Now that's more like it!

We are safely and soundly back in England, and we are oh-so-thankful for the "soundly" part.                  After our Christmas trip near-nightmare, with Violet overtired and crying much of the flights (before throwing up all over the pair of us), I was a bit nervous about Saturday's plane trip.

But, in five-plus months since Christmas, Violet has grown up enough to really enjoy watching television. And, she was happy to sit in what she called her "big girl seat," a child safety device akin to a car seat. These two things combined to make for a much easier flight. Also, on the advice of a sympathetic fellow traveler on our Christmas flight (and with the doc's OK), I gave Violet a children's formulation of melatonin.

I can't say that Violet slept much on the plane - only 90 minutes or 2 hours toward the end, after it hit 1 a.m. California time. But she was happy as long as I kept Mickey Mouse Clubhouse playing.

Cora was a fantastic traveler, once again. She slept for about five hours, and caused not even a hint of a problem. She was very excited to see Nan and Pop again, and in the days leading up to the trip, she kept asking when we would be finally on our way.

Also on hand at Heathrow to greet us (and drive us) was JT. We were a little too exhausted to think of posing for a photo, but it was great to see her and catch up on the car journey home Sunday afternoon.

Home, in our case, was Dean and Jenny's for two nights. They were on a little holiday, and we were more than happy to take over their three bedrooms, playroom, child-oriented back garden and nearby playground.

 With the help of those little melatonin tablets, both girls did remarkably well on our first night. Cora woke with leg pains and spent some hours in our bed, and Violet woke twice, but both times could be settled back to sleep. (At Christmas, she never settled in to the time change and was up for hours each night.) The jet lag wasn't too bad for me and Stace, either, and we all slept (off and on) until 7.

We spent most of Monday around Dean and Jen's home, with Nan and Pop coming to visit for the afternoon. We took a walk around the village, and admired the decorations up in honor of the Queen's Jubilee celebrations.

Later, after visiting Big Nan, we picked up fish cakes and chips for dinner. On Monday night, the girls slept fine again. Cora was up once with leg cramps again, but stayed in her own bed. Violet also woke, but only once, and again she was able to settle relatively quickly. We all slept until 8:30! What a great start to our trip though! We'll see how tonight goes, now that we're all sharing a bedroom at Nan and Pop's house.