It has definitely been an adventure and a half. Traveling with six people from Germany all the way across the Atlantic to the United State. It hasn't been easy but we have all grown from this experience in ways I never imagined.
The kids were so excited to get on the plane. Mara thought the airport was the United States. Little did she know we had a 9 hour plane ride ahead of us.
This was Mara's favorite view on the plane. She said we were riding on the clouds. In a way it felt like it. The entire trip felt so surreal and other worldly. We were so busy the week before we left that the finality of it all never really sunk in. We were just happy to make it onto the plane all together. When we did our final check in not one of us was sitting together. The good people at Lufthansa kindly rearranged the entire plane so we could be seated together as a family.
Thank goodness for in flight movies. Without them it would have been a tuff ride. Poor Mara did break down at about 5 hours in and said she wanted to get off the plane. Thankfully she only cried a little bit and then fell asleep in my lap.
After our long flight and our long wait at customs we were so happy to see family waiting for us at the terminal. Tony's brother and sister-in-law were patiently waiting for us with big hugs and our sweet little nephew. They drove six hours from New York to welcome us home.
The thing that hit me the hardest was that I felt like a foreigner from the moment we entered the US customs line. I wanted to be happy to finally be home, but it had been so long that we all felt out of place. Most of our children don't even remember living here because they were very little or hadn't even been born yet. The biggest difference for me is all of the commerce everywhere. There are neon signs, billboards, stores and businesses everywhere. It's overwhelming and kind of excessive. Just choosing a place to eat was difficult because there were just too many choices.
It's been a week now and we've slowly gotten used to the time difference. I still don't think we're used to the cultural differences but we are really enjoying the experience. There are so many first for our children right now that it's fun to see it through their eyes and enjoy it all over again.
Like their first visit to the mall.
Their first visit to IHOP. I wish I could have captured the look on their faces when all these stacks of pancakes came to the table.
Marcus thought it was amazing that there was a restaurant that served breakfast all day long.
Even though these are all firsts for our kids it amazes me that they are so comfortable with these new experiences. We have had moments where they miss their friends but for the most part it has brought us all closer together. I mean how can it not when we spend all of our time with each other, doing everything together.
So hopefully we will find a home soon and then our move will be over. It's so hard to believe that within two months our lives have changed so drastically. I can't wait to make new memories here with all my loves.
~Sunny~
Mmmmmm, ihop!
ReplyDelete