Coming home to a place he'd never been before

After a very very very long day, we made it home safely. The fun began at 4:25am in China (3:25pm Thursday at home) when we got our wake up call. Our luggage was off to the airport shortly thereafter, and we were on the bus by 5:40. Things went smoothly until Hong Kong. The 747 equivalent of the "check engine" light went off, and our pilot informed us that we would have to be towed to a remote gate while maintenance worked on the problem. That is never a good sign. They did manage to fix things, but we were on the plane 2 hours before we ever left the ground. Add to that the fact that we weren't allowed any water to make formula in our carry ons (even the bottles we purchased after security were confiscated), and we had a crabby little man. We eventually got a flight attendant to give us a bottle of water, though he was none too pleased. (How ridiculous is that?) After the 2 hours on the ground, we spent another 11 or so in the air. About 10 minutes after our first diaper change, David had a fantastic poop that went from his chest to his knees. (Nothing says good times like toddler diarrhea in an airplane bathroom.) His onesie had to be sacrificed, and we busted out his Brand New American Citizen t-shirt a little early.

We were about an hour late getting in to San Francisco, leaving us 50 minutes to clear immigration, claim our bags, go through customs, recheck our bags, get through security and make a mad dash for our gate. I was not very optimistic. Immigration went really quickly, and David became a US citizen when they stamped his visa. There was not much time to savor the moment, so we literally ran through the baggage claim, customs, recheck and all the way to security. The line was long, and our flight was already boarding at this point. We found a TSA agent who suggested we go to a different check where there was a shorter stroller line, so we ran some more (and anyone who knows me knows how I despise exercise). Despite some rather unhelpful and slow moving TSA employees, we made it through security. Kevin grabbed his shoes and ran to the gate while I waited for the rest of our stuff. We got on the plane followed by a couple of standby passengers, and they closed the doors almost immediately. Much to our dismay, the Heath family didn't make it in time and won't get back to NC until tomorrow.

Somewhere over Nebraska (I wish I were exaggerating), we were placed in a holding pattern for 30 minutes due to congestion at O'Hare. When we finally landed, the plane was parked too close to the gate, and we had to wait on board while they towed us back a few feet so that the jet bridge would reach. At this point, we'd been travelling more than 24 hours, and David had slept only 4-5. We were nauseous from lack of sleep and a bumpy landing. But we were home! We walked into the baggage claim area to meet... no one. United had called Kevin's family and informed them we were rebooked and would be arriving at 10:00pm, so we took a taxi home from the airport where we finally got to let David meet his grandparents, Uncle Adams and Uncle David and, most importantly, Pete and Snoopy.

Through all of this David was amazing. He got a little fussy and was clearly delirious from exhaustion towards the end, but he still found plenty of smiles and fake sneezes for his adoring fans and is now enjoying his first night in his crib.

It is so great to finally be home. I drank water directly from the tap and am very much looking forward to a mattress that is not made exclusively of wood.

David loves an audience, so we'll be looking for play dates soon. Feel free to give us a call if you want to stop by.

Checking out our plane in Hong Kong

First flight as a US citizen. Don't be fooled. The sleeping did not last.

When we asked for a low key arrival, this is not what we expected. Kevin with our cab driver.