Sophie and I send greetings to wherever you are in cyberspace or real life - from the cold and slushy, cloudy and friendly Northern land of St. Paul, Minnesota. Where 6:30 a.m. still looks like the middle of the night, and feels a bit like the end of a long day. Where everything is backward and familiar, strange and home at the same time.
I don't really have time to be writing yet, I should be in bed now. But I wanted a chance to say hello and share a quick story or two for anyone who might be wondering "how did the flight go? how did Sophie go?" The short answer is it was long and exhausting and she did surprisingly well. She did sleep, and she did play, and she did eat well and smile at lots of people (and stare in disbelief at most of them.) She absolutely loved looking out the windows at airports - telling me about all the vehicles and the people - pointing them all out and even using gestures and sound effects to tell me about what they were doing. The up close view of planes landing on the runway at Brisbane was a real hit!
The hardest parts were waiting in long slow lines, being delayed on the ground, and take offs and landings (because she had to sit still in a seatbelt on my lap and couldn't sleep, play, eat or any of her favourite things). All the other times she was fantastic. We even got through LAX in a peaceful and relatively painless daze.
And she is adjusting really well to the time difference too. She's already back on her normal schedule. She's sleeping well and adjusting to all the new people and environments really well. She's been far less jet-lagged than me, from the very beginning.
It's been a really lovely trip so far. Just catching up with family and a few old friends at home. Here are a few photos....it is really the mutual admiration society around here with the Grandparents!
Her first true encounter with the snow today - in my sister Loren's backyard. Oh dear, that was not a happy little Aussie! The worst part was just getting dressed for it! Out in the snow itself, she was... well, see for yourself. I wouldn't say it was traumatic, but she was not exactly impressed! We will have to ease her into it and try some strategies to entice her better for the next time. I'll let you know how it goes!
"Mama. Seriously. Can we just go in and get all these ridiculous things off now?"
Ok, I just looked at all these shots again, and realized that they aren't the smilliest pics of Sophie that we've ever seen. It has been impossible so far to get a photo of her smiling! But I assure you, she is well and content, and often very happy. I just don't seem to be able to get much photographic evidence of it - the happiest shots of her moving about keep turning out so fuzzy.
Happy weekends to all. Watch this space for more stories, and hopefully some better photos, coming soon :)
