Houston, here we come!

My mom didn't travel all the way to Busan a second time this year just for kicks.  She came with a purpose: to be my sky nanny on our trip back home to the U.S. (thanks again, Mom!).  My husband has to work for a couple more weeks in Korea before he'll join us (boooo!), and because I couldn't fly successfully with two toddlers for that amount of time by myself, I recruited my mom to accompany me on the trip home.  :)

We left Busan, South Korea on a Monday afternoon and made the two hour flight to Tokyo, Japan.  Instead of hopping on the next flight out to the U.S. the same day (we did that coming to Busan and let's just say it didn't end well), we stayed in a hotel for the night in Tokyo before heading out again the next morning. 

leaving our condo headed for the airport

Don't let my smile fool you.  I was not happy about having to take the boys' car seats out of the car to drive to the airport.  Although allowing children to roam all over the car and sit in your lap, even in the front seat, is seen every single day in Busan (in fact, I've never seen one car seat in a car here), going without car seats is not something I'm comfortable with.  The only reason we did it this time was because there was no way to fit all of our luggage and 5 people in the car with the car seats.

making a pit stop at McDonald's on the way to the airport -- I needed the boys to eat and we all know that airplane food stinks!

Daddy getting some lovin' time in with Bug

I kid you not, he actually fell asleep with a nugget in each hand.  I couldn't have posed him better if I tried.

This is a newlywed's car at the airport.  This is common decoration here for newlyweds.

 

filling out immigration/customs forms

Daddy telling his boys see you later

:(   I miss you, babe.

On the plane to Tokyo from Busan

The man next to Parker was so nice.  He didn't mind that Parker kept trying to push his buttons on his remote control or rest his foot on the side of his leg.  I know you'll never see this, but thank you, Nice Man.  :)

a toilet option at the Tokyo airport... They also had a stall with a regular toilet, but Connar chose this one.

at our hotel in Tokyo waiting for me to check in

P fell asleep on the shuttle bus (15 minutes from the airport to the hotel)....Thank God!  That poor baby was pooped!

We let him sleep for a little bit before waking him up.  Talk about a fussy pot when we did, though.

figuring out what we're going to order from room service

C talking to his daddy

The stewardess on Japan Airlines gave Parker this bib as a present for flying with them.  :)  I talked C into wearing it for a picture.  He was thrilled, as you can clearly see.  :)

Check Parker out in the back passed out still and me repacking all the toys/games I brought for the plane that C had just fumbled through.

The room service wasn't too bad.  Yay!

We watched Curious George and Wonder Pets while we ate.

We found these Japanese robes in a drawer.  I tried convincing the boys to try them on, but C got as far away from me as he could and it wasn't long before P threw himself on the bed to get away from me.

Fine then.  Since they wouldn't indulge us in trying the robes on, we did it ourselves.  :)  Hee hee!  If only you could've been a fly on the wall.  The giggling was out. of. control.  Don't even ask what we're doing.  It was all silliness and scrambling to do whatever we could think of before the automatic timer went off the next time. 

This cracks me up with C mocking us in the background!

He didn't want to try it on himself, but he was sure up for riding me like a horse! Hilarious!

Mom mocking C.  Oh my gosh.....We were rolling on the floor laughing so hard!!!!

The flight from Tokyo to Dallas, Texas on Tuesday was just shy of 11 hours.  The airline we flew does not fly direct from Tokyo to Houston (ugh!), so Dallas was a pit stop.  We didn't want to sit in the Dallas airport for a 4 hour layover after the 11 hour flight that day and the traveling we had already done the day before, so we had my step-dad, Wayne, and brother, DJ, pick us up from the Dallas airport and drive us home (Thanks again, guys!  Talk about lifesavers!).  We slept almost the entire drive back to Houston, which was fantastic.  I was hoping that's what the boys would do because I knew I had to keep them awake until bed time once we got to Houston that afternoon in hopes that they would crash and sleep through the night (in an effort to get them back on a normal sleep/wake schedule according to Houston time...South Korea is 15 hours ahead of Houston!).

hanging out on the shuttle from the hotel back to the airport

Oh my, please don't start our looooooong day like this.

Look!  They drive on the opposite side of the road from us in the U.S. (and Busan for that matter).

hanging out in the business/first class lounge prior to our flight, waiting to catch a glimpse of a plane backing up for take off

Thank you, Eric E., for upgrading our seats!  I know we've never met in person, but I owe you a huge hug!  Business was amazing with these two little guys in tow!!!

hanging out on the floor -- Why not???

They weren't interested in breakfast from room service that morning, so I was glad to get some juice, crackers, and a banana in them before the flight.

C was out right at the beginning of the flight for 2 hours.  Yay!

P slept for 3 1/2 hours!!!!!!  Yeah, you read that right!  :)

enjoying some ice cream

enjoying a candy bar -- I guess that's what happens when you sit next to your GrammE  ;)  Really, though, we were trying to get them to eat and eat so they wouldn't be cranky from hunger.  This boy ate all kinds of snacks to keep full.

Our welcoming committee!  (after standing in the immigration line for AN HOUR because there were only 3 lanes open! Ridiculous for all those people, DFW!)

C fell asleep in the immigration line, because it was past midnight in Korea at that point and his little body was sleeping when it was used to sleeping.  Too bad P's little body hadn't done the same yet.

Man, hugging my brother for the first time in nearly 6 months was so emotional.  Getting a real, big, genuine hug from a family member was so needed at this point.

P not giving DJ the time of day because he's in a phase where he only wants his mommy.

"Seriously, guys?!  Seated again?!"  He was moved from the plane for 11 hours, to a stroller for over an hour, and then to a car for the next 4-5 hours.  I felt your pain, P.

My sister, Kelsie, and my brother Ryan's girlfriend, Kaylon, welcomed us with these signs as we pulled up to our street in the neighborhood.  AMAZING!!!!  This was the perfect ending to the longest day.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for surprising us!

My sister lives in Corpus so she rented a car to make sure she was there to surprise us when we got home.  I'd say that's an awesome sister, wouldn't you?!  Muah, Rose!  xoxoxoxoxo

 

told you I'm the only person he wants

Nancy & Jim are Talton & my American Korean names....inside joke

He was so excited to be in his playroom again that he pulled those toys out one by one and hoarded them.

showing PaJ how to pick a lemon from GrammE's tree in the backyard

C & P's friends, Kate & Aaron, who live across the street from my mom came over to surprise them!  They were over the moon!  Parker, who doesn't want anyone to touch him or look at him, even squealed with delight and ran to Kate.  :)

This is so funny to me!  P is checking out Kate's face up close and personal.  :)

The both spent time outside playing.  Since they'd been cooped up for so long, this was a blast for them!

 

My wonderful uncle and aunt, Rusty & Marjory, who were at my mom's to surprise us upon our arrival too.  Thank you for that and also for the specially made deviled eggs.  Yum!

first meal back home: MEXICAN, of course!!!!!!

This is what dog tired looks like.  I had to bounce him to keep him from running away while we waited on our check, and all I wanted to do was close my eyes and sleep right there on the restaurant floor.

Talk about tired when we got home.  We were in bed by 8 pm.  Too bad the boys woke up at 2:45 am and thought it was play time.  I did not give in though.  I made them stay in the room with me and tried to convince them it was still night night time for a couple hours.  It finally worked and we slept again until after 10 am.  What a day!