Someday this will make a great story, right...

So the good news is that Katia is here and all is going well. The not so great news is that getting her here was a rough journey. Sit down and grab a cold one because this is a wild ride.

We checked into the island airport at 11:30 for a 12:40 flight on Monday. The plane didnt get to the island until 1:30 so we left at 1:45 over an hour late. We got to NY at 3 and raced from Laguardia to JFk to meet the orphans and just got there on time. Meanwhile the director is frantically calling my phone which is turned off for the flight. It was pretty chaotic at the airport with 23 orphans disembarking--luckily the girl I was with spoke Russian. We connected east coast kids with their host families and made sure the CA kids got their connecting flight. Some of the kids were so little (like 6 and 7) and the trip seemed to be wearing on them. They had taken a car ride then an overnight train to Kiev and then a10 hr flight. We traveled back to Laguardia with our 3kids and 1 chaperone for a 7:30 flight. We heard weather on island was iffy but they said we were most likely goping to make it. Well the worst happened fog rolled in and the flight was diverted to Hyannis. We also left LaGaurdia late so by the time we landed and got luggage it was 9:45. We had to get a hotel for everyone and then we called a taxi. The wait was too long so we decided to walk...big mistake. Took forever in the dark. We finally put the kids to bed and got to sleep around midnight. We had to double up on beds and the other host parent and I had no change of clothes so it was not exactly comfy sleep. Then we had our wake up call at 4:30 AM because we had to be at the airport at 5 to take the 6 o'clock flight which was the only one with space the next morning..ugh!!! Okay still with me????..SO finally its 6:10 and the plane takes off and we all sigh a relief as we head on the 15 min trip to the island with blue skies all around. All of a sudden the captain comes over the intercom. Yup you guessed it. There was 1 last "gotcha". One of the planes sensors was malfunctioning and we had to turn around and go back to Hyannis. At that point with my bedhead and crackhead looking red eyes I just had to give a weary "you got me"laugh. Someone in the cosmos was definitely screwing with us big time. The sensor issue was solved and after almost an hour in a hot plane on the runway we took off again and actually landed on island. I was waiting for some last minute bag mixup or other comedic blooper but I guess we were finally let off the hook. Are you exhausted? I know I was and still am. More to come on the first day, first meeting, and all that exciting stuff.....