We're Home!

After what seems to have been an eternity on an airplane, we safely landed and now have a new American citizen in the family. The kids actually did great on the long trip. They both slept approx. 3-4 hours and barely cried. They're real stars in my book. At the airport, we were pleasantly surprised by a welcoming crowd. Thanks to Nanny, Kristi, Kenna, Michal, Joe, Regina, Kate, and Julia for making the effort to create such a special homecoming. The signs, balloons, snacks for the ride home, and video moments were all priceless! Thanks again to all of you.

ShaoShao was pretty much in "shut-down" mode on the way home. It must be strange to leave the only land you've ever known, where everyone looks and speaks similar to you, and arrive on the other side of the world where everything and everyone is foreign. He fell asleep on the car ride home and woke in time for his homecoming. He seemed fine until he was greeted by our two 90lb lab dogs. He is now warming up slowly to them and will tolerate being in the same room, just not within arm's reach. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Thanks to John, Gretchen, Gwynyn, and Owen, for the delicious home-cooked dinner tonight. What a pleasant surprise to have this waiting for us after such a long trip. ShaoShao ate well, played in our playroom for a while, took a bath with Maya, and settled well into his new bed. Within 5 minutes, both kids were asleep. We'll see how long this lasts tonight considering jet lag.

Now that we're home, China seems like it was just a dream. We can't believe how quickly our China journey has come and gone. Thanks to all of you who have followed our journey. We couldn't read the blog comments until last night in Hong Kong as the blogs were blocked in China (meaning that we could post, but could not view the blog or any comments). Dom and I really enjoyed reading your input.

I will try to post a mix of photos from the trip over the next couple of days.