We still have the girls!

Well we are home. It is nice to come back and relax for a day before we have to get back to normal. Except for the fact that this weekend is another holiday! :) Anyway, the flight over from Singapore was very long, 36 hours, but very good actually! We had a layover in Hong Kong and wanted to take the girls to some of the places we had gone but being as it was right after Christmas, lines were long and we didn't have time. So it was basically just a stop to eat lunch and walk around and say that the girls had been in Hong Kong for about 4 hours! :) That flight to Chicago was about 13 hours, and actually went great! I don't know if it is because the girls understood what was coming this time or if it was the time of day and they were simply tired, but, they slept about 11 of those hours!! It was nice. When we landed in Chicago my uncle Johnny picked us up. We got to go to his house and eat with him and Nancy. We talked for a little bit and then went to bed since we had to get up early and catch another flight home! We had a good time there. It was fun to talk to them and the girls were good, and the food was yummy! I hope sometime we can go back there or see them again at another place.

I don't know if I can find one word that describes Carlos and I, however, one of the possibilities would be responsible...at least that is what I thought until the end of this trip!!! I am pretty sure we didn't forget anything at Johnny's house, so we got on the plane, and had a nice short flight. When we got to Norfolk, we couldn't see our luggage come off the belt...all the other people on our flight were gone and no luggage, so we walked around and finally found that it had been here already and was waiting at the offices. Now, this would not be a problem normally but when we were in Hong Kong we had tried to get our flight changed so we could leave to Chicago earlier, and they told us that our luggage was supposed to be on the same flight as us so we couldn't get that all changed in the amount of time we had. BUT after we got to Chicago I guess that didn't apply anymore and it went on another flight...I guess it just frustrated me a little since we could have been with Johnny and Nancy earlier. Anyway! We grabbed it and Carlos' cousins Stephanie and Johana (sorry if I spelled those wrong) came to get us and we packed up and left. We had a good ride home, the girls watched Cars which they love and we listened. When we got home, we discovered that our fridge at some point during our vacation had stopped working and not only were things defrosted but they were dry so it had been a while since it stopped working. The repair people can't come until Tuesday so what are we going to do? We will figure it out. Also we had been told by RM that our porch light was broken and it is still a mystery as to how that happened.

Oh and at the beginning of our adventure to Singapore we found out the the battery to the DVD player didn't stay on anymore so it didn't work at all and so we were left with that! In Philippines we lost our camera.
Then as we were unpacking souvenirs etc we realized that we were minus a bag.... So we made phone calls and it turns out that one of our bags is still in Chicago! So who knows when that will get here, IF it does, they started asking Carlos what was in it as if they weren't going to find it.... Anyway, we are hoping for that to get recovered.
Also when we got home we noticed we were without a certain beloved item that Nana made for a very happy Miriam.... we are making all attempts to recover it, however, I may have to make a new one and duplicate it to the best of my ability! :( So sad!
So...we had a great trip but all of a sudden it seems that things are falling apart. I hope we start to get put back together soon!! After all that, besides the fridge, I seem to be most upset about Miriam's item, which will remain unnamed, some of you will know and others will have to find out once we get it all resolved!!! Maybe I am sad because Nana made it for her and it was special! SOOOO, that is a nutshell version of our trip home and what we found when we got home.
AT LEAST WE STILL HAVE OUR GIRLS!

We thank Rose-Marie for making sure our mail got picked up and that no one ransacked our home and cars while we were gone! And Sarah for checking in every once in a while. Again thank our ride home who did so out of love and compassion on the last minute!! It is good to be home and we look forward to seeing all our friends and family that we have missed!!