Welcome Home, Sara

It's about 4 am in Columbus and we are lying on the floor of Sara's room while she plays in her crib. Three of Sara's 4 Grandparents are in the house also but fast asleep.

The return flights went smoothly or as smoothly as possible on the day before Thanksgiving. The 12 hour flight from Hong Kong to Los Angeles was a breeze. Sara didn't care for her bassinet, only sleeping in it for a couple of hours. It was handy for changing diapers and clothes, however. Getting through immigration and collecting our baggage took 1 1/2 hours and we were met at the end by Aunt Michele, Gary's sister.

Since we had a 10 hour layover in LA, we went to Aunt Michele's house in Redondo Beach to spend the night. Aunt Michele loved baby Sara and wanted to keep her. It was great that she got to meet Sara on her way home. Again, Sara was the only one who slept and we were back at the airport by 4:30 am LA time to catch our 6 am flight. LAX is a crazy place even at 4:30 on the day before Thanksgiving.

Sara slept the entire 3 hour flight from LA to Dallas. Then, another 4 hour layover in Dallas during which Sara entertained hundreds of people waiting at our gate. Unfortunately, the last leg of our trip was delayed 1 1/2 hours for a blown fuse on the plane. Sara slept through this wait as well as the 2 hour flight home. In fact,she had to be woken up on the way to baggage claim so she could see all of the people who came to meet her. About 15 people were there including her grandparents, her 2 other aunts, her 4 cousins and some good family friends. They made signs and a lot of noise even with all of the other people at the airport.

Sara spent the rest of the evening getting to know her grandparents and the family pets. At first, she was afraid of Gigi, our 90 lb dog (that's 40 Kg in Vietnam), but after an hour, while Gigi was lying quietly, Sara walked up to her and touched her paw.

We will have more pictures to post and now we can look forward to Thanksgiving and Sara's baby naming ceremony on Friday.