Back in the USA!

Hello from Hawaii on Monday morning June 29th! We had a good finish to our stay in RMI spending our last day (also Monday June 29th!) returning the rental car, picking up Boston's VISA packet from the US Embassy (and getting yelled at by a guard for taking a picture of the outside of the embassy!), having lunch with our new American friends there, saying goodbyes to friends made at the hotel and the restaurant we ate at most often, and packing. The next two photos are of Jacob and Boston's birth families who travelled to the airport to see us off and the Joneses and Harveys who also came for the fun (and for the heads up for what happens there - for their own departures in weeks to come!)

Here we are in front of the Amata Kabua airport in Majuro - visiting before checking in. The beautiful hand made necklaces we are wearing were gifts from the birth families and also our security guard friend at the hotel. Checking in for the flight was exciting, as the airlines wanted a document I had already packed in a suitcase that had already gone through security....and they wanted me to open Boston's VISA packet that the embassy had said not to open. Then their computer went down, and so our five boarding passes had to be prepared by hand. End result - the plane was loaded and waiting for us and another passenger or two....and people were in some of our seats - just a riot. It was similar to our last flight out of RMI in 2003....you walk across the tarmack in the dark to the waiting plane - and people are calling to you from a fence outside the airport....birth families, friends - and we just waved back as we climbed the steps to the plane.

Boston did well on the flight - his first time on an airplane! He cried hard for probably 5-10 minutes after the flight attendant told Peter to buckle him into his seat. As soon as Peter picked him back up and held him - Boston fell asleep and slept the entire 5 hours until we were off the plane in Hawaii. Below are two pictures of our newest USA citizen, plus a tired Peter, Hannah and Jacob as we waited for the rest of the passengers to be processed before Boston's immigrant VISA was processed. Boston also had his first escalator and elevator rides in the airport this morning after immigration. This morning as he looked out the 11th floor hotel room window - we realized he's never seen mountains, tall buildings, cars going fast, etc. In fact as we walked off the plane this morning to the customs/border area - two Marshallese women in front of us were stopped in their tracks. They had never been on an escalator before (we figured out) and were standing there not sure what to do, as the line of people formed behind them. The pilots were behind the ladies and told them to just "jump"!


Well, I need to next get on the phone with United to sort out our flights the rest of the way home. We have been in Hawaii about 8 hours and spent about 2 hours in the airport processing and getting to the hotel. Jacob is still sleeping, but the rest of us slept about 4 - 5 hours. Once we find out when we are leaving here later today - we'll see what else we can do while in Hawaii for the day.

The time change will be messing us up for awhile. We left RMI on the evening of Monday June 29th, and flew through the night and arrived in Honolulu at 2:30am on the morning of Monday June 29th! It's going to be our day that is two days long!

I'll post again when we get home and settled. Bye for now - so great to be back in the states! Love, Lois