The girls and I met Chris at the airport in the parking lot outside the terminal as he flew in from a week of work. He had packed an extra bag of clothes and transferred out his dirty clothes for me to take home. Yay. We said a quick goodbye to Chris and Kristen as they quickly walked back to the terminal for their 10 pm flight. It was late, but it was what worked with Chris' schedule.
We were able to text and facetime with Chris and Kristen throughout the weekend. It was Father's Day, so I had the girls prepare stuff for Kristen to share with Chris Sunday afternoon. It was about this time, as Chris and Kristen's return flight was approaching that we began discussing the possibility of leaving Kristen at Grandma's for another week. Ashley and cousins would be there as well. We even thought about having Amy fly out and bring Kristen home, but in the end decided that Kristen would fly home as an unaccompanied minor. She was a little nervous about the idea of flying by herself but decided that she would be ok.
Kristen had such a wonderful week. She got to spend most of Monday and Tuesday with Grandma. It was the last days of school and Kristen got to tag along. Spending any time with Grandma is a treat for her. She played with cousins, Jeremy taught her Minecraft, they swam in Grandma's pool, and ended up the week with a trip to an adventure park at Mt. Hood. I feared coming home would be a huge let down.
Chris and I left for the airport Monday morning to pick Kristen up. Her flight was early and I had left my phone on mute. The airport was crowded and it took longer for Chris and I to get through security than we had planned. I had my CLEAR card and was able to move through security faster than Chris. As I reached Terminal C, I raced to the far end of the terminal only to find that the flight had already landed and Kristen had been taken to a Unaccompanied Minors holding room. If I had had my phone on, I would have known that. I wouldn't have had to race quite so far. Still I was so happy to spy my little girl through the door as she colored. She even asked to finish her drawing before leaving.
Chris arrived in the terminal just as Kristen was finishing up. I called to him just as he was about to step on to the moving side walk. So good to hug my little one.
Amy and Misha had made a "Welcome Home" sign for Kristen and both came rushing out to meet Kristen as we pulled up to the house. That happy "I missed you" feeling lasted a couple of minutes.