Tuesday, November 15, 2005
HOME!!!!!

We are home!!! Yippeee!

Actually we've been home about 3 days now but we've been busy getting settled so this is my first real chance to write.

We left Guangzhou on the 10th. We were supposed to have our luggage outside our door at 5:00 am in order to make our 8:00 am flight and wouldn't you know it, our alarm didn't go off! Jocelyn, our CCAI rep, woke us up at 5:30 to tell us our luggage hadn't shown up. We rushed out of the room without showers and just made the bus for the airport.

The plane trip, needless to say, was hell. The 4 hours to Tokyo weren't too bad, but the 9 hours to San Francisco just about killed me. And Katie-Beth too. She didn't get more than an hour's sleep the whole trip.Everytime she would doze off the captain would come on with another announcement. I couldn't believe how long that flight was. I had watched two movies and tried to sleep for a while when Mike switched on the flight information only to find that I still had 4 1/2 more hours to go!!!

By the time we made it to San Francisco we were wiped out. I am so glad we decided to cut our trip in half, because there is no way you could have gotten me on another airplane at that point.

So we made our way to the hotel only to find that I had goofed with the time change. In San Francisco it was only Thursday morning! I had made the reservations for Friday morning! It still boggles my brain to think that we could leave China at 8:30 am, fly for over 12 hours and end up in San Francisco and hour before we left. I still can't wrap my mind around that. Well since we were there early we had to pay full price for a room and taking a smoking room. (The 2 nights in San Francisco cost us the same as the entire stay in China!) But it was well worth it. Katie-Beth and I just crashed while Mike managed to keep himself up to somewhat avoid the jet-lag.

It was actually good we had the extra day so that we were fairly cheerful when Kathy and Paul met us. The next day Kathy & Paul drove down and toured us around San Fran. We got to see the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, the windiest road, and Fisherman's Wharf. It was a lot of fun and it was great to see them. And I'm very happy that Kathy got a chance to meet Katie-Beth.

And the next day we flew home. Luckily it was only a 4 hour and then a 1 1/2 hour flight so it was bearable. (but just barely!) We landed around 10:00 pm and everyone met us at the airport. It was great. Mom & Dad were there, as was Grandma, Joshua & Jenna, Erin & Jake, Tara & Tony, and Corie with her friends Angie and Sam. Katie-Beth was a big hit! (Even after another day of no naps) She smiled at everyone and blew fishy-face kisses at everybody. Jake and her got along great, I think they both enjoy seeing someone their own age.

And it is soooooo nice to be home! I will write more about that tomorrow I promise! But for now the jet-lag is still kicking my butt so I am going to go veg a while.

Thank you so much to everyone who followed our journey! It has been quite a trip! But the best part now is we are done! We are home! And we have the very best souvenir ever!!!