After getting the news about Big J, the kids and I hopped aboard a plane and headed for Iowa. We tried to get on Mitchell's flight (he left the same day for San Jose), but there weren't any seats available. So, with 3 kids in tow I headed to Des Moines via Vancouver and Denver with AirCanada. We were even able to have supper with Leah, Emily and Maraia in the Denver airport because we had such a long layover. That was definitely a highlight! :) Although I do have to note that we flew thousands of miles and the kids picked Panda Express for supper. What dorks!

Maraia, Adeline, Emily and Truman at the Denver Airport.

Leah and Jess at DIA.

It was a hard week trying to come to terms with Big J's death and the kids ended up getting sick too, jet lag and emotions are not a good combination. We had to extend our trip in Iowa an additional week because the kids were not well enough to fly. On the plus side though, we were able to spend more time with our family, the kids painted pottery for Miss Fiona and Miss Cindy, Truman started walking! and we synced up itineraries with Mitchell in Chicago to fly back to Beijing (Mitchell had to return to the US 5 days after he got back to Beijing the first time).

Truman letting Lucy out of her kennel.He was pretty proud of his new discovery!