Home again and Surprise Visitors!

We had a very long flight home on March 20, culminating in a very non-service oriented United Airlines Employee who would not help the 7 of us make our flight to Portland...more words about United later.... the first leg of the trip was great. 4 hour flight to Tokyo was perfect, Madeline was great, no crying, minimal fussing, fantastic. The first 30 minutes or so of the next flight were slightly less enjoyable for the surrounding passengers....let me just say that my girl has some lungs on her, and she knows how to use them!! I had a bassinet seat, and she did actually sleep in the bassinet a couple of times, once for about 3 hours I think. We arrived in San Francisco about an hour late, but we had 2 hours and 40 minutes. We tried to ask the people at immigration to help us through the line since we had to be in the visitor line (which was long AND slow) but they assured us we had plenty of time. By the time we got up to the front of the line nearly, an officer saw us and quickly guided us to the "new Immigrant" line. (We had not been told this line existed, and none of the signage indicated such a line existed!) So, we get through, grab our bags, run to the "re-check" area and get them re-checked. We run another 200 yards to the desk to get our boarding passes and the lady, who looks not only like she doesn't want to be there but also like she couldn't care less if we flew or dropped dead, and she refuses us. We had 15 minutes at this point, and she said no. About 5 minutes later she VERY unenthusiastically calls the gate and says, "we have passengers. no? no." hangs up and tells us, "no". Then tells us we can get on the standby list for the 3:15 flight which is quite oversold and we'll never get on, or book us on the 7:20 flight. At this point it's around 1:30 in the afternoon. I yelled at her. Seriously, I was on my last thread. I am not normally one to yell at an airline person. I'm not even one to yell. But this woman was SO uncaring, and even said "well it's not our fault, it was JAL that was late, so it's not our problem." Yuppers- customer service at it's very tippy top. Ironically, our luggage made the 1:something flight- so we certainly could have, but this woman just would not have any part of it. Even though we were 7 people. The worst part is I won't say "I won't fly united anymore", because I'm just cheap and whoever offer the cheapest ticket, that's who I'm flying. And I'm pretty sure the airlines know that!
On the upside, Nurit & Pearl & I DID get on the 3:15 flight from the standby list, although the other family flying with us did not unfortunately. When they called my name for the standby list and said I had a ticket, I seriously started crying. It felt as though this entire 3 1/2 year journey was finally just coming to an end and it was just abruptly stopped by the lazy United woman who wouldn't give us a boarding pass. 3 1/2 years and it still wasn't over. So when they called my name, yeah, I cried. It was 3 1/2 years of stress and waiting all coming out. Finally, I was coming home with my daughter. REALLY coming home.

We had an amazing welcome home party at the airport! I need to get the photos from Chris, but suffice it to say it was amazing. Lots of friends and little girls, jumping up and down and signs and balloons. Lots of smiles, just what I was hoping for!

On Tuesday, Jeremy went home to do some work in the kitchen at his house and came back with a surprise visitor! My sister and neice flew in from Vermont!!! I was grumbling because they were not coming to visit, but she had been arranging it in secret all along!
They came for just a short stay, but it was just perfect. We had two full days of their being here- it was Molly's first airplane trip, so I was excited to have them here to meet Madeline and for Molly to see where her Aunt Kel lives!
The first day we went to the Children's museum. I was blown away. I had never been there before, but after going, I will definitely be getting a membership for this year!
There was a babies room for children under 3, and Maddie had such fun playing in the stream!

There was also a huge aquarium she loved looking at, a mirror that went all the way to the floor, and a waterbed for the kids to play on.

After the Children's Museum we went to Jeremy's house so Heather and Molly could see his house. Molly got special permission to see the music room and play a little on the drums and keyboard!

Maddie and I opted to stay upstairs for the drumming...!

Molly is very fond of her new little cousin. Fortunately I didn't see this until I looked at the photos!

We went to the zoo on thursday, and Maddie had a great time in her BOB stroller.

My sister was calling me a "Bob Snob", because we kept passing all of these families with BOB's, so I kept saying, "Bob, Bob, bob, double bob, bob, not a bob, Bob, not a bob, double bob..." so she called me a "bob snob". But after pushing it I think she understands why! Molly had a great time at the zoo as well, unfortunately it was PACKED becuase it was spring break week and we didn't have a whole lot of time!

Molly got a cookie at the zoo, fortunately she is good at sharing her cookies! It was quite yummy!
One of Maddie's FAVORITE TOYS has become her stacking cups!

The one thing I thought of when my sister and niece came to surprise me is what a shame it was they were only here for a few days and wouldn't get to meet my friends and the Village! Well,

my sister had taken care of that as well and had planned a SECOND surprise- a party with my friends on Thursday at my house! Very fun and I was so glad they were able to meet each other!

Cindy with Lianna and best bud Dumpling!

The first "Blue Couch" photo!

It was a quick but fantastic visit!!!!