Hmmm....Where do I begin? Honestly, I wasn't overly excited about going back to America for Christmas. I guess all of the holiday shopping got in my way of being excited. However, when I started packing and thinking of everyone I would get to see, I got SO excited about our trip!!! I was like a kid on Christmas Eve!
Here's how our travels went...
We left our apartment in Fukuoka at 11:15am on Friday, December 18, 2009 and headed to the airport with our huge suitcases on the subway. We boarded on our 1:15pm JAL flight to Tokyo on time and had a smooth 1 hour, 40 minute flight. Enjoyed drinking Yuzu (a Japanese citrus drink) on the plane. We enjoyed lunch and a little shopping in the Tokyo airport and then endured our 4 hour, 10 minute layover in a peaceful, quiet terminal with classical music playing in the background. Guess that was the calm before the storm! Boarded our 7:05pm American Airlines flight on time. The flight to Chicago was smooth but LONG (11 hours, 30 minutes)...even scored 2 small wine bottles for the price of one! We (especially me) were SO excited to be back home in America! Tired but our adrenaline kept us going knowing that we just had a 3 hour layover and a 2 hour flight before being snowed in with family and friends! Got thru customs with no problems, (except for the shock of them throwing our suitcases and listening to Chicago police yell...) checked our luggage thru to Richmond, and started heading to our gate. That's when the storm literally began! Looked at the board and it said our flight was CANCELLED!!! It had just started snowing in Richmond. Why would this cancel our flight? UGH! Headed to the ticket counter hopeful that we could still get to Richmond that night. Everything was cancelled to Richmond for that night and the next day out of Chicago so they rerouted us to St. Louis that night. What was supposed to be a 3 hour layover turned into a 5 hour, 20 minute layover. I spent most of this time angry, upset, crying, etc. I wanted to be HOME!!! Boarded our 8:55pm flight to St. Louis. The 1 hour, 25 minute flight went smoothly. Arrived at Crowne Plaza Hotel shortly after 11pm and finally went to bed around 1am after talking to family and online to friends. Due to jet lag, Tim woke up at 4am and I woke up at 5am...guess our bodies were just ready for a short afternoon nap in Japan!
So, Day 2 (Saturday) of travel began! Headed to the St. Louis airport knowing that our flight was on time but had the possibility of being cancelled due to the snow. All looked fine...went thru security, got to the gate, grabbed some breakfast, came back to find out our flight was CANCELLED AGAIN!!! Called to rebook and the next flight to Richmond was Sunday (the next day) night at 6:15PM!!! I was getting furious! I asked if we could fly to Norfolk or Greensboro or Charlotte...or ANYWHERE nearby! If not, I was going to fly to Hawaii!!! The lady said there was ONE seat on the flight to Norfolk. I told her to put ME on it...didn't even ask Tim. I know...I'm such a mean wife!!! At this point I was going to do ANYTHING to get home the same day! Booked Tim on the same flight as standby. He ended up booking a seat on a flight to Raleigh/Durham that left 20 minutes before me so I booked standby on his flight. Unfortunately, there was one seat available and one person in front of me in line so I didn't get on his flight. My flight ended up having several empty seats which made us both mad! I did score Priority Seating...sounded great but only meant that I could board first (after military). Tim safely got to Raleigh/Durham and rented a car and drove to Richmond. I safely landed in Norfolk and was met by my father-in-law, who lives in nearby Virginia Beach. It was only raining in Norfolk so I was planning on renting a car. Bob, my father-in-law, suggested that I not travel to Richmond because the conditions were too bad. As much as I love him and appreciated his concern, I REALLY wanted to be home in Richmond. I forgot to mention that Tim had our cash and credit cards so I called my mom who I knew would help me rent a car. Instead, she answered by saying that my cousin, Trey who lives in nearby Portsmouth, was bored and wanted to drive me to Richmond in his 4WD! I was thrilled!!! Bob kindly waited with me at the airport until Trey got there. Meanwhile, Mom and Bill were digging out to drive to meet us halfway. Trey and I had a GREAT time chatting and catching up on life. There was NO snow until around Williamsburg so I wondered what all the hype was about. We met Mom and Bill in New Kent and there was finally plenty of snow. The highways and main roads were fine, though! I FINALLY made it to Richmond 40+ hours after leaving Japan!!!!! Tim arrived safely a few hours later!!! FINALLY, we made it HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!!! YIPPEE!!! Our luggage, however, did not arrive for a few days...
The foot of snow from Winter Storm #1 (of many to come) and Atticus greeted us with lots of love. Our adrenaline kept us going for quite some time. Tim tried to watch some football that evening but made it thru a few plays before passing out. I forced myself to stay up a little later. We tried to stay up late (meaning 11pm) and take NO naps (usually didn't happen) so that we could sleep in daily. We finally were able to sleep 'til a whopping 8am on the last day before heading back! Ah, the joys of jet lag!
Yes, we went thru hell to get home and started our vacation a few days late, but once we were there, it was worth every bit of the hassle!!! Hate that we had to cancel plans with Jane, Lucie, and Gray and brunch with Sanjay and Ivanna!!! The snow was beautiful and didn't cancel any other plans, thankfully!
We were busy, busy, busy during our short trip home. When we weren't visiting with friends and family, we spent time at Mom's and Bill's lounging and chatting with them. LOVE Hotel Hefty! Thanks for your hospitality and 5 star accommodations!
We started out by being late to a Mexican dinner in honor of us being home (late getting up from an unplanned nap) at Sara's and Stephen's house! LOVED seeing everyone (Sara and Baby Girl Miller-to-be, Stephen, Lenora, Mike, Jamie and Baby Riley Jean-to-be, Derek, Stacey, Tammy, Mike, Kara, Matt, and precious Mia)! Enjoyed watching the Steelers win (sorry Mom and Bill), eating Mexican for the first time in a LONG time, rubbing prego bellies, holding Mia, and catching up on life. So much fun seeing everyone...especially my CC's! Thanks, Sara and Stephen!
