HOME: The rest of our trip and first 24 hours!

Some of you (I won't mention names cause you know who you are) have been bugging me to post since getting home, so here you go! :)

In Germany we got on the plane without any issues and the plane left on time. D and I had the middle two seats on a 4 seat row, but no one was sitting next to me, so I used that chair to prop my feet up from time to time. An Italian man was sitting next to D and he was nice enough to help us when D got sick a few times during the trip; the stewardess brought us wet wipes but offered no other assistance and they had the isles blocked with food/drink carts so I couldn't even get to the restrooms to clean him up. Seriously - who puts barf bags inside a plastic bag with a magazine so one cannot get to it quickly when it's needed??!! Ok, anyway ... moving on ...

D chillin' with the ipod before take off

D was great as far as not fussing about ANYTHING during the flight. He listed to the ipod for a while and watched a couple cartoon movies on the personal TV stations we each had with about 15 movies to choose from. He slept for 2+ hours and then had a cat nap later. He ate/drank what we were served, which was mac & cheese for lunch, brownie, and juice/sprite throughout the flight.

I get motion sickness, but usually only during take off and landing, and once at cruising altitude I can usually read and watch TV without issue. I don't care much for airplane food, but it was actually pretty decent for mac & cheese. The movies really helped pass the time since I can never sleep on a plane. I was fine until I had to keep cleaning D up the last few hours of the trip. I got really bad once we started our decent into Washington and I had to miss the last drink offer due to taking care of D. By the time we got to Brian and the kids I really wasn't sure if I would keep down dinner and I just wanted to go home and crash!

Most of the gang (even Gus)

Amazingly passport control and customs was a breeze. There was no line at either location. Passport control took the longest because I had forgotten to complete my customs form while on the plane. I explained to the officer that I was cleaning up Dennis so I had forgotten to do it. He was sympathetic and gave me the form to complete while he logged D's passport and reviewed his documents. He told me he would be taking care of processing the paperwork and gave me D's alien registration number to use until the SSN arrives.

By the way, those of you who will be doing this after me, in Kiev get in the FOREIGNERS line. Coming into the US get in the Citizen's line ... don't ask anyone ... just act like you know what you're doing and go there.

Next went to get the luggage and I called Brian while we waited. He explained that I still hadn't been through customs ... oh fooey! Luggage arrived pretty quickly as well and off we went ... through the EXIT hallway and ah ... there was customs control. No lines though, just one person in front of us and there were no issues. I walked up and handed her our passports and the completed form. She asked if I had any food with me ... I said no. That was it!

The "Twins"
(share the same day of birth, just different years)

Exit doors ahead ... fighting back the tears since I didn't want D to be worried or my other kids when we saw them. Around a corner and WOW was I surprised at how many people were there - I had never seen this baggage claim area so full. I guess all the international flights arrive about the same time cause people of all nationalities, many not speaking English, were waiting for their families, some with names on signs, lots with balloons, bears, flowers, and other gifts.

Brian and the kids had balloons, flowers, and gifts, but honestly those didn't matter - we just wanted hugs and to get home! As Brian stated in his post, the friends who were meeting us there didn't make it because D and I got done so quickly, but "Aunt" Jamie was there to greet us as well. We headed for home and I just crashed on the sofa until the pizza arrived and then I went to up to shower as soon as dinner was over. D hung out with the kids and Daddy and the dogs for a while ... he wasn't as tired as I was.

The kids making coffee cake for breakfast the next morning

I seriously had not slept in at least 36 hours. I had to pack still after the train station and of course I had to post the photos of the hosting kids I got to visit with, so I didn't lay down until almost mid-night. I had to be up in 3 hours to shower and finish the last minute packing in order to get to the airport by 4:45am! I never actually fell asleep and got out of bed before the alarm actually went off. Can't sleep on the plane no matter how tired and I didn't want to take a sleeping pill in case D needed me, and he did.

So, 5am next morning my phone beeps ... I didn't hear it, Brian did. It was a text msg that school would be closed due to inclimate weather! REALLY? There was less less than an inch on the ground - must have been the ice then, not really sure. Anyway, back to sleep and then of course the house phone rings about 6-ish with the recorded message that school will be closed. So much for sleep ... the kids get up around 7-ish and Brian gets up with them and tries to let me sleep in! :) Hard to do that with 4 very excited kids and 2 dogs in the house!!

I finally roll out of bed around 9-ish, though not much sleeping was happening, and this is the scene I find downstairs in the kitchen!

Once we got past breakfast and showered, we started making plans for the day. I checked my email for my regular account, which I didn't check while I was in Ukraine ... over 1,200 messages ... most junk mail since anyone who knows me already had been emailing my gmail account to touch base in Ukraine.

Brian took Ashley and Dennis to Costco and the pet store to get the dogs new collars, and I took Amanda and Sam to the DOCTOR! Amanda got an infected toe nail, which had been getting worse since Brian told me about it so I insisted that she go.

Then we met with the family we missed at the airport arrival for the Tangled movie, which Dennis and I had seen with two other families in Ukraine on Saturday! :) Everyone enjoyed it, both times.

I made chicken for dinner ... the first homemade meal I've had (or had to cook) in over 40 days! D had seconds so I guess it was good. :) We had the left over Blizzard ice cream cake that Jamie had brought over for Amanda's birthday the night before. Then everyone got showered and went to bed.

End of day 1 ...

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