Home

We're home.

Maisie Minh Tam is maybe having a bit of an adjustment. I just set up the baby cot to give her something familiar here. She's now napping. And Luc Au Su is napping. And Peggy is napping.

And Robbie is napping.

Robbie, Marci's son, will spend the night here in Chicago. We arrived in the Chicago skies around 10:25, a bit early, and then we began to feel the telltale glide and thrust of the holding pattern. When we did finally land around 10:50, we found out why. It was a snow storm--at least a wintry mix. As we taxied it was clear that the runways had been plowed. We have since learned that the storm is worse on the other side of Lake Michigan, specifically Grand Rapids, where Robbie was heading after Chicago. Robbie's 1:20 flight was cancelled, and flights were cancelled for the rest of the day. There was a chance he could get out at 9:00 tonight on standby. We weren't exactly in a position to leave a 13-year-old in the airport all day.

So Robbie is with us tonight and we will take him back to O'Hare for an 8:05 AM flight.

What else to tell about the flight? It was long. We left the Hong Gnoc Hotel at 9:00 PM on Tuesday night in Hanoi. We arrived home today at approximately 3:00 PM Wednesday, which would be 3:00 AM Thursday in Hanoi. That's about 30 hours, door to door.

Just fitting our baggage--and the extra person--into our car at the airport was a challenge. Then we made a trip to Peggy's sister Kathy's home in La Grange Park, where Luc and Maisie met a few of their cousins, Elizabeth, Doyle, and Sean. Luc fit right in, but Maisie had some harder moments. Of course it was midnight for them, Hanoi time.

Now we're home. And everyone, as I said, is napping....