Home!

Hey, the Blogger login page is in English again! I always felt a little uneasy clicking on the buttons in Chinese. Such a relief to be back in the U.S. 26 hours of travel yesterday. The boys did very well on the trip, especially considering that they had only about 3-4 hours of sleep. We had some complications at the very beginning with Northwest finding Alex's infant seat assignment. Luckily, we had printed out our return itinerary, so when the Northwest officials entered his magic confirmation number, we were on our way. Well, except for the THREE security checks before being able to board our plane (including one on the jetway, where we lost the bottle of water we just purchased after the first security checkpoint. Note to terrorists: put your explosives in the baby formula). Trip to Tokyo went very well. The boys had a good time on the flight drawing with crayons. Owen is getting to be an expert speller.

Grabbed a quick McDonalds lunch in Tokyo (where they speak excellent English but do not give out change except in Japanese yen) and then hopped on the big plane. Trip started pretty well but the boys took a long time to fall asleep. Alex especially was not interested in sleeping, so we took many laps of the coach class, where we were treated to over-the-shoulder views of about 20 different video players as well as the in-flight movie (Mama Mia, which was a bit surreal without the sound. I watched large segments of several in-flight movies without the sound and became very attentive to body language. This must be what aphasia is like.). The sun came up very early and when they dropped off our vegetarian breakfasts, we decided to get up. I think that was about 3 or 4am Beijing time. We were able to make several bottles for Alex on the flight (using hot water, as Chinese infants tend to take their bottles hot) and we consumed copious amounts of Honey NutOs (the closest we found to Cheerios). Several recharges of the iPod touch later (thank you, Kensington rechargeable battery!), we touched down in Minneapolis, where we passed through customs and Alex officially became a U.S. citizen. Congratulations, Alex! They have a nice play area in the Minneapolis airport, so Owen and Dad hung around there while Mom and Alex got a quick nap. Half an hour delay, but then off on the final leg of our journey. Alex became maniacally hyper on the flight, singing, dancing, swaying, and attempting to wander up and down the very narrow aisle. I think as we were getting off the plane there was a moment in the jetway where Alex was on his back, Owen was begging to be carried, and all of our carry-on luggage was scattered on the floor, but we quickly pulled ourselves together, turned on Owen's flashing Christmas tree pin, and headed out to meet Grandma and Grandpa Altermatt, who loaded us into a minivan and drove us home. We got some oatmeal for Owen and Alex, PB&J for Mom and Dad, and then put everybody to bed. Alex was very upset about being put in his crib in yet another new place, especially because our bed was not right next to his this time. But he eventually settled down and fell asleep. Owen climbed into his air mattress bed and was out in about 20 seconds.

We celebrated Christmas this morning and the boys had a marvelous time opening packages and playing with toys. This must seem so strange for Alex. If he were keeping a blog, I wonder if he'd report that in America, you wake up each morning, eat pancakes, and then open presents all day. Owen was especially fond of his bug-vacuum. He immediately recruited Grandpa to accompany him to the basement in search of bugs to suck up. Alex's favorite is a wind-up cat that does flips. He also really enjoys the sturdy cardboard box from Aunt Emily and Uncle Tom, which he uses as a seat and standing pedestal.





Well, that's the end of our great adventure to China. While we were on the trip, we told ourselves it would be a success so long as we returned with the four of us and at least one stacking cup. Mission accomplished.