Home for the holidays

3 Nov

A week later and I’m now able to get back into posting. We arrived back into Philadelphia last Thursday afternoon, and again the transition went pretty well. The flight (and day) was loooonnng, but we mustered through it!

Last Thursday our morning started at 4:30 am Swiss time (10:30pm Eastern time) and after a 3 hour drive to the airport (worth it for the direct flight), checking in with 2 kiddos, 2 carseats, 5 checked bags and us, an 8 hour flight and then long lines at immigration in Philly, a stop at Target (essential to pick up the necessities like milk, bread etc), we were back home by 3:30/4pm Eastern time – yes that’s an almost 18 hour day of traveling.

The first night went fairly well – the boys were just so exhausted and by day 3 everyone was back on their schedules.

Friday Henry has his Halloween party at school and he had a blast seeing everyone again! They had a bunch of stations with different prizes at each.

Sunday we drove home to Camp Hill to see both of our parents and Henry’s sister and her 10 kiddos – it was like a huge playdate for little Hen! We only stayed the day just because we wanted the boys to get some good rest…and the hurricane was coming.

Monday the storm started and Henry’s school was cancelled so we enjoyed a day of cuddling while the winds blew and the rain just kept coming. By night, the winds were 60-70 mph and then by 9 pm we lost electricity. That made for a long Tuesday morning just because it stays dark so long and the boys were up and playing by candle light. We played so hard that Henry fell asleep on me at 11:30am – that hasn’t happened in a long time. By noon the electricity was back on and we were super excited…it was already getting cold in the house. We are very lucky because a lot of people are still without it and it’s pretty chilly out.

Yesterday was Halloween and it was nice to be home for it! They don’t really celebrate it in Switzerland, so I quickly put together some costumes since I hadn’t planned on trick or treating. Henry was “John Deere” or a farmer and Thomas was a cow. Henry had such a fun time ringing all the door bells and saying trick or treat and “Happy Halloween!” We went out with neighbors and their 5 month old daughter and then we all ended up at another neighbors house for a few beers while the kiddos played. Such a great night. Once we got home, which was still pretty early, Henry (John Deere) handed out the candy. Along with that, he also invited everyone into our house by saying “Come on in to our house and play!” All the kids (which were older) got a big kick out of that!

Alex (our neighbor) took all the photos so here are the ones I have for now, more to come!