The Rich Family: Welcome Home Dad!

Allan came home today for his two-week R&R. He was scheduled to come in on the 8PM flight, which bummed me out because I wanted Daniel to be at the airport, but that might have been pretty late to keep him up and he would just be grumpy. But there was an earlier connection from NC (he flew through London to Charlotte, NC to DFW) that he was hoping to make and get in at 4:30ish. However, he would only have 1 hour to make the connection in Charlotte, including clearing US customs! So it was a long shot. Also, he wouldn't have enough time to call me and let me know that he made the earlier flight. So the plan was that if I didn't hear from him, he was on the earlier flight and he would call me if he didn't make it. Early in the morning, I checked his flight from London. It left almost an hour late. So he would have about 20 minutes to try to make the earlier connection in Charlotte. At this point, I just assumed he wouldn't be in until the late flight. We had agreed to just let Daniel go to bed at his normal time and he could see Allan in the morning. All day long I just poked along assuming he would be on the late flight. Then around 2PM I started wondering why he hadn't called yet. Then I started thinking "Maybe he somehow made the earlier flight. Guess I better take a shower just in case." I knew I needed to leave the house around 3:30 to make it to the airport for the early flight. Around 3PM I decided he wasn't calling and was on the early flight. I frantically finished getting ready, woke up BOTH boys from naps, got them ready, called my mom to go to the airport with me to help with the boys, called Allan's parents to meet at the airport and rushed to the airport. We got there a few minutes before the flight was to arrive, hoping he would really show up! I didn't even tell Daniel that Dad was coming home, because I didn't want to disappoint if he wasn't on the flight. Luckily, a few minutes after the plane landed, Allan walked out of the terminal - yeah! It was so great to see him and Daniel was so happy. Allan got to see and hold Colin for the first time! Here are a couple of pics from the airport. Enjoy!

Daniel finishing up the Welcome Home sign