The trek to the US

Sorry for my complete lack of blogging for a whole month! There was a variety of reasons.... general busyness of life and getting ready to visit the U.S., but the main reason was that blogger and our country of residence were not getting along. Read here to find out more details.... 

Yesterday, on July 8th we began our trek back to the U.S. for a visit for the summer. We had driven to Shanghai the night before because we had an early flight. So at 5 AM, we woke up, got the kids ready and caught the shuttle to the airport and to begin our monster day. We flew back on Northwest and had booked the tickets through Orbitz. When we had booked the tickets for some reason it would not let us pick seats together. It suggested that we try again. So we did. And then tried again. Each time it would not let us choose seats together and instead scattered us and the kids all across the back of the plane. Fast forward to yesterday and we were checking in and the airline attendant told us that the flight was full and she could not give us seats together. She had to be joking, right? I mean not one us was together or even within 5 rows of each other.... for a 14 hour flight. We asked her several times if she could try to move people, but she told us we would have to deal with it on the plane. I would think that for the happiness of everyone on board, she would have been a little more accommodating to get us together. :-P Anyway, we get on board and tell the flight attendant that we are not seated together. He looked at us with panic in his eyes and rapidly began helping us switch seats. Yes! Some excellent customer service. He got us two rows together - 2 seats and 3 seats. The kids did really well on the plane. Especially considering that the in-flight entertainment was only overhead and not at all appropriate for them. I know that most parents say this, but we have really amazing kids. Some of my favorite quotes from the kids while we were on the long flight:

• About an hour into the flight, Tori announced that she had to go potty. She then looked at me with a very concerned look and asked, "Do they have a potty on this plane?"
• Shortly after this, Tori turned to me and said, "We are far from China." I said that yes, we had left China, but were not that far away. She thought for a moment and said, "we are in America." Oh, T if only it were that quick! I explained that we were going to be on the plane for a long time, almost all day, and then we would be in America. She looked confused as she processed this. Finally, she said we were in the middle. 
• Several hours into the flight, the flight attendants have everyone close the windows so people can sleep (it is daylight for the whole flight). Tori looked up after this and asked if the plane was underground. When I told her that it wasn't she said that it was in a tunnel then. I assured her that we weren't, but I don't think she ever really believed me.
• On about hour 5 or 6 of the flight, I was encouraging the girls to try and sleep. There were some people behind us who were rather loud and Becca had a hard time resting with the noise, so I suggested the girls use the headphones to listen to classical music. Later after they had taken the headphones off, Tori asked if she could use the "song-headbands" again. :-)
• And of course, a twist on the ever-present childhood question: "How much longer?"

Tori slept for almost 4 hours on the plane, but Josh fell asleep as we began our descent into Detroit. Andy had to carry him off the plane. He wanted to walk, but then he pretty much just quietly cried through immigration. Becca didn't sleep at all until we had been in Cincinnati at grandma's house for a while and then she passed out on the floor. She had been up for over 24 hours! Andy, Josh, Tori and I were all up at 4:30 AM this morning. Ah, jet lag. Which I know sounds early, but I am just glad they slept that late. While it feels good to be here, already I can tell that some things will seem really strange. Let the adventure of the summer begin!