Happy Easter!

Oh my god she is so cute i just want to squeeze her and snuggle her and AAAAAAHHH!



Happy Easter from the most precious Easter Bunny in the world :)

Back in the womb

Well I'm back in UB after two wonderful weeks in the womb. I made it home safe and sound after traveling back in time on April 1st. How's that for an April Fool's joke? Really. I flew from UB through Beijing to Chicago and then onward to Boston. My Beijing flight departed at 4:10 PM on April 1st and was scheduled to land in Chicago at 4:19 PM, April 1st. That didn't happen though. Instead of arriving at 4:19, we arrived at 3:45 PM, a full 25 minutes earlier than we left Beijing. That's my kind of travel. The other weird thing was that I was up super early in Mongolia to get to the airport, so I saw the sunrise in UB on the 1st, and then I saw the sunrise in Alaska, yet again on the 1st of April. I'm telling you, it was an odd day.

Anyways, my mom and brother (surprise!) were at the airport to collect me, American flag and bag of nuts and bolts (only the most delicious Kilpatrick recipe ever created) in hand, and off we went to Manchester by the Sea.

First thing Saturday morning I headed over to Scott and Lindsay's house to meet beautiful Molly. She was tiny, wonderful, darling and just everything I had expected her to be. And her parents were tired but happy, overwhelmed but joyous. It was really, REALLY nice. For the rest of my time at home, I did my best to pester them as often as possible, and I'm fairly certain that I succeeded.





So the first week home was a medley of Molly visits, running errands with the mother, eating everything delicious in sight, and scheduling the wisdom teeth. I had them out on the first Thursday after I got home, and despite what this picture implies, it was far less painful than I thought it would be. The biggest set-back was the lack of ability to eat everything in my path. Good thing I had mom around to ask the question of the week: "Kara, do you need another milkshake?" Yes, please.



Check out the sweet rabbit ear ice pack my mom constructed for me. The woman is crafty.

Annie came to visit the weekend following the teeth, so I was a bit sleepier and more swollen than usual, but we managed to get by with a weekend of knitting, beach walking and yapping. Lots of yapping. It was great and left me feeling, as usual, oh so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life. That said, I'm still not convinced that she didn't just come for the food. The food in the womb is delicious.

So early Monday morning Annie was off, back to Denver, and Monday afternoon Momma Bear and I were off, headed into Boston for a Red Sox game with Tracerooni and Colin. Being the savvy women that we are, Momma and I took the train in early so as to ensure we would have time for pre-game beers at a bar by Fenway. We tend to solve all the world's problems with these pre-Red Sox game beers, so it was best we did not miss an opportunity.





The game was miserable and for some odd reason I cannot remember the score (that is called selective memory), but we had a great time nonetheless. Oh, and Molly likes the Red Sox too, despite the despicable start she has witnessed to her first season as a fan.



Tuesday morning we hit the road to Connecticut for lunch at Colin's pub followed by an afternoon with the Booth ladies. It was wonderful and - here we are again - left me feeling oh so very blessed. So we yapped, laughed, and drank wine, and we had ourselves a beautiful, rainy afternoon. My grandmother recently earned the title of Great-Grandmother, and she makes a beautiful one at that, so it was fun to share in that excitement with her.

So this was about the time at home where the nostalgia, sentimentality, tugging at the heart-strings, all that, kicked in. A friend in Mongolia pointed out when I returned that he thought I had high expectations of my trip home before I left, so he was glad that it had lived up to everything I had hoped for. Here's what gets me: I knew it would. I knew that if I spent as much time as possible with my family, my friends, all of my favorite people in that little corner of the world, there was no possible way I could be disappointed. And I wasn't. To me, my trip home was just the most wonderful celebration of all of the most important people in my world. I spent hours upon hours sitting and chatting with people I love. We shared food, wine, conversation, walks on the beach, rides on the train. Simply put, we shared our time, which when you live halfway around the world, is an incredibly valuable thing to share. And I loved every second of it.







Unfortunately there was one person missing from this love-fest of mine, and that was Christopher. Or perhaps I should say fortunately there was one person missing? I'm just not sure that if he had been home with me I would have been able to get on the plane back to UB. But I did, and I arrived back to Mongolia a day and a half later and was met at the airport with open arms by the man I love and the reason I came back.

And dare I say it?

It's great to be back.

But I sure do miss this little girl...