Our Exchange Student!!

I need to write this down before I forget it....On Sunday night we went to the airport to pick up Tristan, our exchange student from Germany. His plane was suppose to arrive at 6:55 p.m. and then he had to go through customs which could take an hour. We left our house at 6:45 thinking that it wouldn't take us that long to get to the airport.

At about 7-7:10 we arrive at the airport. We go to terminal 1. We have never picked up anyone at Terminal 2. When we walk in we talk to the man at the information desk. We find out that British Airways is indeed at Terminal 2. He tells us it will be a 5 minute walk. We think that would take longer especially with Kade and Kyle walking. Somebody else tells us that we could ride the shuttle over there. When we find the shuttle waiting spot we are told the shuttle might not come for another 20 minutes. So, we decide to walk back to our car, load the boys up and head for terminal 2.

As we arrive at Terminal 2 we can't find the parking spot, so Kade and I jump out. We walk into a building labeled "Arrivals". When I walk in there is nobody there but an airport worker. She tells me I need to go to the customs building next door. Kade and I walk really fast over to the next building. We start looking around. There are a lot of people and the lights aren't that bright. My sight is horrible in dim light. We walk around frantically trying to find Tristan. I am upset I didn't have my sign the boys and I painted with Tristan's name on it. As I am looking around I finally spot a young guy that looks like Tristan. I walk up to him and ask him if he is Tristan. Sure enough it is him. Since he is "underage" we have to sign for him, but the only person that could sign for him is Eric. He was still trying to find a spot. I didn't know where he was, so we walk outside to wait for him.

Kade and I are looking to see if our car passes by. We don't see it. A few minutes go by. I start thinking I am hearing Kyle's voice. I look over and little Kyle is trying to walk as fast as he possibly can. Eric is carrying our sign we made and Connor, who is holding one of the balloons. At last we are all together and we can take Tristan home. Eric signs all the papers and we walk to the car. We all get in and head home. We figure Tristan is hungry so what do we get for him? McDonalds, of course. We finally arrive home. We show him the house and his room. When he comes back downstairs to eat his yummy, delicious home cooked meal (sarcasm) he gives us all a gift. How nice was that!! The boys loved their presents and I cannot wait to have some real German chocolate and homemade jam his mom made. Because of all the mix ups I completely forgot to take pictures and still have not taken one picture. I need to get on that.

We are super excited to have Tristan here! The boys are already treating him like he is part of the family. They make sure they are constantly around him and absolutely do not hide their true feelings. We are sure Tristan will be excited, even more, to go to school so he doesn't have to listen to screaming, fighting and crying. However, he is really good with them.

Our first day was kind of crazy with trying to fill out paper work, get him registered for school and everything else. We went to the store to buy school supplies and get some groceries. Kyle was running around everywhere and almost getting hit by carts. It was crazy!! We did get most of the shopping done. On the other hand, we were able to end the day at my mom's. Tristan and the boys went swimming and we had a delicious dinner outside.

Tristan we are glad you here!!! We are sorry we were late picking you up and we really hope the boys aren't bugging you too much!

***I will make sure I take some pictures and post them on here.