On Monday, D got up a bit before me and exercised in the Hilton's gym. We were out of our room around 9 and over to the international ticketing lines by 9:30, almost 2 hours before the flight at 11:20. We quickly found that the flight had been delayed to 12:30, so we ended up spending a good amount of time relaxing at the Melbourne airport.
Once on the plane, the flight was fine. We had tons of movies to watch (I watched Evan Almighty, Pirates of the Carribean, SpiderMan 3, and something else that I forget). The only problem was that we couldn't sleep. On the way to Melbourne, we slept for the first 8 or 9 hours and then spent the remaining 6 awake. On the way to LA, we couldn't really sleep. I might have nodded off for an hour total, but it wasn't easy. We got to LA at 8:30 am and were really concerned about not making our connecting flight on Continental scheduled to leave at 10:25. D and I had planned it all out on the plane so that one of us would run over to the Continental counter and check in so that the plane couldn't leave without us. But everything worked out fine, we flew through baggage claim and customs, and then ran with all the bags on a cart over to the Continental ticketing. The line was reasonable and we were at the gate by around 9:30. The flight was on time (go figure) and we got on the plane.
Since D's work booked her flight and we booked mine separately, our seats were not together. I was in 20A and D was in 22D. When we got to our seats, I saw that a couple was in 20B and 20C together, which meant neither of them would switch with D so we could sit together. There was a man in 22E and no one in 22F, so we asked if he'd switch to 20A. He said his wife wasn't sitting next to him either, she was in 22B. There was no one in 22A and another man in 22C. So here's what we did... The wife in 22B switched to D's seat in 22D, next to her husband in 22E. I sat in 22A and D sat in the wife's seat in 22B. The man in 22C remained (more on him later). After a few minutes, an older woman showed up with a ticket for 22A and we politely asked (more instructed) her to take my seat in 20A. So it all worked out.
The man in 22C was a character. After some brief introductions, he went into a tirade of sorts about the seminar he attended in LA. It was an "intensive" as he called it run by Byron Katie. It was basically a self-help course for 10 days! We feigned interest for a while, learned a bit about it and after some talking, D and I fell silent, putting an abrubt end to the topic. He gave me a mini-book about the basics and I have to say I did NOT agree with it. But I guess that's the nature of those sorts of things, some feel strongly about them and others don't get it.
We got to EWR, got through customs, got our bags, and met Jim Duffy outside. We were keeping an eye out for his minivan and certainly were not expecting him to show up in a shiny white Mercedes. Turns out that one of his clients sold him a Benz with 28k miles from a few years ago for $9k, an incredible deal. It's a fantastic car and Jim loves using it for his car service.
At this point, D and I are literally counting the seconds until we saw Ayla. We got home, and almost sprint into the house to see her. Bill, Lynn, and Ayla were on the second floor and Ayla starting making noises as soon as she heard the garage door open. Once she heard our voices, I think she got really excited. Lynn later told us that she was excited just to be home, since she hadn't been there much in the past two weeks with my mom and Bill and Lynn.
Ayla had a huge grin when she saw us and I grabbed her immediately for a big squeeze. I couldn't stop kissing and hugging her for the next hour before she went to bed around 8:30ish. D felt the same way.
Ayla is definitely becoming a person, if she already isn't. She understands everything you say, although chooses to ignore it at times. She doesn't really have any words, but she talks up a storm. She screams in delight whenever you play with her and she hugs our legs all the time, which I personally love. I am thankful every day to have such a beautiful, smart, fun, silly, healthy, and wonderful daughter. I only wish I could spend more time with her. This weekend we are going to spend together almost the entire weekend (except for a couple hours Sunday for a football game) and I can't wait.
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