Home is best

Wherein we manage to get home in one piece with all our bags, we eat fast-food, and we sleep in to an embarrassing hour.

We departed from the lovely beach at varying times in the afternoon. Mom, Lydia, Ava, and I were the first to go up to the pool for the last time. We splashed about for a while, before going back to the room for showers, finishing packing, and cleaning out the refrigerator (which included eating left-over ice-cream, and maui onion potato chips, among other things).

Dad and five kids left the condo at about 6 pm, making the 40ish minute drive to the airport. Mom arrived shortly after with Gabe and a few of the bags that wouldn't fit in the van. We got though security smoothly, though Gabe's carry-on needed to be double checked by security, and Lydia's ID had expired. We got dinner at Burger King, and lined up close to a window to eat. I am positive that Mom and Dad took pictures solely to document us eating junk food.

We left the runway just after 9:30 pm. Mom ruled that there would only be sleeping on this flight, but umm...Yeah, seems I can't sleep on plane unless I've been awake for close to 24 hours, so try as I might, I couldn't fall asleep. T'was a long five hours.

We landed sometime after 5 am in San Fransisco, their time. After sitting around for a bit, Mom and somebody else decide to explore breakfast options. They came back with the report of no fast-food places anywhere amidst mental groans of some, and mental rejoicings of others. Some got yogurt parfaits, Christian got a breakfast burrito, and Dad, Ava, and I got breakfast bowls.

The second flight departed after 7 am, so we hung around for a while more, before making last-minute bathroom trips, and gathering the carry-ons and getting in line. This flight was only under three hours, so I thought I'd be able to stay awake, and possibly watch a movie (Ant-man was showing!), but it turns out that you had to pay, like, $6 to watch anything. Bummer (there was a time, where you didn't have to pay, and there weren't screens on the seat in front of you). Also, Christian can testify, he was sitting next to me, (he also served as a head-rest at some point) I was way too tired to even stay awake for an hour.

We arrived safely at the airport around 1ish pm yesterday. After collecting our baggage (we had a total of 14 bags, including carry-ons), we met Gramma, Aunt Candice, and B (our cousin) in the parking lot to begin the puzzle of getting all our bags into the back of our car. After shifting things around a bit, Dad was able to get all but one suitcase inside. Every person had their carry-on in their lap, and Christian arranged himself around his suitcase.

After a few minutes talking, Mom and Dad decided that we needed to take a trip to Jamba Juice. The others decided to join us.

We got home after 4 pm, and began that complex exercise known as unpacking 14 bags, going on a treasure hunt for all the water glasses (seems they were deposited with the cup part in one place, and the lid with the water bottles. Strange), and discovering that the hose down to the chicken coop must've been left on for much longer than it should have been.

Nana made dinner for us, and delivered it at some point. Others despaired that they wanted longer in Maui.

At some point, the TV was turned on, and Ava promptly fell asleep on the couch. The rest of us stayed up until at least 10:30 pm.

Mom left before everyone else was awake to go to Town Talk with a few friends. I think a few people might still be sleeping. I slept until about 10:45 this morning, even though I had my alarm set for 9, and I had already woken up sometime in 7. It was really nice having the covers all to myself, and not having to worry that if I put my foot a few inches one way that I'd get a swift kick, or that Lydia's nails would get racked on my forehead.

The cats are looking well. I'm glad that they didn't freak out like they did last year. The chickens are either going though a molt, or they are rather nervous, because I only got a few eggs last night, and Christian didn't get any when we went down today, and it's perfect laying conditions right now. Not too hot, nowhere near cold, the sun is rising and setting at around the same time, giving them almost 12 hours of light, and our roosters are definitely doing their job.

It's so good to be home!