Leaving Okinawa

The last morning on Okinawa.
Monika came early in the morning with breakfast from Dunkin Doughnuts, as we planned the night before. We were all packed, well...almost--Rob was still getting the last stuff into his bag. He haven't slept all night, spent many hours at work, so he was still packing. We now only waited for Alex to join us; he was the one to take us to the airport. It was a very early Saturday morning for all of us, but we wanted to have that last breakfast together before we left. I was so excited, and I guess stressed, that I managed to spill two coffee's on the floor, and my socks, and the pants that I was supposed to travel in. Figures. But it was fun anyway. Even though kind of sweet/sour. We were excited about the move, but also sad to leave our friends behind. I know I mentioned it many times before, but we really grew close to those people, and we do miss them a lot now.
We checked out of the hotel, said goodbyes with Monika, of whom I really didn't want to let go. It was hard... but we had a plane to catch.
We went to the kennel to pick our babies. They were all excited to see us... If they only knew! Then we drove to the airport. It was great that Alex was with us at those last hours, we had such fun ride to Naha, but we were also up for a surprise: Chris already waited for us at the airport! We've had both of our wonderful friends together, helping us with the luggage and the pets.
The check in was hard but we survived it. It was weird seeing our animals being taken away by strangers... ok, I know, I know--I am being dramatic. So what? Those are my babies! (and this is MY blog!)
The next hard and sad thing was letting our friends go. Alex left first. He had to hurry up and remove his car from the front door, but we hugged and kissed and promised to stay in touch... we are already missing him so much! And then left Chris. It's just felt weird... We really got so close with our friends. They were our family here, and we hope to see them sometimes soon.

We had a nice flight to Osaka, but over there we had to re-check our pets again onto the flight to San Francisco. We had to do the same all over again in San Francisco, where we missed the flight to Chicago. It was good to see our poor animals! They were really confused, but looked good and everything was ok. We were relieved. I am not going into describing the whole trip... it's just too much to write. There is only one main thing I just can't let go unnoticed: Bobby shit, big time, in his crate! Ha! And Rob had to clean it!!!!!! ha!ha!ha!!!!!!!! Well, it was awesome that of all of our pets, the only male among them, shit in his pants!





















Over all the whole trip went well, even with that smelly accident. We were happy to be in the US. We really were. I just can't even describe how it felt when I passed the immigration officer on the "US Citizens and Green Card Holders" line. I had tears in my eyes. It was my first time... Rob knew how I felt just by looking at me. He just understands.
Our arrival at Chicago's O'Hare airport was great! And the welcome was even better! I saw Mom, Aunt Karen and Uncle Jim, waiting for us right in front of the arrival's glass door. Wow! I was speechless! We hugged and kissed, and then hugged some more! Uncle Jim is just so handsome and Aunt Karen as beautiful and sweet as I remember from pictures and our phone calls. Mom looked so happy and her face was just glowing! I knew she was as happy to see us as we were happy to finally be with her. It couldn't be more perfect! They all held banners with welcome signs and flowers and balloons. It was so much fun! It got even better when we got our pets, all happy and healthy.
We left the airport in two cars, Aunt Karen's SUV and a huge rental SUV, where all cages with pets were. We took off to the hotel which Aunt Karen and Uncle Jim booked for us. When we arrived at the hotel and entered the room, we were amazed once again. The cabinets and fridge were filled with food, drinks, snacks, cat and dog food, and there was even cat litter! Thank you Mom, Karen and Jim!!!
We let the pets out, and both dogs and cats were super extatic about all the free room and furniture to run around! We setted up all the important stuff, and we took off to see Karen's and Jim's house. The house was huge and beautiful!!! Oh, wow. Many "wow's"!!! :-) Just like a palace! We also met Aunt Karen's parents: Katie and Frank, both super sweet! It felt so good to be together with the family! We spend about an hour there and came back to the hotel where we slept with our animals just for one night. Mom stayed at Karen's and Jim's house, and she was meeting us the next day in the morning at 9.30. We were then going to Quincy.