Finally Back Home

We left Taiwan on Saturday night. Our flight was at 11:55 PM so we knew we would all sleep for a few hours at least. Te plane was a double decker and we were sitting upstairs. I had to have someone from the airlines help us get our carry on baggage to the upper deck since the kids already sleeping. They reluctantly helped. The seats on this flight were smaller and the plane was not as as the leg from LAX to Taipei. About an hour into the flight we were served a meal. They bypasses the kids since they were sleeping but when they awoke, we asked for their meals and were told they couldn't have them. I asked for snacks and was told they didn't have snacks on the plane. They offered us buns with butter so we took that. At one point Marybeth took Owen to the restroom and they were occupied so she went down to the first level and she was told that she had to go back up to her level and that the lower level was for business class only. She let them know that she was going to use the business class restroom or someone was going to clean pee-pee off the rug. They agreed to let her use business class. The flight on this leg was not nearly as accommodating as the trip over. The kids did fantastic. We were pleased with that.

Whe we got to LAX we were told that going through immigration, customs and transferring luggage could take 3-4 hours. We were done in 30 minutes and decided to get a hotel. It tool the hotel shuttle 30 minutes to pick us up. We were waiting under a sign that read "hotel and off site parking shuttle" or something to that effect. I had to call the hotel and they said they couldn't find us. Finally they picked us up and we had a good night sleep and breakfast in the morning.

The flight from LAX to Dallas was easy and the kids were great. When we got to Dallas we missed our connecting flght to Orlando. We had about 40 minutes to change and after bathroom stops and food pick up we realized we were at the wrong gate! We were 31 gates away. The gate we were at was going to orlando at the same time as our flight because it was delayed from an earlier time. We asked if they could hold the plane as we had about 5 -10 minutes to get there. they told us there was nothing they could do. We ran to the correct gate and the plane was just backing awayfrom the walkway terminal. We were rescheduled on the next flight 1 1/2 hrs later.

When we arrived in Orlando at 10:00 PM Sunday night we were very tired. I think it was like 36 hours to get home. We got hme at 11:30 PM or midnight and we put the kids right to bed. Marybeth and I unpacked, seperated the laundry and just got organized and Owen woke up at 2:00 AM and Rebekka at 2:30 AM! They were hungry and wanted a bath. We had mac & cheese and put them to bed at 4:00AM and Owen was back up at 7:00AM. I got up with Owen and Rebekka got up at 10:30 AM. Marybeth slept in, as she was not feeling well. When she got up, she went to the clinic and received some antibiotics for a sinus infection. I finally laid down and got up at 4:00 PM when my in-laws came to visit. We went for pizza. We are so out of whack schedule wise. I think we went to bed at midnight to trying to get everyone back on track. All in all Rebekka and Owen are doing great and getting along just fine. They fought over the guitar and Rebekka convinced Owen to play the keyboard instead. Rebekka said they were writing a special song for Mom. As of today I have not heard it! Rebekka and Owen communicate in two different lanuages but somehow meet in the middle. We are blessed to have Owen in our family and are excited to have everyone meet him.