Flying Home

Home today! I am so ready to be with my other children. I really miss them! We begin with an early morning check out. We have some fruit in the room, so that will be a snack until we check in at the airport. Unfortunately, we are out of box milks for Ethan and he gets grumpy before we can find him some milk. We take a shuttle to the airport and check in our luggage. We go through security and then have plenty of time at the gate. We eat at a McDonalds in the airport and let Jackson pick out something at the Hong Kong Disney store. He chooses a remote controlled car, one more bag to keep up with on the plane, but he is really pleased with it. Also, once we reach Detroit, the package is thoroughly examined, I suppose because of the remote control.

We board the plane and have another search of our carry-on. This makes 3 searches, one at customs, one through security and one here at the gate. It's okay, though; I'm just ready to be in the air. This is a long flight, but we have on demand movies, tv and games, so Jackson and Rob are entertained through the whole flight. Since Ethan is over 2, we have a seat for him, but we don't' use it the entire flight. We have 3 together near the window and one on the center row at the aisle. However, Jackson won't go to that seat and Ethan won't let Rob or me leave him, so we are cozy in the row. It's actually fairly comfortable since we are all together and can spread out. I don't sleep at all on the flight, but Jackson sleeps the last 3 hours and Ethan sleeps twice.

Once we land in Detroit, we get all of our luggage and go through customs. It takes a long time since one lane processes the adoption Visas. Once we are through, Ethan is a US citizen. We load our luggage back on a conveyor, check in for the domestic flight and go through security AGAIN. We are at the gate with a few minutes to spare, but the flight is delayed by one hour. This flight feels like we are taking off and landing. Ethan bounces in the seat beside Rob most of the trip. Describing this seems like it was easy, but it was actually really tiring. The trip takes over 24 hours and we have an hour drive until we are at home. Once in Charlotte, we load up the van and drive home.

At home, we have a great welcome! My friends have left a refrigerator full of food, enough for the weekend at least so I don't have to go to the store, a meal for the evening and a basket of goodies, snacks and other surprises. What a relief! I have such good friends. Thanks GGs. My parents bring over the oldest three and we all have dinner.

My bed has never felt so good. I sleep until early morning and Ethan sleeps beautifully through the night. He never has a hard time adjusting to the time, but it will take me weeks! More on that later. For now, I am home with my whole family, completely happy and exhausted.