Home.

It's over. I'm home.

When I stepped my foot in the door, it was like it had been ages since I'd been here. It felt wonderful. My house was cleaned from top to bottom by my wonderful hubs and he had picked up my darling Ashlyn from Oma and Opa's already that morning.

I was able to come in, plop down, pick through my suitcase and give little presents to the babes. I sat and re-collected the trips events to Dwight and told him how Gabe was SUCH a good little man, I couldn't have been more proud.

It all started on the plane ride there...he was so calm, the ride lasted an hour and 45 minutes and he was soo good. He drew, he chatted, he ate and went pee and for the rest he sat quietly anticipating the moment when he would see his little cousin Jada.

We were a little late getting flying, as the plane we were initially intended to take was pulled off the airport pad for mechanical problems. Hmmm, glad they discovered that BEFORE we got in the air. Then came the boarding call. The little man and I made our way to the plane, which I was expecting to be similar to a jet I had flown to the Dominican Republic when I was in highschool. Not so. This was a VERY small plane, probably one up from a prop plane, and there was only room enough for approx. 30 people. Gabe and I found our seats and waited. Then we heard the pilot come on and say, 'sorry for the delay, we have found some damage in the cargo area and are repairing it, before take-off'. Wellll, shoot...I was done, I could have cried if it wasn't for the fact that I had a brave little 2 year old sitting beside me, who was watching my face for any sign of fear. Before I could freak out and wave down the stewardess asking for valium, we were making our way downt the run-way. Whhhhhooooooossssshhhhh......we were up...then came the part where the plane cranks it's way around, heading for North Carolina, ...I nearly vomitted through my nose, I held on tight, closed my eyes and was preparing the barf bag.

Once the plane rose to its altitude and stopped turning, I was able to open my eyes and see the clouds below us. For the next hour, Gabe and I drew tractors, talked about Jada and ate bits n' bites.

Once we landed (quite smoothly I might add) I ran off the plane and kissed the ground, vowing to never rise higher than I can jump. ever again. ...Okay so I didn't kiss the ground, but the vow still stands! We found Aunt Alison, Jada, Mom (in-law) and Uncle Burt. Gabe ran to Jada and they spread their arms and gave eachother a big hug....SOooo cute :)

The rest of our stay in North carolina was wonderful, we saw alot of the state when we drove to the ocean one day (2.5 hours away) and got to walk along the shore and pick up seashells, it was a beautiful 24 degrees C out and it was warm wnough to wear a t-shirt and pants....Just beautiful.

We spent time shopping, meeting friends and neighbours of Burt and Alison, snuggling with baby Zachariah, going out for dinners, and just catching up. Gabe and Jada were like 2 peas in a pod, copying each other, playing together, and acting like hooligans.

The journey home was lovely, through the moutains of Virginia. I say lovely because the landscape is so beautiful and the mountains are quite majestic, but man oh man I was SO glad my mother in law was driving. I'm scared of heights and many of the roads were without guard rails and had a significant drop beside them....it was sick, I found myself closing my eyes many a time, and my knuckles were white from gripping the door handle so tightly. It was about a 14 hour drive, with Gabe needing to stop nearly every hour for the washroom or food, making it about 16.5 hours total, and we spent 1 night in a hotel.

Well...there's the short version of our trip, I'll post more detailed stories later, once I've caught up on the laundry..and get to know my daughter again...We were apart too long, and I was so at home again with her in my arms.