Day 16 - Going Home!!

Good Morning China!!  It's 4:30 am and time to rise and shine!  Today is the day!!! We're finally heading home!!!!

We got up and got the last minute items packed and set our suitcases in the hall by 5:00 as we had been instructed.  Zachyman was up and ready to go by 5:15 am and we had to wake Caitlin up at 5:45 am to head down to the lobby.  There were quite a few sleepy heads in their pjs!  Mr. Zhou had the hotel provide us with breakfast boxes to go for the bus ride -that was such a nice treat!  On the bus ride to the airport, Zachary said, "Goodbye Guangzhou!!!" Yep, next stop Richmond!  (Okay, so we have a 3 hour layover on Tokyo and a 3 hour layover in Chicago, but still we're headed in the right direction -- HOME!)  

Once we got to the airport, we split into three groups - one flying through Beijing, one to Hong Kong and one to Tokyo.  Mr. Zhou made sure everyone got their tickets and showed us the way to our gates.  It was then that we had to say goodbye to Mr. Zhou.  Words cannot express how grateful we are for all he has done for us!  He is truly an amazing man!

Caitlin saying goodbye to Mr. Zhou.

We had to say goodbye to some of the other families and make our way to our gate.  We flew from Guangzhou to Tokyo which was about a 3 hour flight and Caitlin fortunately slept for a majority of the trip!  But... what does that mean for our up coming 11 hour flight to Chicago?! Ugh.

Zachary on our flight to Tokyo.

Caitlin on our flight to Tokyo. She found the Dove chocolate wrapper :)

We had some time in Tokyo to wander around and burn off some energy before we boarded. We found a vendor that was selling soft-serve ice cream - talk about hitting the spot!  Yum!  Caitlin tried her first ice cream - not so sure of this "cold stuff" but eventually loved it!  Yeah, that's my girl!!  (We had been told that Chinese babies like warm formula and warm food -that's about to change!)   

Next thing we knew, our plane pulled in an a whole crew of what seemed like a hazmat crew filed on to the plane to clean it.  Yeah, a double-decker plane - Zachary is so excited! (heck, we all were!)

United Airlines 882 flight to Chicago.  

Okay, so it wasn't as nice as we had hoped. This 747 was an older model with not much legroom!!  Fortunately we sat in the first row behind the business class section so we had a wall and some extra leg room in front of us which was where the two kids ended up passing out and sleeping together for a good 4-5 hours! When we got on we asked if we could check out the second floor, which they said we could but had to do it before we took off, no one is allowed up there besides the business first class passengers once we are in flight. So Zachary and I went up to take a look.  The flight attendant told us we could go up and say hi to the pilot if we wanted to.  Unfortunately, Zachary had no desire to do that so we headed back to our seats to get ready for take off.

We were fortunate to have the floor space for the kids to sleep on but, the arm rests did not move because they housed the fold out tables -therefore getting comfortable was next to impossible!  I'm definitely going to need a massage when we get home!

Once we arrived in Chicago we had to part ways with Mom and Dad as they only had about 1 1/2 hours to catch their connecting flight.  We had to go through the Visitors with Visas Immigration line because we had Caitlin, and they could sail through the US citizens line.  It was sad to say goodbye - we had been together for over 2 weeks, we were getting used to seeing them everyday!!  Zachary is a pretty sensitive boy and is always sad to say goodbye to Nana and Granpa! Luckily we're planning to see them and the rest of our family at Easter time!

So, we make our way through the immigration process, which was pretty painless, but a little more time consuming.  We made it through the first check point, had to grab or luggage, and head to the second check point where we had to hand over Caitlin's paperwork to USCIS to be processed for her citizenship.  Once again, since her adoption was filed under the Hague Treaty regulations, her visa was different than the others in our group.  Her visa was an IH-3 instead of an IR-3.  When we handed her paperwork over to the officers to process, they were taken back by the IH-3 category.  They had never seen this before and were confused! So I explained what an IH-3 visa was and they got on-line to look it up.  Sure enough, it does exist and it is what I had explained.  Amazing that this regulation has been in effect since May 2008, yet they had no idea what and IH-3 visa was!  Once they stamped her passport and she set foot on US soil, she is considered a US Citizen!!!

Chicago airport - First step in the US!!  (not exactly wanting to get down at this particular moment) Okay so I didn't exactly get her all dressed up for this special moment - such a bad mom!  She's still in her pjs from the flight.

When we arrived in Richmond, Aunt Joy and Uncle Nathan met us to welcome us home and meet Caitlin!!  Now... once last torture test for Caitlin... the car seat! She loved it - as you can see below!! 

Yes!  I love this seat that straps me in and won't let me move all around!! :)

Welcome Home Caitlin!!

Checking out family photos with Daddy.

She's already found the Star Wars light saber!!  Look out Princess Lea!

Zachary showing Caitlin her new room.

Checking out her new room and everything in it! 

Our family is now complete!

Everyone came back to our place to have a bite to eat and chat for a little while.  Caitlin wasn't to sure of Otis at first, but by the end of the night, she was giggling and laughing at him.  Not to sure why a dog would be inside the house but is rolling with it.  She also was a little confused by how much Uncle Nathan and Daddy look alike!  There were a couple times when she would grab his hand or ask to be picked up only to realize that he wasn't her Daddy!  Aunt Joy had her smiling by the end of the night!  That was until the 1:00 am witching hour when she was simply walking around carrying her two blankets and crying!  So exhausted!  

 

Enough already, I'm tired!!! 

The kids finally went to bed around 1:30 am - hopefully they'll sleep in tomorrow morning!! We on the other hand didn't get to bed until 3:30ish - Noah had to catch up on all the b-ball games he had missed!!  This jet leg thing is going to be rough!