All our bags are packed.

At various points during our trip, any one of us was likely looking forward to the day we headed back to New Hampshire.  That’s not to say that we didn’t enjoy our time in Central America, but there are many things calling us home: grandparents, friends, our own beds.

Lanie’s passport stamps

Regardless of how much we enjoyed our journeys through Belize, Costa Rica and Nicaragua — almost 80 days on the road — it all seemed to revert to distant memories the minute we got onto our airplane in Belize City and headed for Atlanta.

The final moments in Central America

As the day progressed, the reality of home solidified.  We weren’t even distracted much by the confiscation of all our rum in Atlanta. (There’s a whole other security check irrespective of the one we went through in Belize!  Why didn’t anyone tell us?)  Ok, I was a little distracted about that.

Our successful return

And there was a little grumbling going through customs in Atlanta, especially after we got flagged and pulled into a long line of other people who apparently also had contact with farm animals while they were overseas.  (The cows at Cool-M farm were still worth it.)

Sam Brooks found us in the arrivals section only a minute or two after Jen’s pack slid down onto the luggage carousel.  Moments later we were in sight of the Brooks family Suburban and a comfortable trip home.

Sam arrives just in time.

We’re still unpacking three days later, and we’re dealing with a home problem or two.  A leaky shower valve — and the effort to find it — has left our kitchen ceiling looking a little more industrial than it usually does.  All of our cordless phones seem to be on the fritz.  The check engine light is on in the Getaway Van.  The purple Kindle is acting funny.

But we’re home, and glorious spring is emerging all around us.  Testimonies from the locals suggest that the snow only really left two weeks ago, but now it’s garden planting time.  I’ve already purchased my beet seeds, and I’m warming up the soil to plant them in time for Tuesday’s rain.

We haven’t had to cook for ourselves yet, thanks to grocery deliveries and  a dinner invitation from my extremely thoughtful sisters and parents.  We’ve also been treated to dinner by our potluck friends and Bagdad Road connections.    Tomorrow, the girls return to school and Jen goes back to work, truly cementing our home lives back in to place and surely making our adventures seem like daydreams

Luckily we have our blog posts and pictures to revisit and re-read.  We still have to come up with our best-of list for Belize — no easy task, that — and I have to dig up a map to display our routes of travel.

So keep checking in.  We’re home, but we’re not done.