Well, on the 17th of October, Tay and I finally got our bags packed and made our way to the airport that rainy morning. Once we arrived, Tay was very good as she sat atop our bags on the cart and held on as we went to check in. We did get to go to the "family service" line, which was much shorter, and we checked our bags. We decided to go ahead and go through security before we had breakfast. No issues with security or immigration, and we were in. We decided to get another little cart for our backpacks, so Tay got to take another ride. We spent some time wandering around the airport to burn some time because we had about two hours to kill...but we did stop for some noodle soup (udon).
The flight from Incheon to Atlanta was a full flight, and Tay and I had an aisle seat in about the middle of the plane. We had a nice Alabama couple sitting next to us who were just with a tour group to Asia, so it made for a relatively pleasant flight...except I had to keep Tay from kicking the gentleman next to me while she was sleeping. Other than that, we walked all around the plane and spent a lot of time in the lavatories. I would have to say the first half othe flight was good, but the second half, I started losing my patience with Tay's constant demands to go "poo-poo," which essentially meant she just wanted to go hang out in the lavatory. Exhaustion and very tight quarters with a toddler is not an ideal situation...anyhow, we made it through that flight, and just barely made our connection in Atlanta to Tri-Cities (Bristol).
What a wonderful reunion when we got off the plane in Tri-Cities as we came out of the gate and saw Jeff...standing at the ATM machine with his back to us! :) hehehe...we landed earlier than scheduled, so we surprised Jeff with a kiss on the cheek and Tay yelling, "APPA!" Halmoni hadn't even arrived at the airport yet, so we went to get our bag and then we saw her drive up with a balloon in hand for Tay.
Anyhow, enough of traveling news. Moving on...
The trip to Bristol was good for Tay and me, but very very brief for Jeff as he arrived on the same day as us (Saturday) and had to leave on Monday morning. In the short time he was there, we set up the sling box, went to Mass, ate at Cracker Barrel and went to the Hands On Museum in Johnson City. That was actually quite fun, but it was really cold...and maybe still a little too advanced for Tay. Plus, we were still extremely jetlagged, so I guess that didn't help. After Jeff left for Alabama for his conference, Tay and I spent more time with my folks. We visited Virginia High to see Heather teaching, but the power happened to go off right before we went over to visit, so I had to hang out in the hallway with Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. Collins, Mr. Locke and a few others before I could actually go see Heather. It was great to see her again, although we didn't have much time to catch up...maybe next time. I also swung by to see Ms. Neal in the library, but it was pitch black in there so we didn't spend much time there either.
Sarah and I played phone tag for about three days before we finally got together (Tay and I kept falling asleep at odd hours during the day!) on the next to last day I was in Bristol. She drove over with her cute pregnant belly and we (Sarah, my mom, Tay and I) went shopping at TJ Maxx! Fun for me; maybe not so fun for anyone else...ah well.
Other than that, not much else exciting happened in Bristol for us; it was just good time spent with Halmoni, Harabuji, and Hhhan (whispered, as Tay would say) for Tay and me. Oh, I must mention that three Halloween costumes were bought for cheap-cheap! Duck, bee, and ladybug! Very exciting.
As Friday rolled around, it was time for Tay and me to pack up and fly once more to Atlanta. We said our said good-byes and left Bristol with the promise to return at Christmas. :) From there, we went to Atlanta, and made our connecting flight to Los Angeles...not the most pleasant flight, but we made it. When we landed at the airport, guess who met us at the gate? JEFF! Right when we got off the plane, there he was! What a wonderful reunion once again! From there, we got our bags, got our rental car, and drove (in TERRIBLE TRAFFIC) to northern L.A. where our hotel, Fairfield Inn, was located. Although we had planned on meeting up with my cousins Esther and Judy that evening, we decided that a nearly-3-hour drive from the airport was too much and we crashed for the night.
Saturday morning, we called up the Kunz household and drove over to meet them. Thankfully, Tay took a liking to them quickly so it was a pleasant morning. We went to breakfast at Mimi's, which was absolutely DELICIOUS! That afternoon, we went to watch a football game where Lindsay was cheering, and then we went back to watch some football before heading to dinner with some other relatives at Romano's Macaroni Grill. Again, delicious food, but we were all so exhausted...I felt badly that we couldn't spend more time with them after they drove all the way up from south L.A. It was nice to see my cousin Duk and his little boy Charles and my Aunt again. Sadly, Tay slept through the entire meal and meeting. Hopefully next time we visit, it can be more of an actual visit instead of a drive-by eating.
The next morning, we decided to hit Mimi's again for breakfast (yes, it was THAT good). Mmm...pumpkin spice muffin...blueberry cream cheese french toast...corned beef hash...belgium waffle...yum. Jeff and I ordered a little bit of everything we wanted to try because we knew it was our last day to eat there! Yes, oink oink. Ahem.
After breakfast, we went to visit a pumpkin patch (Lombardo Ranch) to pick out a pumpkin and get some pictures of Tay at the patch! It really was nice there, but it was so windy and dusty that we felt like we had to hurry out of there. Tay also hurt her right wrist somehow, so we decided to go ahead and leave instead of taking the little train ride. Then we were off to the Kunzes again and spent the rest of the day there playing and chatting. We took Tay swimming in the neighborhood pool, but we didn't actually swim...we sat in the hot tub and took brief dips in the duck-poop infested pool. Fun reason why we went to the jacuzzi in the first place - I tweaked something in my neck so I couldn't turn it in any direction...boooooo. Strange how these things happen when you're on vacation, no?
The boys cooked up a delicious BBQ dinner with steaks, salmon, brats, and all accompaniments...then we had some awesome pies for dessert (chocolate being the absolute best - chocolate satin! - with the banana cream pie coming in at a close second). Tay ran around the back yard just in her diaper (yes, it was that warm), and later that night, my cousins lit a fire in their "porta-fireplace" and we roasted marshmellows and hung out until dark...a wonderful end to a whirlwind visit.
That night, we headed back to the hotel to pack, bathe and sleep a bit before our early morning drive back to the airport. I was definitely not looking forward to the flight back alone with Tay, but she was very good on the flight and we enjoyed sitting bulkhead aisle...although Tay continued to ask to go "poo-poo" so she could play in the lavatory...again. The trip was only an hour shorter than our trip from Incheon to Atlanta, so we were still exhausted when we got to Incheon, but we still had an hour wait before Jeff was going to arrive, so we wandered around the airport a bit before we started waiting for him...
Well, all in all we made it safely home through the Seoul evening traffic and crashed for the night...until 2am the next morning...when we were wide awake and ready to go...ah, jetlag.
I really want to thank everyone for their hospitality and entertainment while we visited this last trip! Hope we can meet up again in the near future!
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