Arriving Home

What a summer! I have the entire summer to catch you up on as well as recent events so I will try to do a back-log entry and then a current entry and alternate 'em over the next few weeks. So Jeff's company that made us fly COACH (the horror...) to Korea in January, finally came to their senses and went back to the policy of all flights that are longer than 8 hours are business class. The awesomeness here is that it's cheaper for the company to buy bundled flights so you end up in great seats for all your flights and not just the long one so we had business, business first. Outstanding. On the flight from Japan Emily became the first doll ever to get her own business class seat. There will be no flying coach with her now. Emily gets spoiled like that...

And of course Sasha ended up with my iPad and Teddy had my iPhone which left me deviceless yet again. All you Moms out there know that sitting quietly in a chair by yourself with no one crying or vomiting on you is actually heaven so I was fine with no device. I think I actually flipped through a skymall catalog (the biggest collection of useless luxury items ever to be compiled I'm sure...) for the first time in 6 years and got to wonder how well Jeff would like it if I bought him inflatable anti-leg clot booties for plane trips as his birthday present. I'm thinking that would be pretty good revenge for the spam eh?

When we got to Tokyo they had in the business lounge a sound-proof, glass walled child asylum right next to the adult food and drink area. I'm going to pause to let that sink in ladies and gents. And to let the realization dawn on you that I LEFT this area willingly to board the flight to the US. I mean really, the business class lounge in Tokyo is a one stop vacation in itself. I could have hung out there for the summer, but I love you guys all so much that I left this wondrous shangri-la and got on a 12 hour flight with 2 small children to come see you. That's unconditional love yo.

They ran and leaped on these little cushy mushroom things and had a blast.

Then we hit the snack buffet for a play break. See the glass of wine and my cushy chair? Air travel doesn't get better than this.

When we got on our Big 747 the kids got invited upstairs to sit with the pilots for their pre-flight check. Being the only travel brats in business class has it's benefits. Airline pilot looks good on you Ted!

This flight is doomed! Hope the pilots don't get sleepy because their back-ups look like a pair of goof-balls!

Teddy by the way is MR. Bigshot when it comes to high end air travel. He takes it all in stride like he's been doing this all his life, all casual and breezy. "Hot towel? Suuuure... ice cream sundae? Don't mind if I do!"

We got to North Carolina, collapsed and woke up the next morning to a beautiful Carolina summer day. The folks have been going their usual spring construction projects and the place looks amazing!

Uncle Timmy was there and has just started his own company - Defiant Marine. I am soooo proud of him! I got there just in time to see him get his first paycheck from himself. Here he is making sure he didn't get shortchanged...

Grammy and the kids are all about getting right into the action and they spent the first day picking berries, checking out the garden, watering flowers and doing all kinds of fun chores.

Here's the new flagstone walk that leads to the entrance of the cabin. It's one of the many new projects that they did this spring.

Sasha and her berry bucket. Nice job bringin' em home Sash! Teddy's berries never make it back to the house.

Gorgeous country living. If only the chiggers would all die off in a massive chigger plague I could live here!

The crennelated hedge. Nice job Dad... after all your home IS your castle right?

One of the best projects of the summer was the disk swing that Poppy Duck put up for the kids. They were on it the entire 2 weeks we were there! They actually destroyed the patch of grass underneath it they played on it so much!

Uncle Timmy has 2 awesome Tractors now. We call them Big T and Little T. Big T has a sound system and an air-conditioned cabin. Not too shabby Uncle Timmy. The kids LOOOOVE riding around in it with him!

And of course we got to see Geek and Monty so the kids were thrilled to be reunited with the shaggier members of the family.

Next post: Getting back to Korea...