If you look at the date on this post, you may wonder why I'm only now writing about heading home. Well. Let's just say that life has sped up since our arrival back on U.S. soil, and I'm only just now getting back to this blog. We arrived at the airport with our 14 (!) checked bags and 7+ carry on items with the help of our dear neighbor, S. He bought our old red van, let us drive it right up until our departure date, and then drove the Professor and our luggage to the airport. Thanks S!! The kids and I were dropped off at the train station and took the airport express train. This was something the kids had looked forward to all year--the train goes through our local station but doesn't stop, so we had taken to calling it "the fast train." It's also a newer style train so looks really cool! I'm not sure the actual ride lived up to expectations, but we made it. S and the Professor were going to pack all the luggage into our van (no room for both luggage and passengers), but when they pulled up at the airport they were in S's motorhome. They decided to take the vehicle they
knew had space and save the hassle of careful packing. Talk about a spectacle!! We waited forever in line to check in, but really the flights went very smoothly.
When we arrived back in the US, we wheeled all our bags toward the exit where the customs inspectors were and made quite a parade with about five carts. The inspector did a double-take, asked, "are you all together?" and then just waved us through. He did not want to even get started with our crew! We had grandparents to meet us with our vehicle and trailer, a bed and breakfast waiting just an hour away, and then the drive home. Thanks to friends here at home the house was all cleaned up and ready and even had breakfast and lunch fixings in the refrigerator. It was great to be home again.
