Our return flights on Wednesday went smoothly. We went to bed in our own beds in Wichita almost 24 hours after waking up in Dublin...a long travel day! It was so fun to be met at the airport by friends! All our luggage arrived (surprisingly). We are now just waiting for all of the boxes that we shipped home to arrive (hopefully the first one will come any day now). It was quite a shock to go from Dublin where the temperature was about 60 degrees to Wichita where the temperature was 105 degrees!!
We slept well in our own beds, and then began the re-settling in process. Our wonderful house sitter was leaving for law school and finishing her final packing as we unpacked. I spent a lot of time putting things back where I wanted them (pots and pans in the kitchen etc), and just doing general cleaning. It is so nice to have a large washer and dryer that leave our clothes fluffy and soft again, and a vacuum cleaner with *real power*!
Its been fun to be back with our pets again. We've now adopted a new cat (#3)...Skeeter. He belonged to my house sitter and got along so well with BC and Miles that we decided to keep him since she can't take him with her.
After making a long list of the foods and other things that we missed from home, we are steadily working our way through that list. For dinner the first night: Papa John's thick crust pizza with garlic dipping sauce! The kids have had sleep overs with friends already and we had a big welcome home party last night where we got to show the video of our best travel pictures. (I managed to make it 1 hour long...not bad for 6 months worth of travel!)
It took several days, but I finally finished opening and sorting the mail. Our house sitter did a good job of weeding out the junk mail, so it was a smaller pile than it might have been. Not too many loose ends, but I do have to take care of filing our taxes soon...joy.
We can't wait to attend church today and see all of our church family that we have missed for six months! Its a special service with a neighborhood bar-b-que afterwards to celebrate the 4th of July. Should be fun!
Next week I'll get back to my office and attack the pile of mail and other duties awaiting me there. I'm sure that will keep me busy right up until the start of the semester in August.
Its been fun blogging this adventure, sharing our experiences with friends and family from home, as well as with many unexpected readers in Poland. We've enjoyed reading the comments that others have posted in response. This trip has been a remarkable experience that we will never forget. As we continue to adjust to being back home and reflect on our travels, I'm going to conclude our blog with this posting. Do widzenia!
