Home At Last

My family is finally home.

I leaped out of bed at 3:00AM last Thursday morning to head to Dulles Airport in Washington D.C. to pick up Daleen and Colin from their four-week trip to visit her parents who live in South Africa. I headed out the door of our very clean and well-organized (yes, I finished cleaning and putting everything away in time) house at 3:45 and headed north. Of course, I-95 is just one big 24-hour traffic jam anymore and naturally, I got stuck in traffic as I approached Northern Virginia. However, I managed to get to the airport at 6:15. Their flight was scheduled to arrive at 6:00, so between immigration, baggage claim, and customs inspection, I thought I had plenty of time. I didn't have to wait long though. Their plane actually arrived at 5:30 and they came out shortly after I arrived. We had a great reunion. There were lots of hugs and Colin was very excited to show me his new toy excavator. There was no traffic on the ride home. Colin slept the entire trip in the car and Daleen dozed off after we talked a while. (18 hours is a LONG time to spend on a plane and anyone is wiped out after making that flight.)

We got home and promptly unpacked the suitcases. This was a lot fun where Daleen and Colin showed me all the nice stuff they brought back with them. This time those items included: an awesome curio for my sister for Christmas, mayonnaise, chutney, dried fruit, two bottles of the best wine on the face of this planet, Indian spices, books, chocolates, and household cleaner (Handy Andy - this stuff will clean anything off of anything!).

That evening, I had arranged a small surprise welcome home party. Just a few friends over for dinner. It ended up not being much of a surprise though as I was being cryptic about what we were doing for dinner, and I kept running around the house putting things away and cleaning. My doing those things automatically made her suspicious enough to ask if people were coming over, as that is not what I normally do at our house.

During our get-together that evening, I downloaded the photos from her camera and we had a little slide show. I picked a couple for your enjoyment as well. The first set are from the vacation resort Daleen and Colin stayed at with her parents. Daleen's dad absolutely loves golf so of course, Colin got to play too.

The View From Their Chalet

Grandpa Teaching Colin The Finer Points Of Golf Colin Watching His Grandpa Play With Keen Interest Colin Retrieving His Grandpa's Golf Ball (nice view eh?) Colin Saddling Up For A RideThe majority of the trip was spent at Daleen's parents house. They recently sold their farm and moved into a smaller house. Daleen said she was sad to not be going back to the house she grew up in, but the new house is very nice. She said it was close to the Tzaneen Dam, but from the photos, the dam is right across the street.

The In-Laws New House

The View Of The Tzaneen Dam From Their Driveway (banana farm off in the distance)

Since they've been home, we have been just trying to relax and reconnect. We got all of our Christmas decorations and tree up. (Colin has only managed to break one ornament so far.) Then on Saturday, we went to the Richmond Christmas Parade, which I think Colin really liked, although he said it was too cold for him, even though he had on a large insulated coat and was covered up in a large blanket. I think he's still used to being in shorts and a t-shirt. His internal clock is still off as well. Saturday morning he was up around 3:30AM. Then this morning, he woke up at 5:30. He has some more adjusting to do but he'll be fine.

We've had a great couple of days together as a family since their return. Distance certainly makes the heart grow fonder. I'm glad they had such a great trip, but I'm even more glad they're home safely. We're all getting back into the swing of things and Colin will be heading back to school on Tuesday. It is hard to have such a great family that lives so far away and going to see them is getting more and more expensive. My brother-in-law set up a Skype account when Daleen was over, and we can now use our online video/voice connection to keep up, which will help, but it's still not the same as being there.

We already had a trip to go in June and we're still going over again then. Even if Daleen just saw her folks, I still want to go and see them too and just be over there. Most of you have heard me say before that South Africa really is the most beautiful place on Earth. There is just something about the land and the people that are addictive and we still talk about moving there. That was actually the original plan when we got married. Unfortunately, the country is still in a large state of change and nobody really knows where things are going to end up. Daleen has kept her SA citizenship though, so we can at least keep that option open. In the short term, our visits will have to do. Daleen and Colin had a good trip (except for Colin getting sick), but they and I are glad they're home at last.

Oh, and by the way, Daleen was totally stunned when she walked into our newly renovated laundry room when she got home....Score!