Wallace's Wonderful Adventure: Home Visit--Thursday

Cameron slept with me last night so he could get his last Mommy fix for a few days. Up and ready to go. I gave Cameron some last minute instructions, big hugs and kisses, and then we were out the door. Cameron helped get my suit cases to the parking garage. We got down there and no Mr. Xue. The first words out of my mouth were "you have got to be kidding me". I sent a text but Leo (Carrasco's driver) jumped out of his van with his phone and called Mr. Xue. He told me he would arrive in a couple minutes. Then Leo asked me if I was coming home on Monday. He did this by making a circle motion and saying "Monday?" I answered yes and he made the "you are crazy and that's insane" looks and motions. Then he started to laugh. How many people can say they are traveling half way around the world for the weekend?

Mr. Xue finally appeared. We loaded the van and headed to school. Cameron kept saying "I'm going to get my 3rd tardy". He is like us and hates to be late. He only is late when drivers do not show up which is not our fault. We sat through the light 3 times. Each time I was getting more mad. Once we were through the first light Mr. Xue drove fast. Pulled up in front of school and Cameron said "yes, they are still playing soccer so I am not late". We said goodbye and he jumped out of the van. At least our minds were focused on being tardy and not me leaving so the morning went better than I expected. Cameron had been anxious about me leaving all week which made me nervous and anxious. He will be fine...If I keep telling myself that it will be true, right? I missed him already and I wasn't even out of TEDA yet.

Made it to the airport to pick Todd up. We went to The Filling Station for lunch. We then went to two different Jenny Wang stores. We didn't really need anything but we always seem to leave with stuff. I was pretty excited because I found cheese balls and cheese puffs. They were not even for us. We had dinner with Michelle, Maddy, and Haley the other night and the girls mentioned they really missed these things. I'm going to score big points when I give them the balls and puffs. I was also excited because we finally found Angel Food cake mixes. We have been wanting to try the recipe circulating on Facebook where you add another cake mix to it and put it in the refrigerator. Then, when you want a treat, you scoop some, add water, then cook in microwave. Hope it tastes good. Or, maybe I hope it tastes bad so I won't want it.

Haley and Maddy having some puffs.
Cameron took the girls their food on Friday. They were super excited.

Time for me to go to the airport. Todd rolled my bags in for me and took me as far as he could. We said goodbye and I went in. I found the Delta counter. I was about 15th in line but it moved quickly. Got my ticket and my bags went through fine. I then went through passport control and security. Free as a bird after that. No more worries. I found my gate and plopped my booty in the closest chair to the Sky Priority boarding zone and then waited. After about 10 minutes I started to get annoyed. Of course a loud, non stop chattering Chinese family had to sit literally next to me and behind me. Non stop Chinese for one and a half hours. I was never so happy to get on a plane.

For the record...I did way better than I expected. I HATE doing things by myself but traveling alone I really hate. But, I wasn't that nervous and I was pretty proud of myself. No tears or anything. Sweet! Maybe I am finally growing up. Maybe!

On the plane. I had the bulk head so I had a lot of leg room. Everyone on and waited to get in the air. We were number 5 for take off but it took 45 minutes. Seriously, why did it take so long?

I watched 3 movies, tried two others but they were too dumb and had to shut them off, slept a little. The 12 hour and 20 minute flight wasn't too bad. Even though I had a lot of leg room it didn't seem to help my booty from getting sore.

In Detroit I had no problems getting through Global Entry, getting bags, customs, rechecking my bags, finding McDonald's cheese burgers, and getting to my gate. However, I did have a problem getting to Moline. First I was at gate c33 and told there would be a delay. Bummer. Then an announcement with another delay and gate change. Down to c25. Wait. Another announcement about another delay and gate change. Down to c31. Wait. ANOTHER delay and gate change. Back down to c25. There was so much moaning and groaning from everyone. FINALLY on the plane. We sit and sit and sit. No one on the ground crew to load the bags and push the plane back. I just wanted to get home. 30 minutes later we were finally in the air.

I forgot to mention in Detroit I stalked the Delta lounge for free Internet. I skyped with Todd and Cameron. I then skyped my parents. I felt funny sitting as close to the lounge as possible. Without Todd I didn't have access to the lounge. As I was getting McDonald's I heard an announcement..."this airport now has free wifi through out the airport". Seriously? So then I felt really weird for stalking the lounge. Oh well. At least I talked to my family. As it turns out you can only get 30 minutes free Internet. Then you have to buy it.

We landed in Moline and they made an announcement..."I don't know if you are aware of this or not but we were circling Moline because the pilots could not see the runway. Thankfully the fog lifted and we were able to land". I thought it seemed like the flight was taking forever. At 11:30...3 hours later than expected...I was greeting my parents. Got my bags and left.

On the plane I was checking out all the water on the ground where water is not suppose to be. The Quad Cities have had a ton of rain. It was crazy how much water there was.

I wanted to stop at my house on the way home. There was so much flooding in the area that I wanted to check the sump pump (though my parents had been checking it) and I wanted to see our new carpet and paint job. Walked in and LOVE the new carpet. I immediately took my shoes off and laid on the living room floor. I did a snow angel move while lying there. AND the walls look amazing. Everything looks so updated and fresh.

I also got to see our tractor. She is a beauty let me tell you. Big green machine. Can't wait to be able to ride her. My dad and I loaded up our old tv stand in their car. We hauled it to the end of the driveway so the garbage man could get...if someone else didn't get it first. It's city wide clean up and the trash men will haul anything away. Yep, 12:15 a.m. and we were moving furniture.

Finally at my parents house. Mom made an angel food cake so we all had to have some. Yum! Took a shower and off to bed at 1:30. So happy to be home.

BOYS UPDATE:

While I was traveling home Todd and Cameron were spending some quality time together. They had a great dinner and watched my plane on the flight tracker.