Homeward Bound

Sadly, sadly, we had to leave Paris.  But happily, we had some amazing kids to come home to, in a house that we love in a city that we call home.  We left by Metro early in the morning, catching one last glimpse of Notre Dame before going underground.  Here is Freestone at Charles de Gaulle airport.  Little does he know he's about an hour into a 24-hour doorstep-to-doorstep journey.  That's what you get when you buy the cheap seats!  But we don't care.  Even the flights are an adventure when you don't fly much.  I love the airports, with their singular global energy.  You feel so alive!  Maybe less so when you've been awake for 24 hours, but we had a great trip home.

Freestone bought his last macaroon.  We gave him our last few euros and sent him to one of the duty-free stores.  He came back with a giant tube of Mentos that contained six smaller tubes.  It was so cool, we scrounged up a few more coins and bought one for each of the kids.  It was the biggest hit ever when we got home with all the presents.

Traveler Tizzy waiting for takeoff.  I got a whole row of seats for the two of us on the trans-Atlantic flight.  Tziporah was a perfect angel.  We even slept horizontal for awhile.

Freestone telling Tizzy not to worry about take-off and pointing out the pretty clouds.

We had a layover in New York and another one in Dallas!  Each flight was shorter than the last, so even though it took a long time to get home, it was anything but awful.  The flight attendants doted on us and the kids got all kinds of compliments on how good they were.  For the most part, there was a lot of this...

How angelic is that?  And she's even floating above the clouds!  Little sweetie.

Thank heavens for Freestone's Kindle. 

At last we touched down in Salt Lake.  Tziporah had been asleep for the last two flights so she was wide awake to greet Uncle Josh when he picked us up at the airport.  I texted him to ask him if he would pick us up and I said, "Sorry it's so late."  He said, "Late?  Not for a King!"  It was only 10:30.  Kings are just getting started at 10:30, right Josh?  Freestone must have the King night owl gene.  He stayed up for most of the 24 hour trip reading Harry Potter.

We were so happy to see our precious kids when we got home!  Ptolemy really missed us.  We heard that he was hugging his cousin Jersey and said, "My baby is in Paris so I have to hug this one."  Aww...
I was thankful for the timing of our return.  We got back during the kids' fall break so there was little to do except rest, catch up on a few music lessons and restore everything to order.  Grandma and Grandpa had provided very well for the kids, feeding them and getting them where they needed to be.  Thank you, thank you!  Ptolemy, once we were home, wasn't about to let anyone out of his sight.  We were at a Halloween carnival the day after we got back when Ptolemy, standing right in front of me, burst into tears.  I picked him up and he sobbed, "I thought I was lost!"  I hate to leave him, he gets so lonesome!

At least we won't be leaving him again in the foreseeable future.  I have a feeling the next trip that far afield will include just our travel-sick older girls...without us...as soon as they can save up the cash and find a way.  I'm content to stay home for awhile.  This is where my heart is.  Tonight, after our first day back in the fray, was a little intense.  There was a stack of make-up work for Freestone, two hours of make-up practicing for Ruby's orchestra class, catch-up reading for Xanthe, Golda steadily working, Ruby's knee on ice, Tziporah wanting to be part of everything, the Giants vs. the Cardinals and needy little Ptolemy vying for his share of the love.  And then Ari said, "I can't believe my volcano is due this week."

Paris is all well and good, but this is where the action is.  It's good to have Paris in my heart and Utah under my feet.