We decided to make November 17th our celebration day for the boys. This is the day we made the incredible flight from London to Los Angeles with them on our laps. It was one of the most emotional and tiring journeys of our life. Every step of the way I broke down in tears at the realization that we were one more step closer to home and our new family. This was the day that they met the wonderful British Airways staff and flight crew that took such great care of us and took our picture on the plane. This was the day that I felt like we became their parents as they started to rely on us for everything. This was the day that we arrived on US soil after being gone for 52 days. This was the day that our boys became US citizens. This was the day that they sat in their car seats for the first time in their lives, and that was not fun for us or my brother Chris who picked us up at the airport. This was the day that they saw our home and their room for the first time. It was the first time that we put them to bed in their own cribs and the first time they woke us up at night. It really seems like a long time ago and it feels like a blink of an eye. The boys are doing so well and we all feel bonded in so many ways. We have all learned a lot about each other and are looking forward to many celebratory days with our boys.
We celebrated the day with scrambled eggs for breakfast and some Sesame Street before getting dressed and heading out for the Gull Wing's children's museum in Oxnard. The boys did a good job of milling about until they discovered the train set and Ryder couldn't get away from quickly moving from the train to the cut back car that he was driving, and back again.
That kept us for about 2 hours and then we moved onto lunch at Cappricio's just down the street. This was one of our favorite restaurants prior to having boys.
Then we went for Ice Cream at Coldstone. Banana and Vanilla.
We then went home for a nap and on our way home found a military train moving down our block.
During nap I went a got them two Thomas trains to celebrate the day. Wow do they like trains.
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Greg made us traditional Ukrainian dumplings for dinner and the boys seemed to take to them. I loved them and they do remind me of Ukraine. We ate the dumplings about every other day when we found them in the frozen food area of the grocery stores.
Thank you to all our friends and family for your support through the year and for all that was done while we were on our journey. We love these boys so much and are doing all we can to give them good opportunities.
