Canadian soil - or at least concrete

We're in Toronto!

The flight was surprizingly uneventful, and actually passed faster than the one over to China did. We left the hotel around noon and headed to the airport with all of the families. After being checked in, we stumbled upon some Canadian athletes - men from the basketball team and a female track athlete. Jokingly I asked "Where's the hardware?" and one guy said to the other "Do you have your medal handy?" The men won silver, the woman had one two golds! So we got to touch the medals and took pictures with them. (Still on my camera). After getting through security we sniffed out a Pizza Hut! I know I wrote earlier that I wasn't tired of Chinese food yet, but MAN the prospect of pizza had me very very excited. I ate every last crumb of my personal pizza and savoured every bite. We hung out at a play area near the gate for the next two hours, taking turns to browse the shops and spend what was left of our RMB currency.

The plane was packed, solid. Steve, AnnaWen and I sat together, the other families all sat together as well, but our single travelmates - Julie, an aunt/sister and a father/grandfather - all had individual seats dispersed throughout the plane. We figured they planned it that way. Wen fell asleep as we were taxiing, and woke up an hour or more later with a fever. I gave her advil which seemed to keep it at bay for the rest of the flight. She fell asleep again around 1030 China time, and woke up somewhere around 330, at which point I entertained her to keep her awake. She was tired, though when we landed. Steve watched a couple of movies, but slept for most of the trip. I stayed awake the entire time, with a master plan of not sleeping until we got home to kickstart my jetlag transition. Immigration was quick - they took the three adoptive families through ahead of everyone else for some reason. Bags were slow to come, but we got them all safely and headed out to meet Mom, Dad and Rae who were waiting for us in the crowd.

We got home around 8 and had Swiss Chalet for supper. We put AnnaWen to bed around 11, but she was kinda scared in the bedroom alone. I stayed with her for a bit, then checked in on her on and off until she was asleep while we watched video clips of the trip. She woke up a bit later with a bad cough and crying, so I went to sit with her and decided to go to bed mysef. It was 11 and I had been up for about 29 hours straight. The three of us slept on and off all night. I know AnnaWen and I were both up for a bit around 430 or 5, but we fell asleep again until 9 at which point I woke them both up to try and make us sleep on time tonight. I've been dreading this jetlag since planning the trip - I hope it goes easier than feared.

As of this morning, I've done laundry and brushed my teeth with tap water. It is good to be in familiar territory again. As with any trip, now that it's over it seems like a far off dream that may or may not have really happened. This time, though, we have more proof than a suitcase of laundry and souveniers to prove it was real. She loves the cats and dog here which is a relief. She's been chasing the cats since discovering them shouting "Maow, Maow!" She tried to feed them some chicken last night; when I replaced the chicken with a piece of cat food/treat she tried to eat that herself. She'll be some excited to see cats and a dog at home too, though I don't think the cats will be thrilled to see her.

N