Bienvenido a Estudos Unidos!

This morning, we all were too excited to sleep, so we were up early.  We were done packing and ready to go over 30 minutes before Carlos arrived.  We gave ourselves a few hours before our flight since we didn't know what delays we might encounter trying to fly back to the US.  We ran into a small delay at the immigration counter since we only presented copies of the adoption documents.  Our lawyer had come to the airport to say good-bye and she had just left, so Carlos called her and she quickly returned to the airport.  After half an hour or so, everything was cleared up and we were ready to go to the next step.  We had already checked in our luggage and had our boarding passes, so we could move on to security.  All in all, it took about two hours from the time we arrived at the airport to get to our gate.  And the Tegucigalpa airport is very small.  There is not much in the way of food to purchase at the gates there, so we made due with some plantano chips and two baleadas.  The flight was uneventful, which is good, and around 4:30(EST) we landed in Miami.  When we went to go through passport control, we needed to enter the visitors section, since the children were flying on Honduran passports.  At the US Embassy yesterday, along with the visas, we were given a large manila envelope filled with papers for each child, with the instructions "DO NOT OPEN" and give them to the immigration officer in the states.  In Miami, we approached the passport control officer and handed over our passports and the large manila envelops that are only opened within the cone of silence.  The officer was really nice, and he processed us at the window, then walked us back to a large room with rows of chairs (I thought I was done with these for a while).  He handed over the top secret "For Your Eyes Only" envelopes to someone else in the large room and we sat down and waited for a while.  We were waiting to be called back to the interrogation room with the bright lights, but instead after 10 minutes or so, a real nice immigration officer called us over, confirmed the identities of the children with their passports and said we could go.  In a sort of stupefied manner we stood there waiting for more hoops to jump through.  Alicia asked about the documents in the envelope, and if the officer knew what was in there, she wasn't telling us...so we still do not know the contents of the mysterious envelope that I carried into our country.  We were done, so we went and collected our luggage (all the bags made it to Miami) and we found our shuttle to our hotel and settled into our room around 7pm.  On the way to the hotel, Ashton looked out the window and saw an American flag and said, "Estudos Unidos" (United States).  I leaned over to him and said, "Bienvenido a Estudos Unidos!" (Welcome to the United States), and he had a huge smile on his face.  Alia is still a bit confused, she thinks we'll get to the United States tomorrow.  She doesn't understand that Miami is in the US, no matter how much we try to tell her that she is already in the US.  After dinner at a Cuban diner across the street followed by a swim in the cold outdoor pool, we are settling in for a shortened night of sleep as we begin to adjust from the two hour time difference.  We will leave for the airport tomorrow around 7am and should be home by early afternoon.  Good night...here is a picture of Alia in the Miami airport.  I think it says it all...

 Ashton likes the conveyor belts for walking through the airport.  Both the kids loved riding on the sky train at the airport.

Waiting for our airport shuttle.  Mami wanted a picture, and I am not sure anyone else did.  This gives a little glimpse into some of the strong-willed "personality" that comes out at times.