WE ARE HOME!!!!

And let me tell you - there truly is no place like home.

But this was truly a vacation worthy of being called "an N family vacation" because just when you think we got past being exhausted from the flight, a cranky 11 year old who made everyday painful at some point, a woman who crushed my knees, poor transit, rainy evenings, and lack of delicious food conveniently located, SOMETHING ELSE had to happen.

The morning that we left, we could not find our vouchers for the bus trip back to the airport. But they gave us a letter to give to the driver, and I swore that Hongo had thrown our passes away or something. So we strolled around the hotel, in limbo after checking out and waiting for our bus to arrive. The bus arrives and we get on, make a few stops, and then head to the airport.
Halfway to the airport, Hongo looks at me with horror on his face and says "I LEFT THE CAR KEYS IN THE SAFE AT THE HOTEL!!!!" Sure enough, the key to the safe is in his pocket, and OUR keys to get home are in it.
So I call the hotel and speak with them. She tells me they will hurry and they may have to break the lock, which will take more time, but that they will try to get the keys to us before the flight leaves in ......two hours.
I call MIL, and tell her that she may need to go back to our house and get my spare set, then bring them to the airport where we are arriving. Oh wait - I think we locked the keys in our bedroom, so maybe she and FIL could bring our other car to us instead?
The hotel called back - they have our keys and are sending them on the next bus to the airport.
HOngo waits at the welcome center, while I must now take 3 kids and carry-ons through the airport by myself and reach our gate. We had planned to have a meal at the airport, but all I can think is if Hongo could get back in time, we can all eat together. A hour passed, and I was on the verge of tears. I was knitting furiously to keep from thinking about missing my flight, and there are some STRANGE people that they let go on airplanes, BTW.
At 3:20 we went into the conveinience store to get some snacks and water. I was going to buy a bunch of stuff, but then I thought I saw Hongo get off the shuttle so I told the kids to grab what we had and made the guy ring it up. Turns out that it wasn't Hongo at all.
The flight began to board, Legoqueen is saying that we are going to have to leave without Daddy, and I told them "WE ARE NOT LEAVING WITHOUT DADDY!!!" They call for our zone, and still no Hongo. Finally, I see him. The keys got to him and he ran from one end of the terminal to the other to make it to the flight.
The rest of the journey was long and uneventful. Except for us scarfing down food in 15 minutes during the layover in Atlanta. The kids were well behaved and we made it home around 10pm. OUr house was still standing, and my fish are still alive.
I have a lot of catching up to do, today we went to the grocery store and Costco, and did laundry.
I do have to tell everyone the story about the keys, though. LOL!

Oh, and BTW - the bus vouchers were in the safe with the keys and medical cards.....