To China for Emma in 2004: September 6, 2004

Subject: We are Home!! Our family is United!

Well we are finally all together now!! We arrived in Orlando around
5:00 pm and "Grandpa" Charlie picked us up. Emma even let Charlie
hold her while we were waiting for our baggage. It felt so good to
be home and in Orlando. We flew into LA on Saturday afternoon, and
we had a feeling it would be, but our flight to Orlando was
cancelled. The earliest we could get out would be Monday morning, so
we had to stay in LA. We stayed at the Comfort Inn near the airport
for Saturday and Sunday. I had been up the whole flight from Beijing-
LA because Emma would only sleep on me and she is a very restless
sleeper. Once we got to the hotel, I handed her to Claudio & Sera
and went to sleep!! We were up around 2 am the last two mornings, we
have been all screwed up on our times. On Sunday, we did take
advantage of the day we had in LA. We were all up and ready for
breakfast around 3 am, but had to wait until 6. After being in 5
star hotels the past 2 weeks, the breakfast bar of donuts & juices
seemed a bit weird, but they were good and much needed after our
long trip. We went back to the room and all of us were asleep by
7:30 and then we woke up around 2 pm!! We took a taxi to Santa
Monica and visited tha mall and pierre. Sera and I both had no
clothes left, and had to soak our only undergarments left in the sink
(without soap!). So we both had to get an outfit for the trip home.
Santa Monica was very nice, the mall was great. We ate dinner at a
nice Italian restaraunt and enjoyed the sunset at the pierre. By
7:00 pm we were very ready to get back to the hotel room! This
morning we were up around 2 am again, thanks to Miss Emma! It was
fine, because we needed to be at the airport at 5:00 am for our 7:09
am flight to Dallas. The two flights went well and Emma was a
trooper. All this poor kid has known so far is a airplane ride and
then a new hotel room! It was so great to get back into Orlando, and
even from the air we could see some ofthe devastation left by
Hurricane Frances. While we were coming past Tampa, the pilot
pointed out to us that on the left of our plane was the back side of
Frances! Orlando seems okay.. mostly there are still trees left
everywhere from Charley. We are just praying that Hurricane Ivan
doesn't come towards Florida. Three hurricanes in one month is
enough!! It was so good to see the kids again. Ian looks like a
monster after lugging around Emma these days!! He must have grown a
foot.. I don't remember him being this tall!!!! It is so good to be
hugging my baby boy. Kayla and Elena are doing great.. even Kayla
has grown a bit. Emma has gone to Elena and likes her, but she's not
to sure of Kayla & Ian. This of course is making them sad and
feeling like she doesn't like them, but we are explaning to them
that this is all new for her, and she needs some time. Emma's not
crazy about the dogs.. but give her time and she'll be playing with
them! The girls made us a wonderful meal of meatloaf, veggies,
mashed potatoes and chocolate cake. They decorated the house which
was so sweet. It is so wonderful to be back home and to finally
sleep in our own bed!! Hopefully everything will get back to normal
soon and then I will update ya'll. Right now I've been up since 2:00
am and starting to feel the effects of jet lag!!
The M family- all finally together!