Reunited at Last

We finally made it home Saturday night and were thrilled to have some very special greeters at the Minneapolis airport!  Kiana's new cousins made a beautiful welcome sign and we were so happy to see the friendly faces: L to R: Cousin Brady, Uncle Bob, Kiana with Mommy, Daddy, Cousin Luke, Aunt Heather, Great Aunt KK and Great Uncle Randy: 

We are so appreciate everyone's support throughout our journey - thank you also for the wonderful comments on our blog, we always love reading them! 

Our flight arrived too late for Zander, but Nana assured us that he also made welcome sign earlier in the day with his new sidewalk chalk:

Zander also enjoyed some fruit on the deck on Saturday as he waited in his new Phillies shirt from Grandma and Grandpa Wilson:

 It's hard to wait!!

Back at the Seoul hotel - Kiana helping us get packed up: 

Kiana is still developing balance when she walks - very cute, but typically only a few minutes on her feet before she's back on her booty!  Here she is mid-stride, sporting a vibrant new hoodie outfit from Aunt Heather and Uncle Bob:

When we last posted from the Seoul airport, we mentioned that Kiana was doing really well - we actually had a much easier time with her than we had had getting Zander onto the flight.  We expect that our ability to get Kiana a day before travel helped make this possible.  Getting ready to board:

The overnight flight, however, was more difficult for Kiana - she maybe slept about four hours total over the course of ~13 hours flying time... which meant that Mommy and Daddy didn't get much sleep either.  Lots of crying (mostly Kiana... smile).  Although she fell asleep many times, our sweet pea had a difficult time time staying asleep - doesn't she look uncomfortable?

Daddy filling out customs paperwork:

At last we arrived in Seattle to catch our connecting flight... or so we were hoping.  Our layover was relatively short and we spent most of it in the immigration line waiting to file paperwork to allow Kiana to enter the US and process her temporary green card.  But the line was long, really long.  And cases like ours were only to be worked after all the wheelchair immigration cases were completed.  It quickly became clear that the wheelchair line was getting longer and longer, at which rate we were sure to miss our connection, which was also the last flight to Minneapolis that night.  We were very fortunate to have one of the officials in the area listen to our concern and request that an officer step away from his other work to process our paperwork so we could be on our way.  We were delighted to be able to make the flight, but felt bad for 'cutting' to the front of the line - it was a very challenging process! 

After claiming and rechecking our bags, we had time for a special Daddy photo at gate S9 in Seattle:

On June 11th, 2010, we also stopped at gate S9 in Seattle for a Daddy photo with Zander!

It was fun for us to reminisce about our memories of bringing Zander home, at the same time while creating new memories with Kiana!  (Our original flight routing actually had us returning via Los Angeles, but we ended up needing to add a day to our trip once we learned that the agency was going to be closed all day Wednesday due to the election.)

The highlight of the Seattle to Minneapolis leg was definitely introducing Kiana to her very first Cheerios:

We assumed this was Kiana's way of telling us she liked them!

Finally, touchdown in Minneapolis!  This photo shortly afterward - Kiana was very quiet when meeting everyone... definitely taking it all in, especially studying Cousins Luke and Brady.

We were finally able to get Kiana down around 12:30am, and she slept fairly well, all things considered.  We know that the next few weeks will be dedicated to transitioning her through the 14 hour time difference.  Slow, but hopefully not quite as difficult as was our experience with Zander.

Yay - a quiet Sunday morning at home - no cab, bus, plane or car in sight!!

It was SO GREAT to finally see and smooch Zander!  We were so proud of his good behavior when we were gone and how he took great care of Nana Pat.  We think he's going to be a tremendous big brother!  He certainly started things out on the right foot with a gift for his sister - a cute monkey toy with a pink flower behind its ear - very sweet!

And Zander loved the Korean drum that Kiana brought him from Seoul.  He played us several nice rhythms over the course of the day:

 I love my Daddy!

Hmmm, it appears that a few of the house rules may have changed in our absence - apparently Zander now likes putting his feet up when he's kicking back at the kitchen table!

Kiana had a blast exploring the doctor's kit.  Hopefully she'll show the same enthusiasm as we bring her to the pediatrician and the International Adoption Clinic over the next few weeks:

Mommy and Daddy loved seeing the children together, they are quite the pair!  We also experienced for the first time how challenging it can be to meet both kids' needs at the same time - this will take us some getting used to!!

One last warm welcome to Kiana - we are so glad you are home sweetie!!