August 13, 2006

Chantel’s Christening. Appa and amma came by Nellai express in the morning.
It started raining in the evening. We were planning to reach the church by 5:45. But could only reach at the last minute. Didn’t welcome or seat anyone at the church personally. Duane and Treena sang a duet during the ceremony. Duane, Treena and Varna were the God parents.
Lovely food and lots of photos after the ceremony. Sadly could not take good pictures of Chantel in white dress.

Monday August 14, 2006

Packed the whole day. Left around 7:30 pm to the airport. Lot of new security measures because of the London bound travel. No carry on baggage. Problems with the no of bags while checking in. Airline lady graciously helped. Left to Bombay – 1 hour late.

Tuesday August 15, 2006

Bombay flight left only at 1:30 pm instead of 5:45 am. Slept at the common lounge chairs. Got free breakfast. Didn’t take the Rs 3000 executive lounge! Chantel was doing fine and didn’t cry a lot. Flight didn’t get a Gate in Heathrow. 1 hour. Had to go through security again. Flight didn’t take off for another two hours. Reached Chicago at night 11:30. Cleared immigration and customs without problems. Connecting flight to STL missed. Long queue for getting new flight ticket assigned. 1 Hour.

Wednesday August 16, 2006

We were pushing two carts of luggage. Airline lady said that they would not take the luggage and we had to manually take it to Terminal 3 from 5. Ate more. Airport shuttle said that carts were not allowed. But we took the carts along anyway, otherwise we could not have managed. A nice Indian helped pushing the carts to the Ticket counter in Terminal 3. None of the ticket counters were open. We were thinking that we could just check in all the luggage and be free. They would open only at 4 am. Were just sitting around. Again Chantel didn’t give any trouble at all. Long queue for checking-in at 4. Checked around 5:30 for the 7 am flight. Lady didn’t like 8 luggages. Said she would allow only 5. We had to juggle liquids into the checked in suitcases.
After checking in the luggages we realized we still had lots of medicine in liquid form. We put them in a transparent polythene bag for security screening. Security padded searched even Chantel. Reached STL at 8 am. (12 hours late!!!) Jannet came to pick us up. One of the five checked in luggages didn’t arrive. Waited till 9. Then stood in a queue to report lost luggage. Reached home at 10 am! Jannet graciously brought us food.
Chantel was very happy in the house. Smiling and playing. Called home. Put athai on speakerphone. Chantel heard her voice and started crying and was gloomy for the rest of the day. We were too tired to do anything.

Thursday August 17, 2006

Still tired. Went to work. Chantel felt very lonely. Kept hanging onto daph and didn’t leave her alone. Took Chantel to Shop and save in the evening. The S&S lady gave a $10 discount! Welcome to America!!! Fell asleep at 7pm. Chantel gotup at 1 am and didn’t want to go to sleep!

Friday August 18, 2006

More jetlag and tiredness. Chantel was getting better. She started smiling and tries to understand some of our verbal cues. When we gesture that we are about to leave or getup, she flings herself at us, without wanting to let us go. Carried her for a walk in the evening. Chantel got up at 3 am again.

Saturday August 19, 2006

Tamil picnic. Could not get ready till 12. Chantel was happy to see the other kids and people. Started crying when Ratnaraj uncle lifted her up. It took a long time to bbq. Chicken thighs didn’t get cooked properly. But the food was good and lots. Left early to go to walmart. Bought some child safety stuff.
Chantel got up at 3 am again but was forced to sleep till 5 by daph!!!

Sunday August 20, 2006

Went to Grace church. We used the children play room. Chantel was crawling all over. Went to Duane’s house at night for dinner. Lovely dinner with chilli, corn bread, greens and ice cream! Chantel slept around 10. She woke up around 4 but then slept till 5:30.