Both of us were up earlier than we expected and I am sure it was because we had a flight to catch. We quietly got ready as Blaize wants to eat as soon as he gets up and we are saving food we have in the room for the long flight home. We did the final packing and got him up and moving and walked to the airport which the hotel is directly connected to. We dropped our bags and went through customs in about 30 minutes - nice and easy! While waiting to check in, one of the other passengers mentioned that the Newark flight had been pushed back 10 hours! Yikes! I’m glad we didn’t pick that one and also prayed that the Chicago flight was going to go on time and as scheduled.
We had a few hours to kill before boarding so headed to the United Club. We found a nice table and enjoyed a really good breakfast and kept Blaize happy until it was time to go. We boarded the flight and 15 hours later we were landing in Chicago. The flight was (thankfully) uneventful and Blaize did awesome. He cried a little bit and wanted to play instead of sleep at times but considering this is his 2nd flight and a very long one at that, he rocked it. Neither Julie or I got much sleep, and I keep telling myself that it will only help with starting the readjustment process to get back on our time zone.
Blaize officially becomes a citizen at his first port of entry and once we pulled out our brown envelope the customs staff sent us to a line for special handling. We turned the precious packet over and sort of cringed when the agent opened it up, but considering he is authorized to do it, that’s ok. They really hammer the fact that we are to not open it so seeing it opened was sort of a big deal. We got our bags and re-checked them and had to ride a bus to transfer between the terminals. Seems a common theme on this trip as we had a similar experience in Beijing though this was was arguably smoother. We took the bus to Terminal 1, breezed through security and hung out in the United Club where we found a quiet corner to spend a few hours.
We drank plenty of coffee, ate some food, both good and bad for us and in general tried to stay awake. Blaize enjoyed looking out the window and onto the concourse below us, bustling with people. An older couple at behind us and we were cracking up at their conversation. It was like Archie Bunker in reverse with the lady in the couple delivering the beat down. Their corgi was cute and well behaved though Blaize was afraid of it. The time finally came to catch out flight so we headed to the gate and arrived just in time to board. Blaize was doing well on the flight until it was time to push back where he cried until we were up in the air. Considering the long day we’ve had, it was completely understandable. He eventually fell asleep and both Julie and I dozed off on the short flight.
We landed, got our bags and loaded into the car. My sister and brother in law had dropped our car off in the short term parking a few hours earlier so we didn’t have to wait for anyone and could roll ASAP. That was a huge help! This was Blaize’s first ride in a car seat and he was good for a bit but started to cry on the way home and kept going until we pulled into the driveway. I carried him into the house and he met the rest of his siblings who had been eagerly waiting to love on him. We stayed up for another hour and half and hit the hay hard, happy to be home and in our own beds.
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