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01.07.2005 REFERRAL!!!
03.03.2005 Travel Plans! 03.11.2005 Arrived in Beijing 3.12.2005 More on Trip 3.12.2005 Touring Beijing 3.13.2005 Second Day Beijing 3.14.2005 We Have Maya! 3.15.2005 It's Official! 3.16.2005 Shop 'Til You Drop! 3,17.2005 AM Museum 3,17,2005 PM Mother's Love 3.18.2005 Nanning Zoo 3.19.2005 Green Mountain Park 3.20.2005 Paperwork, Park, & P 3.21.2005 Guangzhou 3.22.2005 Shop 'Til You Drop! 3.23.2005 Last Day in China! 3.23/24.2005 The Journey Home 3.24.05 DFW Homecoming |
We are back in the USA at last! Our flight home was blessedly uneventful, with both girls sleeping most of the way back. Maya and Zoe were awake for only the first two hours and the last two hours of the flight. And both were pretty content during that time, since food was being served! The flight back was not as restful for me as the flight to China, since all that sleeping Maya did was on top of me! Still, it is MUCH better to be pinned under 21 pounds of sleeping toddler instead of wrestling with 21 pounds of wiggling/crying/screaming toddler, so I can't complain. The flight back was quieter than I expected -- there were approximately 30 babies on board, including two sets of twins, one of which was 19-month-old boys! There was intermittent squalls, but overall a peaceful flight. We landed at LAX, and since it was our first US port of call, we had to pass through immigration and customs. Immigration was painfully slow, despite a special line for adoptive families and allegedly expedited processing. It still took us 90 minutes to clear immigration. The waiting area was hot, crowded, and didn't have near enough seats for everyone. You'd have to think that CIS could plan to have a few more people on duty when they know a large planeload of immigrants is expected in. I expect the first-time Chinese immigrants who were waiting in our line -- behind us expedited adoptive parents --are STILL waiting in line! After that delay, clearing immigration is a double blessing -- you get out of the heat and crowds, AND Maya becomes a U.S. citizen! We stayed the night in Los Angeles, at a hotel near the airport. I was actually surprised by how much sleep we got. The girls slept from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., then played and snacked and generally drove us crazy until about 6 a.m., and then slept until 9 a.m. Then it was hurry, hurry, hurry to get to the airport for our flight to DFW. That flight was also uneventful, with both girls getting some zzzzzs, though this time Maya kept Mimi pinned down instead of me! All in all, a pleasant ending to an incredible journey. |