We’re back and still decompressing. I guess I should say I’m still decompressing. The flight back wasn’t bad at all. The boys threw a tantrum at the Honolulu airport, but once we got on the plane, they settled in and were fine. The flight to San Fran was so easy. Geez. They slept for about 2-3 hours of the 5 hour flight. I was worried a little bit because I had less than an hour to get to the connecting flight in San Fran. Luckily, some nice strangers felt bad for me and helped me to the bus that took me to the international terminal. The boys were quiet the whole time I was stressing about getting on the bus. We got to our flight with time to spare(!) and almost got the bulkhead row. I was going to take it (the flight was empty) but then this couple with two small babies wanted it, so I gave it to them so that they could use the bassinet thingy.

The boys did great on the long flight (10+ hours) and they were happy to sit in their seats but even happier to get to go to the bathroom for a diaper change. Elijah loved getting up on the changing table and looking at himself. He has a great “I-know-I-shouldn’t-enjoy-looking-at-myself-but-I-do” smile. I did the thing that Michael told me to do which was tuck his shirt in and say “WOW!” and make like he’s being presented. Kind of weird, but he loved it. We had a snotty kid sit in front of us and at one point was taking all of the boys’ toys and trying to eat their snacks. We watched some teletubbies, but only maybe an hour per flight. I was kind of bummed because I slept through them passing out the breakfast trays and was peeved that they didn’t wake me up. Oh well, we had lots of snacks and stuff to munch on.

When we finally arrived in Munich, I had a porter help me with my bags. I wanted him to only carry one of the car seats since I am being charged per piece. But he insisted that I have all my bags on and I told him that I only had 5 euros. He said “your husband will have more”. Uhhh, ok. Turns out, it was totally worth it. Not only did I have a load off, I was able to zip through passport control (I went to a special area), and then my bags arrived within a minute, then we zipped on out. Totally worth the 10 euros. Michael was there and we were all so happy to see him again! We fit everything in the car and came home. The timing was perfect, it was around bedtime for the boys. They slept very well in their new beds. They got back to a normal sleep schedule right away. I, on the other hand, am still dealing with odd sleeping hours, but that’s kind of normal for me.

Life is pretty much back to normal. It is colder than when we left, but not nearly as cold as I thought it would be. We’ve been going to the bakery everyday and getting our pretzels and pastries (yum!). Food is much simpler, less tv is being watched, more exercise is being had. I think the boys are wondering where all the people are though.

Friday morning we had a music class, this one is a little different than the other one. I was still hoping for more instrument playing, but alas, it was a sing-a-long kind of class again. Much to my surprise though, the boys did a lot of the movements! Usually they ignore them and run around, but this time they still ran around but stopped sometimes and participated! What a shock! Elijah is really into copying now, so it’s so exciting to see him having fun doing that. Rowan is more interested in running around still but sometimes will stop. It’s too bad that they are in the class together, I really feel they would do more if they were separated, since they encourage each other to do their own thing. Maybe it will get better, we’ll see. Elijah really liked the song “A Ram Sam Sam“, which is a Morrocan song that is sung in rounds.

We bought the boys a “Holzlaufrad”, which is a wooden bike that doesn’t have pedals. Rowan is intent on figuring out how it works, he won’t allow us to hold it for him while he rides. Very determined! They are still a little too short for it, but in a couple of months, I think we won’t be able to get them of of it!

We’ve recently got hooked into watching Depsperate Housewives. It’s a really great show, written very well. I just really hate the title.