Back in the States!

That's right. We're back home! After four weeks visiting family in the Land Down Undah, we arrived home last night about 10 pm. After the 36+ hour trip to get home, we pretty much crashed. Poor Alex was beside herself with fatigue. Lets just say, the last flight home (which was thankfully only an hour and 20 minutes) was a little bit ugly. As my mother in-law would say, Alex "chucked a wobbly" (better known in the states as "throwing a tantrum"). And who could blame her? We'd been traveling about 35 hours at that point. Honestly, there were times that I just wanted to sit in the middle of the terminal and cry (or scream). I swear, air travel seems a lot more stressful now than it used to be...

Anyway-we had an amazing time! We had a lot of quality family time and we did a lot of relaxing. Rather than talk about all that we did, I'll do some pictorials of sorts (that will probably be less boring) in the next few days. There was a lot of beach time, a lot of family dinners, seeing the 'roos/koalas/snakes, bonding with my new and perfect little nephew, taking a trip to Mackay, having a stay in Brisbane....we did a lot for four weeks! It was also wonderful seeing Alex there, interacting with her Aussie side of the family. Last year, when we made this trip, she was only six months old. This year, she was jabbering away to everyone and exploring. And actually having relationships with people. It was neat to see <3

So it's nice to be home, back in our own space, on our own schedule. But I have to say that we are missing everyone in Oz like crazy. That's always the downside to this trip, having to leave and to not see most of the family (except Dan's parents, who usually come out in the winter or spring) for a year. So yes, it's nice to be home...but the house seems especially quiet without a bunch of people being around, running in and out. It will take a few days of adjustment, but we have a lot, and I mean A LOT of unpacking to do. Not to mention grocery shopping and all that fun stuff. Pictures to come!