After dinner, we headed to the Dean's for a sleepover! Alex was still up when we got there and greeted us at the door! LOVE that boy! We gave him the Shinkansen train toy and he played with it for a while and then lots more the next morning. After Alex went to bed, we watched a movie. Couldn't believe I actually stayed up for an ENTIRE movie! That's a first since Tim has known me! We all watched The Hangover...very funny! Thanks for your hospitality!
The next day Tim headed to The Dairy Bar to catch up with church friends over breakfast. He had a great time! Lenora and I met the FCE gang at Don Pepe for lunch. Had SO much fun catching up with Teena, Darlene, and Emily. Alex was a trooper because we talked for hours! Got the lowdown on the latest at FCE. Just like old times!!!
Tim and I met Tim's gang for dinner for more Mexican at Aztec Grill...never did get tired of Mexican! Fun to be with Alice, Ted, Kelly, Nick, Jerry, and Adam! Thanks, Adam for organizing such a fun night!!! Also, thanks for being our chaffeur! :-)
Dad and Beth returned from their luxurious Greenbriar vacation with Eric and MacKay just in time to have dinner with us at their house. We enjoyed our favorite, Kuba Kuba, takeout while catching up! YUM!
We headed to Virginia Beach to spend a few days with Tim's family. The big events were on Christmas Eve...Dope (really spelled with an umlaut over the o and pronounced duppa) at The Mansfields (old neighbors of the Hendricks) and Christmas with Bob, Lila, Tena, Nate, and Cael. Loved spending time with fam...especially the Moose, Cael! Can never get enough of our nephew!!! Wish we lived near them!
Here's an explanation about Dope from Tim...Dope is a Swedish family tradition that goes back many generations from the Midwest. The family would come together on Christmas Eve and share a light lunch with root beer, glug, and pie for dessert. It was a light lunch mainly because everything was being prepared in the kitchen for Christmas Dinner. Over the years, it evolved to include friends as well as family where each family brings a pie...yum!
Headed back to Richmond on Christmas Eve night to spend the night at Dad's and Beth's house. Tristan, Pam, and Rebecca also joined us (and Reebs' 3 dogs and Tris' 1 dog and Zoe and Pi!). Spent our first Christmas as a married couple waking up as I usually do on Christmas...at Dad's. We used to have a tradition that we could NOT go downstairs before 7am. Thankfully, we all sleep later than that now (just barely with jet lag)! We also used to all sit at the top of the stairs while Dad went downstairs to light the fire, fix hot cider/hot chocolate, and see if Santa came. He used to take way too long and we would get SO excited! We still keep the tradition of waking up there on Christmas morning...this time it was a WHITE CHRISTMAS! Started off the morning with a little Champagne while opening great presents. Always love spending time with my daddy and Beth and the rest of the gang!
Midmorning on Christmas we headed over to Mom's and Bill's. We started a new tradition this year, Christmas morning brunch with scrumptious homemade crab quiche (with TONS of lump crab meat) and Mom's famous fruit salad. YUM! Hope we keep up this tradition! Opened lots of fun presents with Mom, Bill, Reebs, and Tim after brunch. Later, the Hefty kiddos came over to exchange gifts and we hung around while they opened presents from Mom and Bill. Love having such a large family! Really loved giving gifts from Japan this year!!! Fun times at the Hefty household!
Back to Dad's and Beth's for Christmas dinner with June, David, Jake, Sarah Coxen, Holly, and Bob, Pam, and Tris. Felt like Thanksgiving with turkey...been a while since we've eaten that! Yummy! Delicious dinner topped off with Sarah Coxen's famous desserts! The chocolate banana cream pie was the BEST! So much fun to chat with June and David about Japan!!
On the 26th, we headed to Portsmouth with Mom, Bill, and Reebs for our annual Evans' Family Christmas at Judy's! Always have so much fun seeing our extended family and eating yummy food. This year since Tim and I were married, we got to give gifts to the little ones. The hit of the night was squishy Sumo wrestlers!
After dinner, it was back to VA Beach to spend more time with The Hendricks' gang. The next morning we went to Grandma Hendricks' house to have Christmas with her and Uncle Peter/Aunt Judy. Cael and I received our home made stockings from Aunt Judy! Guess we're officially part of family! Very special!!! Enjoyed brunch as a family after opening gifts. Spent the afternoon with Cael and the family before going back to Richmond.
Ate dinner at our favorite Mexican spot, Cielito Lindo, when we got back. Nope, never did get tired of Mexican!!!
Spent our last day in Richmond shopping with mom and using our Christmas giftcards! Got 5 pairs of shoes, jeans, and lots of other goodies from REI, etc. LOVE spending time with my mom!!! Had a fabulous dinner of scallops with Mom, Bill, Reebs, and Jamie. Great way to end a fast, furious, but fun trip home for the holidays!
On our way back to Japan, we flew 3 hours to Dallas/Fort Worth, short layover, 14 hours to Tokyo, 5 hour layover, and 2 hours to Fukuoka. LONGER flights, but THANKFULLY uneventful on the way back!!!
We love and miss everyone bunches!!! Come visit us especially since we will not be home for the holidays in 2010. We'll be in...THAILAND!!!
Here are all 500+ pics from all of our different events and Christmas'...
I'm really mad because I wanted to download them into different folders so the batch wouldn't be so large and so I could separate each event. Picasa wouldn't let me. UGH! Oh, well! Sorry!
No comments:
Post a Comment