Dec 17th - Dad Arrives

The kids really missed their Dad. Owen in particular. About a week after we had been at my Mum's, Owen just could not go to sleep. He just keep crying and crying. It was after 9:30pm and my Mum and I were desperate to get him settled. Finally my mum realized that he missed his Dad and gave him a framed picture of Chris reading to all the kids that was in the living room. He stopped crying, took the picture to bed, talked to it for a while, sang to it for a while and then went to sleep. The next day Mum laminated the picture for Owen. Owen could not go to bed without it until Chris arrived. This of course put a big smile on Chris's face. Who doesn't want to be loved by their kids!!

Chris finally arrived on December 17th, over 2 weeks since we arrive. The kids were soooo... excited to see their Dad!!

Here they are at Devonport airport watching the plane taxi to the terminal.


Together at last!

Dec 16th - A visit with Nan van Hoorn

One of the great things about being home is catching up with family. On Dec 16th, my Mum's sister Willy and her husband John, picked up my Nan van Hoorn and brought her over to see us at my parents house. It was so nice to seem them all. Especially my Nan. She is now 92 and still very healthy but has dementia. I got this great shot of her bouncing Elliott on her knee. She also was singing a Dutch baby song which was so cute, something about bouncing the baby on your knee and then bouncing them up in the air at the end. I wish I had caught it on video.

My Nan's name is Elsina, but when they migrated to Australia she became Ella. And our Ella is named after her. I really love my Nan. In grade 11 my Pop passed away. They lived in Devonport and so all of year 12 I would stay with her one night a week to keep her company and she would teach me Dutch. I have found memories of that time and I really got to know her well.

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!