And we made it home...
Our departure on Saturday morning at 5:00am started out well enough - we got out the door and into our nice van to get to the airport. The ride to the airport can be 2.5 hours to 4 hours depending on traffic, so the third time around I planned our ride to Hong Kong to be in the early morning hours.
Unfortunately, the van was SO speedy that Evan starting moaning about 15 minutes in that is stomach hurt. Ten minutes later I had my first mom-of-three moment as I held Gemma in my lap in a van going 80 mph (yes, no car seats in China, its ridiculous) while also holding a bag for Evan to puke in. THANK GOD we were able to contain all puke and not ruin the kind driver's beautiful van. 1.5 hours in, we found out that the rules for entry into Hong Kong had changed as well, which now required to us to exit the van, go inside to go through a passport checkpoint, and come back out to get back in the van, which something all the kids were thrilled to do :) There was a bit of a wait and some nervousness from me as the China/Hong Kong officials felt the need to look up both Ben and Evan's Chinese names to confirm something or other, though they both held US passports. It was also a little disconcerting to leave ALL YOUR BELONGINGS on a van with a stranger who says, "I will meet you on the other side." But he was there :)
We made it HK in under 2.5 hours and had 2 hours to board which ended up being perfect as it gave everyone a chance to sit and eat breakfast before, you know, that awesome plane ride. Your heart skips a beat when you step on to a plane knowing you are stuck in there with your 3 kids for the next 13.5 hours.
And the first 10 hours went pretty good. Gemma was antsy but not fussy, so she and I walked the plane a million times and Tom and the boys played games and watched movies. With 6 hours left we decided to try to get everyone to sleep. And it worked. For about an hour. Gemma woke up screaming and I put her in the carrier until she fell asleep, then sat down wearing her. Shortly after Evan woke up in some kind of night terror kicking his feet angrily and hitting Tom as To tried to comfort him. I managed to get Gemma out of the carrier and on the airplane seat without waking her and I was able to calm Evan by holding him in my lap - until Gemma woke up a few minutes later. I had super mom to 3 kids moment #2 as I ended up in an airplane seat with Evan, Gemma and suddenly Ben too surrounding me for some mom love. The last 2 hours ticked by, primarily because Evan continued from that point out to be a bit of a caged animal (due to being soo overtired) and Gemma fussy as could be.
One of the other adoptive families from our group was on our flight, and we met up again to go through immigration together. We handed immigration the sealed brown envelope we had received from the US Consulate, just like we had two times before. They then took both of our families into the immigration office to complete some final documents and we were free!!!! Gemma was a US citizen and we were one stop at baggage claim away from being with our family.
There is nothing more surreal than seeing your family waiting for you at the airport. In China you are so isolated from family, friends and all that everyday life brings, but that moment you walk out of the airport it is like a WOOSH of reality setting in.
Gemma came out holding my hand, and smiled when she saw my mom and Tom's mom, as she remembered them from FaceTime, but slowly she became shy again and was back in my arms.
She fell asleep instantly in the car. We came home to welcome home signs and balloons both outside and inside the house for all 3 kids, gifts, meals in our fridge, gift cards for meals, an instacart gift card in my email, a sparkling clean house and a nearly complete bedroom for Gemma. After 19 hours of travel and 2 homesick kids, it felt like the best welcome home “hug” from all of our precious friends and family.
We are so, so grateful.
Unfortunately, the van was SO speedy that Evan starting moaning about 15 minutes in that is stomach hurt. Ten minutes later I had my first mom-of-three moment as I held Gemma in my lap in a van going 80 mph (yes, no car seats in China, its ridiculous) while also holding a bag for Evan to puke in. THANK GOD we were able to contain all puke and not ruin the kind driver's beautiful van. 1.5 hours in, we found out that the rules for entry into Hong Kong had changed as well, which now required to us to exit the van, go inside to go through a passport checkpoint, and come back out to get back in the van, which something all the kids were thrilled to do :) There was a bit of a wait and some nervousness from me as the China/Hong Kong officials felt the need to look up both Ben and Evan's Chinese names to confirm something or other, though they both held US passports. It was also a little disconcerting to leave ALL YOUR BELONGINGS on a van with a stranger who says, "I will meet you on the other side." But he was there :)
We made it HK in under 2.5 hours and had 2 hours to board which ended up being perfect as it gave everyone a chance to sit and eat breakfast before, you know, that awesome plane ride. Your heart skips a beat when you step on to a plane knowing you are stuck in there with your 3 kids for the next 13.5 hours.
And the first 10 hours went pretty good. Gemma was antsy but not fussy, so she and I walked the plane a million times and Tom and the boys played games and watched movies. With 6 hours left we decided to try to get everyone to sleep. And it worked. For about an hour. Gemma woke up screaming and I put her in the carrier until she fell asleep, then sat down wearing her. Shortly after Evan woke up in some kind of night terror kicking his feet angrily and hitting Tom as To tried to comfort him. I managed to get Gemma out of the carrier and on the airplane seat without waking her and I was able to calm Evan by holding him in my lap - until Gemma woke up a few minutes later. I had super mom to 3 kids moment #2 as I ended up in an airplane seat with Evan, Gemma and suddenly Ben too surrounding me for some mom love. The last 2 hours ticked by, primarily because Evan continued from that point out to be a bit of a caged animal (due to being soo overtired) and Gemma fussy as could be.
One of the other adoptive families from our group was on our flight, and we met up again to go through immigration together. We handed immigration the sealed brown envelope we had received from the US Consulate, just like we had two times before. They then took both of our families into the immigration office to complete some final documents and we were free!!!! Gemma was a US citizen and we were one stop at baggage claim away from being with our family.
There is nothing more surreal than seeing your family waiting for you at the airport. In China you are so isolated from family, friends and all that everyday life brings, but that moment you walk out of the airport it is like a WOOSH of reality setting in.
Gemma came out holding my hand, and smiled when she saw my mom and Tom's mom, as she remembered them from FaceTime, but slowly she became shy again and was back in my arms.
She fell asleep instantly in the car. We came home to welcome home signs and balloons both outside and inside the house for all 3 kids, gifts, meals in our fridge, gift cards for meals, an instacart gift card in my email, a sparkling clean house and a nearly complete bedroom for Gemma. After 19 hours of travel and 2 homesick kids, it felt like the best welcome home “hug” from all of our precious friends and family.
We are so, so grateful.
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