This was a fairly typical travel day. We had to get up early, had hotel breakfast at 6:30 and took a taxi to the airport at 7:15. Everything was on time—the plane to Munich, and then the plane from Munich to Chicago. We even landed in Chicago a little bit early, but we still almost missed our connection because the lines at immigration/customs and then even at the “get your bags checked back in” point were so long. If the guy at the bag check in hadn’t been kind and just taken our luggage and said “run” we would have not made it through the endless wilderness that is Chicago O’Hare and the additional security check point. As it was, we were the last people to get on the plane—and then they sat on the ground saying that they were waiting for international bags, presumably ours! Nonetheless, we were in Lincoln on time, and Mark’s friend James, who had brought our car to the airport, was actually still there and greeted us. We got to the apartment at about 6:30, and Kati, Krynn, Jupiter, and their friend Alex came over and hung out for a while. Jupiter was very excited to see us! They had to leave before the fireworks, but Kati stayed long enough to sing with Kai, which was a wonderful welcome home. We just barely lasted long enough to watch the city fireworks from the roof garden, and I am sure I was fast asleep well before 11. The days with the extra 7 hours added in are always rough on the way back to the States!