Live...laugh...love Life with 4 kids 6 and under. Our trip to pick up Tonito in China is: mid-March 2008 through April 12. Our trips to pick up Ricky in Ethiopia are in June and August of 2010.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

DAY 18: Coming home, a family of 5



















Our flight left Hong Kong at 11:45 am, meaning that we had to be at the airport no later than 8:45am, and it took almost an hour to get there via shuttle bus. The only shuttle bus that would get us there in time left at 6:30, so we were up early!!!

After 12 looong hours in the air (of which the kids slept about 20 minutes AFTER we landed and were taxi-ing to the gate), we arrived in San Francisco exhausted at 9am on the same day that we left (crossing over the international date line so we can have breakfast twice on Saturday, April 12, 2008). We decided to challenge our sleep-deprived bodies to a race through customs (and the added fun of 2 tired 3 year olds:) , and made our flight that was leaving less than 2 hours later. THe security in the SF airport was horrendous- huge, huge lines!!! But fortunately a guard saw us and another family with 2 young kids each, and let us go to the front of the line (to the chagrin and dismay of the hundreds of other travellers- sorry!).

On the flight home the kids slept almost the whole way, which was relieving! My eyes were soooooo happy to be closed- whoever invented sleeping did such a good job. Coming home, we were welcomed by my parents, my brother Tim and his wife Colleen, my sisters Christy and Emily, Auntie Joanne, Uncle Larry, cousin Melissa, cousins Annie and Peter with their adorable baby Sammy (for whom we'll be coming to the airport in a month or so, as they return from their 2nd adoption trip to Taiwan!), and lots of balloons and signs!!! ALl of the hugs and kisses (I think the balloons and stuffed gorilla helped too!) woke up the kids, who shared their contagious smiles with everyone. It was so beautiful to see my whole family together (except my bro Nico at college- we missed you!). Thank you everyone for coming to welcome us home!

We went back to our house for some delicious homecooked Mexican food- chicken tinga and carne asada, with beans and rice, guacamole, and fresh tortillas!! Yum. Tonito definitely loves Mexican food!:) Even the tinga, which was a little spicy! The toys fascinate him, and he played, and played, until finally it was time to go to sleep. He loves his room (yay!), loves all the toy cars, and is overwhelmed by the toys. We have plenty of toys, but compared to some of my friends' houses, we really aren't splitting at the seams. Nonetheless, this is more than he has ever seen and I can tell he won't be bored for a long time:). After the overstimulation of the playing, he slept soundly from 8pm until 8am the next morning!! Jet lag, schmet-lag.. well, for Tonito at least. The rest of us were kept up by Vivi's 2 night terrors, which lasted for 2 hours. She has these especially when she is overtired, which is the definition of her current state. She finally slept from 3am until 6am, so I had a whopping 5 hours of sleep. But I can honestly tell you I woke up happy:). Tired, but happy.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Becky, What a nice welcoming you had! So glad to here you are all home safe and sound. Family of 5 sounds great!! We miss you guys and I hear about Tonito ALL DAY LONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gillian talks on her play phone to him all the time - it's so cute!

Heather BT said...

Hurrah for home!
So glaf you've made it. What a spring this will be for you all
Heather BT