The airport was very humid and warm, but we were all dressed in pants and carrying jackets because it was going to be chilly when we made it home. When we got to our gate we were on the bottom floor of the airport--ground level. When it was boarding time, we had to all board a bus first and then we were driven out to the airplane and had to board going up the steps outside. The first flight was about 3 hours long and I sat with Heidi and Olivia in our row of four and Brian sat a dozen rows ahead of us in another seat. This plane was really crowded, but the seats were a decent size and each seat had a TV screen with programs in both English and Chinese to choose from so the girls stayed entertained for the most part. We had packed a set of headphones for Heidi to use, but she didn't really like them on her ears for too long so she mainly just watched her screen in silence.
At the Beijing airport we had almost a 4 hour layover but because we were switching from China Air to American Airlines, we had to exit through the arrivals section , get a new boarding pass and go back through security. When we came through Beijing on our way to China, we knew that once you made it past security there were only two restaurants to choose from on that side--a KFC and a noodle house. We decided to eat first before going through security because they had a few more options. We ate at Pizza Hut and ordered one regular pepperoni pizza and a side of spaghetti per Olivia's request. The regular size pizza was about a 12" pizza with small slices so we were glad we had the spaghetti on the side.
The flight from Beijing to Dallas was just over 12 hours long, but luckily unlike the plane ride to China, this flight was not full. We paid a little extra to get the very last two rows in the back of the plane which were rows of two. Every other row had seats of three on one side, three in the middle and three on the other side. We had extra room up against our window seats where we could actually stand or walk from one row to the other there which gave us a little more room to spread out. This flight was also uneventful and both girls did well--they watched TV, ate snacks and slept.
At the Dallas airport we had to make it through both immigration for Heidi and then customs too, but again we had a longer layover of 5 hours here. Once we made it through immigration and customs we had dinner at TGI Friday. I asked if they had any sweet tea and was so excited when they said YES! I did have a lot of tea while in China, but their "sweet" tea was really just a glass of room temperature tea that came with a small container of this clear syrup you could pour into your tea to sweeten it. It just wasn't the same.
After leaving our hotel in China early Thursday morning (which would have been around 5:15 PM Wednesday evening Alabama time), we finally made it home to Birmingham at 11:45 PM Thursday evening (or 1:45 PM Friday afternoon China time). By the time we arrived home, everyone was wide awake because even after all the traveling we were still on China time. We finally all went to bed sometime before 2 AM and slept until almost 2 PM!
Now that we have been home for a couple days, we are all back on Alabama time and Heidi is adjusting really well. She was not a huge fan of the dog the first day, but they are slowly becoming friends.
Olivia and Heidi share a bedroom and have a set of bunk beds. The first night they slept together in the bottom bunk, but Heidi woke up several hours later and made it to the living room where she began crying because she was lost. We have been introducing her to our house a little at a time so we don't overwhelm her too much at once. She loves the kitchen in the playroom and like to "cook". She rode around in the dune buggy with Olivia for a little while out front the other day, but she wanted to drive and since she can't do that yet she liked pushing an empty play stroller around instead. We have a trampoline in the backyard we haven't played on yet and she still has a scooter and tricycle to check out too.
We plan on keeping it pretty low key around here for the next few weeks to let her get used to everything and to realize that this is home. She has been with us for a week in one hotel in Nanning and then we packed up and spent almost another week at another hotel in Guangzhou so it may take a little time for her to understand that this is permanent.
The night before last, Brian found Olivia and Heidi wide awake with their bedroom light on at 3 AM playing in their room. Olivia told Brian when he walked in and "caught" them that she is so glad she has a sister! :)
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