Thursday, July 23

Hello All!!

Just thought I would let everyone that Brenna and I made it to the US yesterday with no issues. She was an angel on the plane for me (just normal impatience on the long flight - who could blame her!). We landed about 30 minutes early which I was very thankful for - I was getting more antsy than she was by that point! Our plane was an older one so it didn't have the individual headsets on the seats (so that you can pick your own movies) - thank goodness we brought the itouch - what a great little device!!! The only downside to it was we couldn't hear with just the speakers on it - the plane was really loud where we sat (we were the 3rd row from the back - but it made it easy to get Brenna in and out of the bathroom). After about an hour of use, the itouch gave us a battery warning (only 20% left...) - not sure why that happened as we had made sure it was fully charged before leaving. Thank goodness we bought the additional battery back-up :-) Brenna enjoyed her coloring books (especially all her new crayons and colored pencils), putting on her stickers, and changing activities frequently. I think we were well prepared - she fell asleep for about 1 1/2 hours on my lap so that helped take up some additional time. Her only "crying" was more of a whimper (thank goodness) - and that was just on waking up and on landing (and on landing only because she could hear someone's baby crying). I think all the kids did well on the plane - I only heard any crying about 30 minutes before landing for anyone - so other than the massive amount of turbulence we had in the air (some people even clapped when we finally landed - so happy to be on the ground) it was a very quiet flight. Brenna only managed to hit the call button for the flight attendant once and that was when we were getting situated in our seats.

We landed about 30 minutes early and it was the same time as a flight that came in from Paris so Customs was packed. Brenna did well waiting in line - she was tired and shy with anyone who talked to her, but she couldn't wait to get out of the airport and find Gammy and Papa. We had another mother and her son in line behind us (he was 5 and he kept us entertained and talking) who were also living in Germany (although for much longer - they have been there for 2 1/2 years). The downsides to Cincinnati airport was that you have to go through two baggage claims when you fly international (you have to claim before going through customs and then you have to send it on the "local" conveyor to claim again in Terminal 3) and you have to go through security again so that you can leave the airport (crazy - Brenna didn't have to take her shoes off in Frankfurt (where I was more prepared for that possibility) but she did in Cincinnati to just leave the airport!!). Brenna did great helping me pull the suitcases where I needed to and she loved riding on the escalators and moving sidewalks - we really moved through that airport to leave!!

Brenna also did great with the bathrooms all day yesterday. Her only complaint with the airplane was that the flushing was too loud on the toilet (it was pretty loud), but luckily there was a delay so we could just flush when we were leaving the bathroom. My parents got to experience her frequent stopping for the bathroom on the way to there house (we think she stopped to go 4 times, but she did go each time!). She likes to stop even more when she is tired (and who can blame her for wanting to get out of the car so she doesn't fall asleep). About 1 1/2 from my parent's house she fell asleep which is really good considering the amount of nap time she had (I think I was dragging more than she was - and I think she was in a more chipper mood too!). We woke up around 4:30 this morning, so adjusting to Ohio time will take some time, but I'm sure she will need a nap today.

Well, I think that about covers our journey yesterday! Take Care!