Sweet Home Chicago!

After a long journey from Almaty, with a stopover in Frankfurt, we finally arrived in Chicago!

Piece of Cake!
The first leg of our journey was relatively easy. We were once again travelling on a "red eye" flight departing from Almaty at 4 am. We had requested bulk head seating where we could set up a bassinet for Samantha. After an uneventful takeoff, we put her in her bassinet and she slept through most of the 6.5 hour flight. We were really grateful that she was such a well-behaved little traveler!

You Can't Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too
Our layover in Frankfurt was a bit rushed. Once landed, you disembark the aircraft away from the airport, in an airplane parking lot. Then you take a 5 min. bus ride to the airport. The airport is so spread out that it takes a good 30 minutes just to get from one terminal to another. To add to our travelers' anxiety, we had the misfortune to be on a tram car between terminals that was being fixed for a mechanical problem. At one point, we wondered if we'd make our connecting flight home. Being crunched for time, we could only make a quick diaper change and had no time to eat.

Once again, we were thrilled to be seated in the bulkhead area, just behind business class. The businessmen, seated in front of us, however, were not as thrilled to hear Sam wailing as she sat hungry during the takeoff of our flight! After a rough ascent (baby made it rough, not the turbulence), and finally consoled by some formula, she was given a bassinet in which to sleep. This one was like a bowling ball bag/Indian papoose, it laid flat on the floor and zipped up the sides. Thankfully, Sam has not figured out how to work zippers! For the most part, she was wide awake on this 8.5 hr. leg of our journey. It was a constant struggle getting her to lay quietly (even when Mommy and Daddy pretended to be asleep). She kept popping up out of her bowling bag as far as the opening would allow her (we stopped counting the number of times she attempted this escape tactic after about the 15th try)! Diaper changes with Sam in the claustrophobic bathroom were also a high point for the sleeping passengers, as she screamed and cried at the top of her lungs.

At the end of the day (and I do mean "day", as the trip, door-to-door, took 24 hours!), we all made it home safe and sound. Uncle Don was kind enough to pick us up from the airport the morning of March 7 and was insistent on capturing pictures of Samantha Ayazhan Blix's arrival to the USA! This date will be our annual "Welcome Home Day" celebration/tradition in the Blix family, as we continue to share with Sam the story of our adoption journey and our great joy in becoming her parents!