Home again, home again, jiggedy jig!

Home. . . . ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I can't evn begin to describe how good it is to be home! I'm sooooo happy!!! I love the US!

Aidan did pretty good, all things considered, on the flight from Moscow to Atlanta. Remember, it's an almost 11 hour flight! He was fidgety and needed to be walked around the plane a few times, but up to about the 4 or 5 hour mark, that was about it. Then he threw a tantrum, threw his sippy cup at the guy behind us (who was NOT happy about it!) and then threw himself on the floor between our seats crying. That's where he initially fell asleep. We eventually moved him up onto the seat between us where he continued to sleep the rest of the flight! He was an absolute angel going to Customs and Immigration, getting checked into our second flight to Dulles and then on the flight to Dulles. In fact, w e had people coming up to us at baggage to ooh and aah over him and to tell us they didn't even know he was on the flight! That's our good boy!

We finally got home at 11:30 pm Eastern time, having left the hotel in Moscow at about 9:00 am Moscow time. That equates to 22 1/2 hours of traveling during which Aidan slept about 10 hours, I slept about 3 and Pat maybe 1.

Aidan walked into the house, took a look around, and then got so excited about everything, we were up until 1:30 am showing him everything. He loves his new home!

We're exhausted, though. Trying to deal with an 8 hour time change, on top of having just barely gotten used to a 4 hour time change and also keep up with an almost two year old, it's a lot! But, we're loving it. And, I think Aidan already realizes that this is all his. He has adapted and adjusted so well--way beyond our fantasies!

One final note for now, Aidan has discovered grass and looooovvvveeeesss it! When we go outside, he looks at it in wonder, bends down to feel it, picks some and shows it to us, and then points all around him in such excitement! It is just heart wrenching to think these children never see grass or shrubs or even flowers! The few trees they have are only in leaf about three or four months out of the year. I can't wait until he see the fall colors!

Observations on being home:


As I mentioned, everything is green! It was startling to us, who are used to it, but Aidan is going nuts about it! And there are bushes (Russia doesn't have any!) and flowers (again, none in Russia) and our grass needs cutting!

Taco Bell isn't so bad. In fact, it is quite good! Especially if you have lived on Russian food for a month!



We may not have a 24 YACA store (24 hour store), but our choices are wider and better!

We have over 600 channels to choose from n TV and only one is in Russian! : ) We're not going to go to that one for a while, I think.

This weekend is the Flower and Garden Festival in Leesburg!!! I can't wait and I'm sooooo glad to be home for that and to take Aidan to it! He's going to go nuts!

Here is Aidan playing on the children's bouncy thing at the Hard Rock Cafe.