Arrived in Frankfurt

We have arrived in Frankfurt, safe and sound, but really tired. The flight from Montrose to Denver was actually pretty turbulent and I am not a roller coaster lover, so I was a bit green around the gills when we arrived but the boys were all laughing about it and having a great time every time the plane dipped and bobbed. Not necessarily my idea of fun but then we always have to fly in those little prop planes from Montrose so you'd think I would get used to it by now. Don't think that will ever happen :-)

We left yesterday at noon and friends were kind enough to come see us off, which was really nice. Not living near family makes moments like these sometimes feel a bit melancholy, but not this time! We had kids and adults all waving and hugging us goodbye, and photos of us boarding the plane.

The boys were awesome little travelers, behaving beautifully even on very little sleep. Matthew has been a huge help and is hauling around 50 lb bags without complaint, and even Joshie is dragging along carryons like a trooper. Interestingly, even in Denver, we noticed 2 or 3 Asian woman giving our little family the double take, which actually surprised us as that isn't usual when in larger cities. We are flying Lufthansa, unlike most families adopting from Kyrgyzstan who are using British Airways, because we are flying in and out of Almaty, Kazakhstan rather than Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. We love Lufthansa (makes it sound like we do this all the time, doesn't it?) and this time was no exception...super clean planes, very good service, and they even gave away travel games to the kids!

Dominick and I both commented upon arrival in Frankfurt that this time around it doesn't feel foreign at all, which was a real surprise to us both. When we went to get Joshua and flew into here and had an overnight layover, it all felt fresh and very different. It feels kind of familiar this times, which is kind of nice. I have again been surprised how much of my 2 years of high school German have come back to me...not necessarily that I can remember vocabulary but I feel very comfortable reading signs and understanding them, hearing flight numbers, etc. and I can pronounce it very well...now if only I could say the same about Russian which would have been much more practical at this stage! I actually have a German maiden name, "Roehrman" which was at one time "Roehrmann" and my Dad had managed to trace our family back several generations to Germany.

The hotel is just as we remembered, clean, nice, and yet the room feels smaller! Maybe it is because we are 4 now rather than 3 as last time, and the 2 of the 4 are bigger and take up more space. The rooms are fairly small and with the tremendous amount of luggage we have with us we are walking on top of each other, but we could care less and that kind of thing doesn't really bother us. Tomorrow we are renting a car and going to try and visit a castle and see a little bit of Frankfurt. It will fulfill 2 dreams at once, Matthew's to see a castle and a real knights armor, and Dominick's lifelong dream to drive the Autobahn!! It all sounds so darned exotic for this hick, very un-chic family from Montrose.

No matter what else though, our main goal for the trip is not very far from our minds. Joshie was tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable sleeping upright last night, and he opened one eye and looked at me and said "Mommy, I just want to get Toktogul and go home!!!"

Not much longer now...