March 14 - The Beginning of the Trip Home

He woke up very happy this morning (so did we!) and we played soccer in the room before going up to breakfast. For some reason, breakfast tasted great this morning, even the corn flex. Gee, I wonder why?

We went down to settle the bill after we ate and I managed to also get an email sent out before the power went out (again) but...not to the YG. So my other adopting friends don't know we managed to get our VISAs and leave. I'll try to call them from the airport, or to send an email before we leave if the power comes back up.

This morning we went out with Robel and bought coffee - 20 lbs of it. It only cost around $50 for that much and now we just have to hope the airports don't think we're smuggling or something! Ha. Our clothes are going to smell soooooo good when we get home. We also bought some last minute must-haves - Rasta caps for the kids, some scarves, and two amharic CDs of popular music, one male singer and one female. Robel picked them out for us and they're very good! I also got two small coffee pots for the kids' rooms and I hope they don't break on the way home.

We had lunch at the Lucy Bar by the National Museum. Here's the menu:

It's a paper cutout of the australopithicus skeleton and I thought it was so cool! I got Sintayehu pasta and kebabs for myself, but he was far more interested in mine, so we shared mine and then I munched a little on his. That's been happening a lot lately...and I'm fine with it.

We went back to the hotel and said a sad goodbye to Robel before taking showers and giving Sintayehu a nice bath. Might as well get clean before we spend two days on a plane, right? It was nice to finish packing, but quite sad to leave. We've grown to like this hotel quite a bit.

Headed to the airport at 4:00 PM and customs wasn't bad at all. We got to the gate two hours before our plane was set to leave, but that was all right. We had to deal with a few tantrums, but since he didn't take a nap, that was understandable. Marc walked him around for awhile and they looked at planes.

He took about an hour to fall asleep on the first flight and I slept a little, too, though not much. They gave us the cutest little backpack for him - it had a puppet, a book (Dr. Seuss!), a funny little stuffed thing you could dress up as an eagle, and an eyemask, just in case. He really liked it. Well, for an hour anyway, then he was sleeping.

He woke up during the layover in Dubai, unfortunately, since it was almost 2 in the morning. Our plane was already boarding by the time we made it to the gate. Our first flight had landed on the tarmac and we had to take a bus to the terminal, then walk to the next gate. (We ended up going through security three times before we got to our next plane....crazy!) Once we got to the gate, they waved me through and then had March wait for a minute. At least, I thought it would be a minute, so I went down to the boarding gate. They were letting the little kids on and a guy came to get me and I told him I didn't have a boarding pass (they were with Marc) so he escorted me back upstairs to get it. Marc was still being delayed, so I got my pass and got on the plane. Sintayehu proceeded to scream for about 15 minutes until Marc joined us. Something about a passport check or some such thing. Anyway, the steward had closed the bin above us so everyone would think it was empty when it had space for our bags, which was great and Sintayehu calmed down once he saw Marc.

He went back to sleep pretty quickly and slept for about six hours. Once he woke up, he played by himself with his toys and I actually managed to watch a movie (The Day the Earth Stood Still) and play with him at the same time. And then he needed a diaper change.

Okay, ladies, I know we're supposed to cover those little penises, but I totally forgot it might be loaded. I took his diaper off, turned around to throw it away, and he proceeded to pee all over the airline toilet. The wall, the sink, the counter, and the floor...I used up half their paper towels cleaning up the mess! Marc thought it was hilarious. I think it is, too, now that it's over!

He took another nap before we landed and I watched another movie "City Of Ember." Pete Juvinall is right - the ICE entertainment system is fabulous. I could choose whatever movie I wanted, play games, watch TV, and it was all just for me, I didn't have to share it with Marc or anything.

Since this flight was 12 hours, it didn't end until the next morning in New York...see the next post.