We safely made it to the US three weeks ago. We flew from Moscow to London, and then London to JFK. I have to say the kids were wonderful on both the flights, and that's alot of time to be on an airplane. We had a minor problem on the flight out of Moscow. British Airways did not want John to sit in his infant, rear facing carseat. They wanted us to hold him in our lap for both flights. Luckily we had a forward facing car seat in the luggage hold, and Jesy and I begged them to get it for us for the London to JFK flight. As I told the flight attendant, it is an 8 hour flight and we really did not want to hold John for that long (especially with three other kids to worry about and we had bought him a seat). The airline retrieved the car seat for us, but only after the attendant told me that if it would make me feel better, it was only a 7 hour and 20 minute flight, not 8 hours. As we all know, eight month old babies are excellent on flights for the first 7 hours; they only break down after 7 and a half hours. I did not feel like getting thrown into a Russian holding cell, so I kept my mouth shut, said thank you, and we were on our way.
We spent the first week in the US in Connecticut with my sister Suzanne, her husband Josh, and my two adorable nephews, Brendan and Ryan. It's a brave family that hosts us first; the first few nights of sleeping with the jet lag were not fun. On the second night Josh found Kathleen up and playing in the room at 3 in the morning. But we had a great time with the Allen family going swimming in their pool, playing at their playground and in the backyard, visiting the beach, and seeing the sites in Westport. I believe my favorite night was when we went to a kids concert in downtown Westport. The kids did well at first, listening to the music and dancing. But after about 20 minutes that got old. Amalie and Kathleen decided to do cartwheels and yoga positions. My girls are pretty athletic, but may not be completely graceful. Amalie knocked into a few kids and Kathleen just kept on putting her legs in the air and asking us to watch. Brendan and Ryan were wrestling on the ground and Colin joined them. The girls even joined at one point. And please remember that all 5 kids had just eaten spiderman ice pops, so they were covered in ick and sticky. I will never forget when Suzanne looked at me as we watched our offspring roll on the ground and said "welcome to the mental institution". Yes indeed.
We are now in Hilton Head, South Carolina. What I like to call our summer home. We have rented a house in a beautiful community and have been enjoying the pool and some wonderful walks and bike rides. Probably the best part of coming to HH is that I finally got to meet my new nephew and godson, Mack. (Tara's second son). He is a doll and it has been so much fun to watch John and Mack play together. They are only 8 days apart and I love that Mack has a cousin to grow up with. They will have so much fun together. The Allen family joined us in South Carolina, so with Tara's sons Lucas and Mack we had eight kids under the age of 8 together. What a wild ride, but it has been lots of fun. You should see all of these kids at the beach!
After spending three weeks together, Suzanne and her family had to leave to go back to Connecticut. The kids and I were really sad yesterday. There are so many great things about being an ex-pat, but being separated from family you love is the worst part. I have to say I felt kinda good when my nephew Brendan cried when he was leaving. I love that he loves being with us. Colin and Amalie were really upset and kept on asking me why T-T (Suzanne) and Uncle Josh have to work and since Uncle Josh is the owner of his company why can't he get someone else to do his work. I do not like to see my kids upset, but I do love how much they love their cousins.
Suzanne- this made me feel better: "Missing someone gets easier every day. Because, even though it is one day further from the last time you saw eachother, it is one day closer to the next time you will".- author unknow
I hate to end on a sad note, so here's something to make you laugh. Suzanne and Josh rented a house in our community for the last 5 days they were here. The owners of the house had a game- Fact or Crap. Super fun, especially if you are drinking margaritas. My mom, Suzanne, Josh, and I played a bit on Thursday night. Fact or crap- The Spanish island of Balearic granted full right to apes. Fact! I
have been laughing about that for days.
Where are the pictures in this blog you ask? Are you crazy? Did you not just read my blog and see that we have had anywhere from six to eight kids under the age of eight in our care for the last few weeks? I am lucky that I survived. But we did take some fabulous pictures of the entire Collins clan, so I hope I will be able to post those when they are done.
We are so happy to be back in the USA!
miss you guys so much!
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