Saying goodbye to the land of the Deutsch

He is so danged proud to have his own suitcase,
he didn't let go of the handle until we forced him to.  

So very much his father's child

Traveling.  Oh, the adventure!  On a military flight the adventure begins when the multiple sets of instructions you've receive all contradict one another.  Then, when you are told to show up and get through security no later than the roll call at 8:30, you find that security doesn't open until much after 9. The uncertainty only adds to the excitement, I'm sure.  I'm also sure that uncertainty and Cinnabon for breakfast give me an unhappy tummy, and yet. . .  The rest of this tale is utterly familiar to anyone who has ever flown--wait in an overcrowded terminal with other passengers who are all upset that THEY have to wait, blah, rinse, repeat.  

The flight left late (oh, surprise) but the kids behaved beautifully until getting baggage at BWI, where Jerran's testosterone poisoning interfered with his ability to listen.  BWI is a lovely, clean and airy airport where there were MANY passport officers checking in our flight, and 2 customs agents (again, just for our flight!  Whee!)  The free luggage carts for us were icing on the cake until we exited the terminal and saw the greeting committee.  I guess they were the cake part of the cake?  Complete with cowbell and snacks, we were greeted and welcomed to the States with enthusiasm and high-fives.  It was a little overwhelming, and the tears I've been pushing down for the last few weeks somehow leaked out.  

Our second flight was also late, and I sat next to Noah by the windows to watch the planes while we waited.  A couple with a baby sat next to us and spent the hour until our flight complaining about how their flight was late and they were going to miss their connection and life isn't fair and how horrible that their day was totally ruined.  The two of them were miserable and I felt sorry for them, until I realized that their bad attitude was what was making them so sad.  The flight eventually made it out only a little late and when we landed a sweet lady across the aisle complimented us on how well our children had behaved on the flight.  We struck up a conversation and she was shocked that we'd traveled all the way from Germany in one day (by that time we'd been in transit about 22 hours).  It made me really grateful that the kids were so polite and positive, which made the entire trip more bearable.  

Ben's sponsor met us at the airport, helped us with the luggage and gave us breakfast for the next morning.  So nice!  We all woke up at about 3am (hello, jet lag) to begin our first 'official' day back in the States.  Happy Fourth of July!