boys seemed to be running away to everything interesting they saw, and Jin was so glad Chaeha had come with them.  She gave Kookie a piggy-back ride while Jin carried the twins so they wouldn’t run away.

Eventually, they found something all three boys wanted to eat and quickly texted Yoongi to ask if he or the older twins wanted anything.  Ten minutes later, they were waiting at the terminal while eating parfaits and donuts.

They boarded their plane around eleven-fifteen, and at that point Jin was thoroughly exhausted.  Nevertheless, he seated himself between the younger twins.  He wasn’t about to leave Yoongi to handle them.  Kookie happily sat with Chaeha, and Yoongi sat with the older twins.

Then, it was time for everyone to mentally prepare themselves for the flight.

——————–

As it turned out, both Tae and Jimin were exhausted from running around all morning.  They were both out within the first half an hour of the flight.  Jin was happy to join them in dreamland.  Dragging three little kids around an airport was exhausting, even with help.

Kookie, meanwhile, was having the time of his life.  He was staring out the window with his eyes shining.

“Look!  Clouds!” he exclaimed, pointing out the window.

Chaeha laughed. “Yup, they’re clouds.  Do they look like anything?”

“That one looks like Iron Man!” he was pointing at yet another cloud.  Really, it looked nothing like Iron Man.  But Chaeha didn’t mention this.

“Are you excited, Kookie?”

The toddler looked back at her with a huge grin on his face. “Yeah!”

“Oh!  I almost forgot!” she reached down and picked up her purse before digging through it.  She pulled out a small package and handed it to him. “Happy birthday, Kookie.”

“Ooo!” His excitement came out in a high-pitched squeak.  He ripped it open, eager to see what was inside.  He pulled out a small Iron Man coloring book and a pack of crayons.  He grinned once again. “Thank you, Ms. Jung!”

She smiled and patted his head. “You’re welcome.”

Kookie spent about twenty minutes coloring before he was bored again.  He looked out the window again, trying to make himself tall enough that he could see down.  Eventually, he gave up, realizing it wouldn’t happen.  He turned his attention back to Chaeha.

“Ms. Jung, I’m hungry.” He pouted.

She pulled out his backpack and pulled out a granola bar. “Do you want this?”

Kookie shook his head, so she pulled out a bag of fruit snacks. “What about this?”

He nodded eagerly and took the bag from her.  She set his backpack on the floor and continued reading the book she’d brought.

It wasn’t long before they were landing and exiting the plane.  Then it was time for more sitting in a terminal.  They had one more flight before they’d be in California.

——————–

Tae had finally gotten tired of his pajamas.  Jin knew this would happen eventually.  The problem was, their flight was beginning boarding in five minutes, so Jin didn’t exactly have time to take Tae to a bathroom to help him change.

“Appaaa, I don’t want to wear pajamaaass.” Tae whined as he tugged on Jin’s sleeve.

“Tae, you can’t change right now.  If you wanted to change you should’ve told me ten minutes ago.”

“But I want my normal clothes!”

Tae continued to whine, but Jin really had no choice.

“You can’t change right now.  We’re not missing our flight.  You can change when we get on the plane.”

Tae continued to pout as he kicked his legs.  He didn’t have long to complain, though.  Soon enough, they were boarding the plane.  The second they were in their seats, Jin helped Tae change.  He didn’t want him complaining for the rest of the flight.  He was so glad this was their last flight.  Once they got to California, it would at least be slightly easier.

——————–

When they finally got off the plane two hours later, Kookie was bursting with energy, and everyone else wanted to take a long nap.  First, they had to collect their luggage, so they headed to find where to get it.

Once that was done, they had to go get their rental car.  Which meant they had to take a bus to the car rental place.  So, suitcases and all, the eight of them boarded a bus with many other people.  Most of them ended up standing, and all three younger boys were either being held or were holding someone’s hand.

The car rental place was a whole other ballpark.  There was a little shop outside selling muffins and other sweet baked goods, and of course all the boys wanted one.

After everyone was full of pastries and water, Jin finally headed in to find a rental car.

——————–

It ended up being a tight squeeze with all their luggage, but all eight of them could fit in one car.  It would definitely be a whole lot more spacious once they got their luggage out of the car.

It was nearing five pm now, so Jin decided to make a dinner detour on the way to the hotel.  Even with the muffins they’d eaten an hour before, everyone was already hungry again.  Kookie was cramming another granola bar down his throat.

They finally settled into their hotel an hour and a half later.  They’d gotten three rooms: one for Jin and the younger boys, one for Chaeha, and one for Yoongi and the older twins.

The first thing Jin did after they entered their room was make the sofa bed.  All three of the boys were exhausted and they needed to go to bed.  It was past their bedtime back at home.  The boys all change into their pajamas while Jin made the bed.

It didn’t take long to make.  All he had to do was take the cushions off the couch, pull the bed out, and throw some sheets on it.  Thankfully, the three of them were all still small enough to share the bed together.  Jin tucked them in and bid them goodnight before going to change into his own pajamas.

It was more like a sweatshirt and shorts; Jin didn’t particularly like pajamas.  He climbed in bed and turned out the lights.  He needed to get some good rest tonight.  Tomorrow would be a long day.