COMING HOME

Whew. Well it's now the 8th of February and I am finally coming up for air. We have so much to share. I'm going to go back and start with last Wednesday the 2nd of February.

24 HOURS STRAIGHT OF TRAVELING ACROSS THE GLOBE

This day started at 4:45a.m. on Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011 in Hong Kong. We took the airport shuttle from our hotel a little after 6a.m. Our plane left Hong Kong at 8a.m. and we arrived in Tokyo by noon. We then had a four-hour layover, enough time to get sushi in Japan, (oh like you thought I was going to pass up on that opportunity?!), We then left Tokyo around 12:30p.m. and arrived in Seattle at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, February 2nd. Yup, that's right. The fact that we basically started the same day about a half an hour after we arrived and this day happened to be Groundhog Day in America did not escape me. Delightful coincidence. We had a four-hour layover in Seattle but it took more than an hour to go through Customs and to get Juni's immigration paperwork completed. That part was surreal and somewhat anti-climatic because we were just in this dingy florescent-lit room on crappy chairs. The workers broke into the brown envelope, typed something into their computers and voila, "Congratulations, your daughter is now an American citizen." That was my last fast and furious post. We then rode the escalator down to our waiting luggage and walked out of the room. The hard part was going through security with all of our luggage. I appreciate the effort that goes into security but this was above and beyond. I'm not sure why we had to pick up our luggage from one flight, go out of the secure area only to have to endure going back in. Juni screamed her head off when they took her half-drank bottle out of her hand. I thought she was such a trooper. Anyway, after they basically unpacked half of our bags and took off most of our clothes, we finally made it through albeit a bit more disheveled. Coffee helped. We finally boarded the plane to Montana somewhere around 12:30p.m. and were HOME by 2:30 in the afternoon. We also managed to stay awake until 10-11p.m.ish to celebrate our homecoming with our incredible families and to welcome in Chinese New Year. We basically got on our right schedule jet-lag wise by powering through incredible exhaustion. 

To say Juni is well-traveled is quite the understatement. She was nothing short of amazing on all of the flights. In fact, she didn't even wake up when we landed in Tokyo! A few hours later she decided to sleep on the take off because the plane was taking so long to taxi to the runway. Amazing. 

Juni has somehow mastered the cell phone. This is not our doing. We barely used a phone in the past two weeks. She knew just what to do and babbled away into the receiver.

Ho hum. Just landing in Tokyo, Japan. No need to get up Juni.

I forgot to mention the fact that Juni was stuck to me most of the entire journey. This shot was taken about half an hour before we arrived in Seattle. Trying to sleep upright on a plane while holding a baby is challenging enough. Trying to pee in a miniscule airplane potty with a squirming 1-year-old strapped to your front and then having to stand up and button your pants while she screams in terror at the loud flush sound is ridiculous. Repeat this several times over several flights in 24 hours. I think everyone should try it. No seriously. I dare you.

MONTANA AND JUNI'S FIRST GLIMPSE OF MONTANA

In typical Montana fashion, we had to get off the plane on the tarmac and so Juni's first impression of her new homeland was freezing cold. Thank God it was sunny.

The wee plane for our last flight. I think all three of us passed out about one minute after take off. I think they were very wise not waking us for the beverage cart.

JUNI MEETING HER WONDERFUL BROTHERS FOR THE FIRST TIME

The only shot I got off with my point and shoot was of Sam running merrily under the security ropes.

The next several photos were taken by my lovely friend Karen and I can't thank her enough.

I do not have the words to describe how good it felt to hold our boys after being gone for two weeks. 

Simply beautiful.

Aidan was immediately gentle and loving to his new little sister who was more than a bit overwhelmed. He has continued to be amazingly nurturing and I am so proud of him.

Sam on the other hand, only had eyes for Daddy and immediately laughed like a crazed imp and loved being thrown in the air. I'm not sure if he noticed Juni but he definitely didn't look me in the eye. It took a few days for him to stop being mad at me but that's for another post. Overall, I think he was happy we were home and that's all that mattered.

Juni gleefully running to me at the airport.

I have only included photos of the boys for this post because the next post will include loads of photos of our family members.  I just want to say that the welcome we received at the airport by our family was extraordinary. We will cherish that memory forever. Even more importantly, we can never even come close to thanking you all enough for everything you've done to provide stability and love for our boys and our dogs over the past few weeks or for flying in to be here on this once-in-a-lifetime day for Juni or for sending gifts and letters of welcome to our daughter. We are beyond blessed by your love.