Hi Everyone!! We made it back yesterday. We touched down at 3:40 pm. All the flights went well. The flight from Tokyo to Minneapolis actually left EARLY!! Never heard of that before. That flight was a little over 10 hours. Grace did very well with a few little naps and one that was a couple hours long. I wish I could have gotten a picture of that one. Charlene was on my right, Grace cradled in my arms and a little Chinese lady sitting on my left, all of them asleep. Minneapolis airport was a royal pain though. When we checked in at the airport in China, the guy said that the bags were checked through to Omaha. I checked the little luggage sticker they put in your boarding pass envelope and yes it said to Omaha. In Minneapolis however, we had to go through immigration, Grace had a stamp put in her passport to make her an official American citizen!! It was nice, they had a special line for adoptions. There were a several of us on the plane that had adopted. We were second in line to go through Immigration. The other lines were packed. After that, we had to collect all of our bags (3 large suitcases) and go through customs. I don't know how many of you have flown a 747, but there are a tons of luggage. Our first 2 bags came out fairly quickly. I got worried about the third one. It was a cheap bag we picked up in China. It wasn't very good quality. It was kind of flimsy. When we packed it, we put things in there that we could afford to loose along with dirty laundry. The baggage carousels were jammed with luggage. They had airline people out pulling bags off of the carousels to make room for more. There were probably around 100 suitcases on the floor, the carousel was still packed, and more were still pouring out. Finally our last one showed up.
Then we went to customs. We didn't have anything to declare, but, you'll probably hear about this from Charlene later, I had a package of beef jerky in my carry-on. I didn't have to say anything, but the customs form asked if you have any meet products. I was honest and said yes. This is a package I bought before we even left here to go to China. Lucky for me, I hadn't got around to opening it and I even had the sales slip in the grocery sack still. So there was no problem. Just a few minute delay here.
Next, we had to re-check our bags. I turned the corner into this area and it was almost chaos, I'm sure it was going to get a lot worse. There weren't that many people waiting, but the belt they use to take the luggage back out to the planes wasn't working so there were bags piling up on the floor. The ladies there said that if you have to hurry to catch a flight, just leave your bags and go. We had a little more time, but people were beginning to stack up behind us. At the baggage check-in, one lady told me to just leave the bags. So I did, crossed my fingers, and we all headed through security.
When we arrived in Omaha, we were met by our friends Ruth, Cori and there son Ryan. We weren't expecting anyone. We looked awful after all that time. We had been up and on the go for almost 24 hours, but we were glad to see them.
We were very exhausted by the time we got home. It was probably around 4:30. The first thing I wanted, was a pizza from Pizza Hut and some "American" Diet Pepsi. For those of you that have not traveled overseas, some things, like soda, do not taste the same as they do here. Some are re-formulated for the locals. It's not that it tasted bad in China. It was ok. I just wasn't what we "liked". We had Pizza Hut one day there. It was just a pepperoni and cheese. It was ok. I was dying for a deep dish supreme though.
At the house, I think Chelsea was surprised to see us. I went to go take her out before Charlene and Grace went in. She didn't even make a sound when I came in the house and she was waiting at the top of the stairs just looking at me. Usually she's shaking her rump all excited. She didn't move until I said hi to her. Then she got excited. I think she was very surprised to see us.
Everyone has been so nice to us here. Ruth, Cori, and Ryan had some pink and purple welcome balloons on the table along with a card. Those are the colors we used in Graces bedroom. Our friend Angela made some meals and they were ready in the freezer for us. She also had some chocolates with Grace's picture on them along with her birth date and the day we got her. Cori's sister Lori made us some cookies. Charlene's dying for the recipe. They had chocolate chips and bits of cherry in them. Boy are they good. Lori's the one who stayed at the house while we were gone and took good care of Chelsea for us. Ruth and Ryan have been stopping by and helping with Chelsea too. Our neighbors behind us mowed our grass for us while we were gone. I already had it in my head that I was going to be mowing today. Everyone has been such a big help and we really do appreciate everything!
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