Back in Georgia, Safe and Sound

After 5 weeks in Australia , we are now back in Georgia! There were a few hiccups on the way back, but nothing too major. We almost left a suitcase at my sister Tammy's house in Launceston (THANK YOU Jason for racing back to the airport to get it to us!). We had booked our flights all the way from Launceston to LA through Qantas so that we wouldn't have to deal with luggage in Melbourne, but for some reason they couldn't do it and so we had to pick-up our bags and re-check them again in Melbourne. This took about an hour and we're grateful to the very helpful Qantas flight hostess who helped us navigate the airport with all our luggage and four kids. And our last flight from LA to Atlanta was delayed by two hours. Not so fun after you've been traveling with four kids for over 24 hours. But the kids proved again what great travelers they are and took it all in stride.

We're also very grateful to our friend Beau Person who picked us up in Atlanta and drove us home. A 5 hour round trip for Beau. After leaving Launceston at 6:30 am on Friday, January 8th, we didn't walk in the door until 1am on Saturday morning! That made it about 36 hours of traveling! We're glad it's over.

Elliott got his own seat on the flight from Launceston to Melbourne. So cute!

We had a 4.5 hour lay over in Melbourne. We killed time eating 50 cent ice-creams at McDonalds.

Owen on the flight from Melbourne to LA. The headphones are always too big and so his creative mother added a nappy (diaper) to add the extra height he needed. What a stunning look!!

When we arrived home, Santa had left Christmas presents under our tree!! So here we are at 1am in the morning, after 36 hours of traveling, opening our presents!! The kids were so excited to be home and we didn't get everyone to bed until about 3am!!

We've all experienced some pretty bad jet lag. Here we are the night after we arrived back eating dinner at midnight!! As the sun was setting that evening Sam said "Look!, the sun is coming up, it's morning time!" He was very upset with us when we told him it was the sunset and not the sunrise!! And yes, Chris is sporting a new shorter haircut, which almost became a shaved head when he asked me to tidy up the edges. In my jet lagged state I set out to cut his hair with no attachment on the trimmers!! Opps! Thankfully it's in the back and will grow back quickly!