After 18 wonderful days in the UK we are back are raring to go. Well we are in mind but our bodies are still taking a while to re-adjust!
We visited over Easter so we were a little nervous on re-entry, hoping that customs wouldn't discover our bag full of chocolate! But a quick sweep of the customs form and a friendly "Welcome back" and we were through the doors and back on US soil.
This home leave was the easiest one so far. We were living in a friends' house (whilst they sunned themselves in Florida) so the kids had their own rooms and it was a home from home. A beautiful, welcoming home.
And jet lag was not an issue going that way. Toby was so tired on the first night that he took himself off to bed and slept for 15 hours! We were delayed by 4 hours on the way there which actually worked out great because the kids slept on the plane. I 'got Toby' (we take it in turns to have the kids and let Charlotte decide who she wanted to sit next to on the way out) on the way there and having fallen asleep in the terminal, I transferred him asleep and was patting myself on the back for an easy job... Until I was just about falling asleep when I spotted a little figure standing next to me. I closed my eyes again and hoped he would just go back to sleep. Ha! Fat chance! Oh well, I'd had some quiet time and did manage to close my eyes for a while when he finally fell back asleep. Charlotte also passed out quite soon into the flight and stayed asleep for most of the journey. Bliss!
I spent weeks planning the trip so each day we would catch up with a different family and their little ones. Our kids had a blast... new play mates every day! Most of our friends and family have kids around the same age so every day was a party!
We spent a couple of weeks in Manchester then headed over to the Wirral to spend time with J's family. And we also got to meet our beautiful new niece. There were tears saying goodbye to her. It is so hard to think that the next time we see her she will probably be crawling and yet she had barely opened her eyes in the 4 hours we were there. Another little niece or nephew is due by the end of the year... You can chat to the adults on the phone and not feel too far away but some days you could want to fly over the pond for a baby cuddle!
J worked most days so we can save his holidays for a trip away in the US. We love that we get to travel back to the UK once or twice a year but we haven't really seen much of the US yet (and we've been here 2 years already!) and as wonderful as home leave is, it is quite exhausting and quite frankly we need a holiday when we get back!
We are not sure when our next trip will be so until then we hope to see our friends and family on Skype, keep in touch with emails and I even hope to put pen to paper a few times and send mail the traditional way! Now the kids are older, I am hoping they can start being pen pals with their UK friends!
Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandad's
Cheeky monkey snuck off quietly and came back into the dining room,
walking backwards so we wouldn't see that he had found
and had started to eat one of his Easter eggs!
My beautiful brown eyed girl.
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