Percy and Annabeth-Their future

The Jacksons (and others) Worldwide

"Are we there yet?" Taylor asked for the millionth time. We hadn't even taken off from Newark airport. 

"No, sweetie. It's going to be a while." I smiled, squeezing her hand. Taylor, Lena, and I were all in row  20 D, E, and F together. Percy, Rion, and Luke were across from us, in 20 A, B, and C. 

Sophia sat behind us, next to Karrie (Jason and Piper's oldest daughter), and Paige. The entire plane was taken over by the Jacksons, Graces, Stolls, Solaces, Zhangs, DiAngelos, Valdezs, Rodriguezs, Underwoods,  and Beckendorfs. There were about 50 of us in total now, and the family was still growing as far as we knew. 

"Mom, I'm hungry, can we have some food?" Sophia asked through the seats. Paige, now 19, laughed, handing her a granola bar. 

"I've got it covered, Aunt Annabeth," I laughed, smiling at the girl who I'd stumbled on my chance, and was now part of my family. Honestly, I couldn't believe Paige was already 19. She had been at Harvard a year already, believe it or not. It was nice to have a fellow Harvardian in the family.

"Flight attendants, please prepare for takeoff." 

Taylor squealed in her seat, and I watched the April sky level with the plane. Spring Break had been extended to three weeks, and we'd decided to take advantage; we were going worldwide. London, Paris, Geneva, Milan, Rome, Athens, Marseilles, Barcelona, Lisbon... the whole European shebang. I planned the whole thing, and I think I did pretty darn well. 

I watched Boston drift away, as we headed to Newark International Airport. From there, we'd take a 7 1/2 hour flight to London. 

_________________________________________________________________

Taylor fell asleep the first two minutes after we got on our flight to London. Lena put on her headphones and started watching American Girl movies. So I was left alone, at peace, to read three novels.

We arrived in London at 11:30 PM. It was 5 hours ahead, so we were all thrown off. We were renting a flat for the three days in London, but it would be a very tight squeeze to fit all of us in there. 

After waiting for what seemed like hours to get our bags, we all got our rented cars and began to drive through London. It was gorgeous, the city all lit up at night. We passed through many parts of London where I was tempted to ask Percy to stop so I could sketch the architecture. I resisted the urge. 

We arrived at the flat exhausted and hungry. Everyone piled in, all 50 of us, and crashed. We had the kids all packed into one bedroom. There were 25 kids sleeping in various parts of the room. Sophia, Karrie, Lia, Madison, and Julia were sharing a twin, with two girls on each end of the bed. Rion, Steve, Curt, and Nick were sleeping on chair cushions on the floor. Lena, Jessie, Jillian, Abby, and Scarlett were on the top bunk, and beneath them, Taylor, Luke, Toby, Alexa, Chase, Penelope, Alex, Chloe, Ember, Juliet, and Max were sharing a king size blowup mattress. 

For the adults... well, we weren't picky. We slept on sofas, chairs, floors, beds, blowups, youga mats... pratically every cushiony object in the house was being slept on. Let me tell you, that first night, everyone slept like a rock.

The next morning, after having to send Frank and Jason out four times for food, we set out on our first adventure. Or, actually, I should say adventures. You see, we sort of broke into groups. The Graces, Stolls, and Solaces were going on a cycling tour of the city. The Zhangs and Valdezes were going to the London Zoo. The Beckendorfs, DiAngelos, Rodriguezes, and Jacksons were checking out the London Eye. 

Luke was literally jumping up and down while we waited in line. We watched the huge structure turn and turn and turn. Finally, it was our turn. We all got on and watched as we rose above the crowd. The city looked stunning from that high up. Truly stunning.