Trip back to America

The day following the zoo, Jon and Eli went to a place called the Funarium. It was the Thai version of Discovery Zone. They both had a really great time. I was still sick... Jon also went to pick up Eli's visa from the US Embassy while I was back with a napping Eli. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures this day or the next. I was out of commission and Jon had his hands full. We did however get Eli's paperwork and were set for travel!

Finally, I was so ready to get home. Our travel home began at 2:30 am on Tuesday Thai time. We got up, got dressed and checked out of Pantip Suites. The ride to the airport was 30-40 minutes. We made it just in time to board our 5:40 am departing plane for Tokyo. We had 3 bags checked in, 1 carry-on and 2 backpacks. I made the mistake of taking a duffel bag as the carry-on instead of the bag with wheels. We had really far walks in the airports to get to our gates and my stomach cramps were still a big problem, the duffel bag was heavy and it hurt my stomach to walk. Jon had his hands full with Eli. The first flight was 6 hours long. Eli did very well, he slept on Jon most of the flight. He refused to sit with me the entire trip, but as long as he had Jon he was quiet and well behaved. We just made it to our next flight in Tokyo, it was a good thing we had Eli because we got through the priority line with a small child. The flight from Tokyo to JFK in NY was 13 hours long. I think I complained more than Eli did. I was bummed I couldn't eat my vegetarian airplane food. It looked pretty good, but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to  keep it down. Jon was not able to sleep the whole trip. He has trouble sleeping on planes and he had to hold Eli the whole time. By the time we got to NY we were both in a sorry state but Eli was in a pretty good mood. My parents and brother Jacob met us at the airport. We went to a restaurant at JFK, it was the first meal I ate in 3 days. Eli was still a happy camper at that point. We were in NY for 5-6 hours for our layover. The next and final flight was late. By that point Eli was getting a little cranky, and we had no sense of time or clue what day it was. We eventually made it to Buffalo, and to our hotel for the night. The following day we put Eli in his brand new car seat and drove home. We were not sure how he would react to the car seat since in Thailand kids are just held in cars or on motorcycles. He was fine and fell asleep. He is such a layed back kid. Here in Jon and Eli entering our new house for the first time. 

We took Eli to his room. He is usually very shy and hestitant in new environments, but he immediatly started rolling around on his floor and smilling. Then he noticed the ceiling fan. He couldnt believe the ceiling fan. He kept pointing to it and making his surprise face.

He then began playing with some toys. He seemed really comfortable very quickly.