Yes, Yes... We made it Home...

I'm so sorry for how long it's taken for me to conclude this vacation with a post regarding our trip home! I realize by taking so long to blog, some of you may never come back to read "the rest of the story". Perhaps part of me just wasn't willing to admit it was all over :(

We suffered through a very long, very full return flight... from Brisbane to Auckland, New Zealand... then from Auckland to LA... through customs in the states... and from LA back to Denver. It felt longer this time because we didn't sleep but maybe half an hour on the return trip. It was a full flight and nobody was able to stretch out at all. Every time I felt myself going through the process of getting into a sleep - the plane would bounce or someone would kick me or whatever. There was no room to lean forward and nothing to lean against. Makes for a lot of movie watching, but no sleep.

One of the odd perks of a bad flight home is that Jimmy Lakey now pretty much refuses to ride coach on a long flight ever again. He's been scouring the internet for deals on airline miles and based on his research, we should be getting a few upgrades to first class in the future. If you're planning a big trip, I'm sure he'd let you in on his "secret research". (haha!)

In LA, we moved through a long customs line and then had to get into a different line to re-check our baggage. Strangely, I was somewhat comforted when I heard Clay Aiken playing over the loud speaker. That was confirmation that yes indeed, I was standing in the United States.

After re-checking bags, we grabbed some food, stretched out on the floor where our departing gate was and tried to sleep while half listening to the flight attendants making announcements. After returning to Denver, we heard the pilot say the local time and that it was "29 degrees outside" --- which 29 degrees celsius is not that bad --- after all, the bride and groom were married on a steamy 34 degree day (celsius). What a shock to come back to snow, ice and being able to see your breath outside! We arrived home at 8:00pm, mountain time, which just so happened to be a full 24 hours since our arrival at the Brisbane Airport. Now that's a lot of traveling.

So I promptly took a shower and went to bed at 9:00pm and didn't wake up until 10:00am the next morning! Then, I went into work for a few hours, checked my 790 email messages (not a made-up number - mostly junk but that's how many I had!), sifted through some paperwork and went back home. Friday was a bit of the same. Our sales team did a fabulous job while I was gone, and we're now 103% of goal for the month of January - which makes leaving for 2 weeks a bit forgivable.

Otherwise, I've been taking down Christmas decorations, going through mail and learning to write "2005" on my checks. I haven't even gone to have my pictures developed yet (guess I'm not my mother's child after all!). I'll try to get my head around everything today, in order to work a full 8 hours tomorrow.

Bishop didn't disown us while we were gone - he seems to need sleep as much as we do! He's been laying around a lot, but jumps at the chance to go with us somewhere in the car... guess he still trusts us enough to believe no matter where we go, we'll always come back :)

Hope you all have enjoyed the reading --- I am still going to try to get some pic's up on this site sometime in the near future --- and will likely be "blogging" about any other events going on in the life of the Lakey's. But never fear... I will not be abandoning my regular "holiday card" tradition. I guess this is just another way for me to get all of my thoughts out of my system... and keep in touch with those of you who wish to read Carrie's Comments... without the confetti! :)

Thanks for your responses - Miss You All - check back for photos!

Love, Carrie