The End of our Journey

The final part of our journey was the journey home.  We were up early, ate, put on our backpacks, and walked to the airport bus.  Then at the airport, we had "pre-screening" for entering the United States.  Instead of going through customs when we arrived in the US, we went through immigration and customs in Dublin.  Long lines and twice through security.  Randy was even "randomly specially selected" for more intense security.  He had his bags checked by hand and a pat down.  Joshua had a pat-down this time too.  I had one on one of our other flights and one on the way out.  This one was much more polite and respectful.  When we arrived in June, I was ushered through without even the metal detector because I was helping Joshua.   They asked if I was his mom, then let both of us through a special gate!  Not this time!

After all of that, we had a short wait for our flight, then off!  We received a meal, two beverage services, one water service, coffee/tea after dinner and a "snack" shortly before landing.  For each beverage service, we received the entire can of soda instead of a tiny bit being poured into a glass of ice.  That's where all of that extra money goes to!  The snack was an unusual sandwich with turkey, lettuce, cheese, some sort of white sauce, and cranberry sauce.  A little too much cranberry, but good.

We had a long layover in Philadelphia (3 1/2 hours).  We spent part of the time playing hearts in the middle of the waiting room on the floor.  That helped pass the time.  I also had received an email from my district saying that I had to fix a paperwork problem--a parent had requested a change on their child's educational plan for next year.  So I took care of that as well.  Then the short flight to Minneapolis.  We took the light rail to our local stop, then walked the mile home in the humid but not hot weather.  Shelby's boyfriend met us on our way back and gave her flowers and candy when we arrived at our house.

While we were gone, there had been torrential rains and we had read of many of our neighbors and friends having flooded basements and sewers backing up into their basements, so we were understandably a bit worried.  But, no problems!  The house was stale and the basement smelled a bit musty (but that happens normally too).  The yard is a jungle, as usually is the case when we arrive back from our vacation.  We had dinner, then, 22 hours after we had woken up, went to bed.  :)

The cat sitter brought Simba the next day, Randy got groceries, and we began the job of taming the jungle that is our yard.  That may take the rest of the week!  We are still suffering a bit from jet lag; we are up late, but have been unable to sleep in, waking at 7 or 8 (or earlier) each morning.  Now we begin the lazier part of our summer break!