Surviving America: T's Limp Through Holidays; P Gets Christmas Fever

X-mas Toys Galore

Thrilled with his John Deere quad

Enjoying the 60-degree weather...

"so this is what dry grass feels like?"

Avoiding a tackle from mom...

Riding shotgun in Papa L's sidecar

trying out Papa L's new toy

Taking advantage of rare sunshine for tour of neighborhood

Chez the L's

Mugging for the lens while Papa L to starts up the train around the Christmas tree..

Dateline Normandy -- Things went downhill from the start. An hour-long delay on the tarmac in Paris even before the 10 1/2-hour -long flight began and a restless and unconsolable P none too happy to sit that long on the packed plane. While somehow they wearily survived the first leg of the trans-Atlantic crossing, more pain was to come. Upon landing in Atlanta, another 1 1/2-hour wait through passport control and customs where the T's had to recite the national anthem and name the starting offensive line of the 66 Packers to gain admittance to U.S. soil. The only thing less enjoyable was having to go through security (40 mins) again just to LEAVE the airport. From there, rest and Tex-Mex helped recharge the batteries. What wasn't a help was the rainy - though warm - weather that seemed constant during the sejour in the U.S. The T's were so looking forward to some southern sunshine. Following that was illness, knocking out all three of the T's - P especially, who picked up a bronchial virus and sported temperatures that required him to visit an urgent-care facility. The T's, not being the selfish type, also passed on their illness to C's inlaws, making for one pitifiul crew at Christmas. However, everyone rallied to pick up spirits for the big day and P seemed absolutely thrilled despite his physical state. In the end, time spent with inlaws/grandparents and friends still outweighed all and P even recovered sufficiently at the end of the stay and was nothing short of perfect on the return flight, sleeping almost the whole way without the aid of drugs. The T's are now happily recovering chez eux and are looking forward to FRIENDS AND FAMILY MAKING the next visit to their side of the pond. ~30~