The Cullinan Family: He's Home!!!

I'm sorry that I'm so late in posting these - there have been extenuating circumstances. New camera, new computer, new file format and one very tired me. So at last here are the pictures from Brendan's homecoming!

The day he returned was a nice warm sunny day and we had to wait ALL DAY LONG for the ceremony. It was going to be at 10:45 pm and we were supposed to be there an hour and a half or so early so I actually put the girls to bed and then got them up at 9 to leave. They were so tired that I actually got Aoife changed into her dress without even waking her up!! We got to the hangar around 9:30 and sat with some friends who had saved us seats. Aoife promptly slipped and smashed her lip open on the bleachers - thankfully we were surrounded by moms so I had more than enough tissues to mop up the blood and somehow I managed not to get any on my dress or Aoife's dress! The plane was a little early and we headed outside to watch it land and to see if we could see Brendan get off the plane. It was dark and rainy but not that cold. The kids barely even complained - they were so excited to see Brendan! After the plane landed it took a few minutes for the stairs to be rolled over and for everyone to start deplaning. Brendan was one of the first ones to march by and we barely got to see him. We went back inside and waited at our seats for the soldiers to march in. The hangar doors opened and Brendan was in front! Aidan and Emmy saw him right off the bat and started jumping up and down and screaming but Aoife had a hard time finding him in all that camouflage! Once she did see him, she wanted to run down to him in the middle of the ceremony! After they marched in a few people spoke - honestly I couldn't tell you who spoke or what they said - and then they released the soldiers for 15 minutes of family time. After we got to see each other for a bit they had to get on buses and go turn in their weapons and get their bags. This took 1 1/2 hours and by the time we got home it was almost 2 am. The kids went right to bed and slept in a bit in the morning. Thankfully Brendan didn't have to go to reintegration since he had gotten in so late so we kept the kids home from school and spent a whole day together!!! It was perfect!

Waiting out in the rain for the plane: