Following our adventurous evening in the Grand Place and a late night packing session, our anticipated travel day back to North Caorlina arrived lightening fast.
We were all up early making final arrangements to be ready when the cab arrived at 7:15 a.m.
The children said their final good-byes to their friends. Amy's son was pretty sneaky and managed to get in a few games of Mario Cart that morning as all the adults were too distracted to realize what was going on.
It was such a tough good-bye to leave Amy. She became a true friend in such a short time. Jason and I will be forever grateful for everything she and Matt did for us during our last few days in Brussels. After finishing up those last difficult good-byes, we hopped in the cab and the kids seemed excited about getting back to the States.
As you can tell, the Burgin family knows how to travel light!! Seriously, we felt ridiculous going through the airport with this mound of stuff, and received more than our fair share of stares. I felt like saying to everyone we passed that we have to live out of these suitcases for 6-8 weeks-it's actually not that bad for 5 people!
Thankfully, the check-in and security lines at the airport were unusually low, so we made it through relatively quickly and settled in for a picnic breakfast in the terminal. 
Drew and I made a few laps around the terminal to get some energy out. He kept wanting to go back and forth on the motorized sidewalk and yelling for Jason to look at him while we passed by!
We were some of the first people on the plane and Jenna quickly settled in for her customary review of the plane safety regulations.
Then it was one final view out the window at Brussels. Leaving on a typical, dreary morning made us pretty excited to get back to sunny NC.
Overall, the flight went well. We flew on a Boeing 757, which is the smallest plane we've flown across the ocean. It only had one isle, and three seats on each side. It was a bit tight, and Drew's stance in the photo above was his preferred position much to the dismay of the flight attendants.
By the time we landed in Philidelphia, eight and a half hours later, all three kids were completely passed out! Their internal clock felt like it was ~8 p.m. It was definitely passed bedtime after such an early start to the day. 
This beautiful sky greeted us when we arrived and helped each of us get through the last leg of our travel.
Thankfully, we made our connecting flight with no trouble. We even had time to stop and grab a milkshake to tide us over to dinner. We arrived in Charlotte around 4:30 p.m. My Dad came to pick us up, and thankfully all of our stuff fit into our car. It was the true "family" test for this vehicle - 5 large suitcases, 4 carry-on bags, a stroller, two back packs, two car seats three adults and three children!
It was an early bedtime for everyone that Thursday night as we knew it was going to be a big weekend of house hunting starting the next morning. We woke up bright and early on Friday, thanks in part to the kids feeling like it was mid-day by the time it was 5 in the morning. However, my Dad treated us to a good, down home southern breakfast before we headed to the Triangle area to start our house hunting in earnest. Drew and Grandpa kept each other entertained at the end of the table. 
Here's the whole gang enjoying our biscuits, omlets, bacon and any other greasy, hot food we could find on the menu.
Buddy's Place is a local breakfast place in the small town near where I grew up. Thanks, Dad, for the perfect start to our reacclimation to Southern cuisine!
Jason snapped this quick photo of me, my Dad and my Grandpa. Two very special men in my life!
The following thirty-six hours flew by in a blur of viewing ~ 20 houses with the kids. In all honesty, I dreaded having all three of them as we tried to move quickly from house to house. However, in the end, it was really a blessing to hear their input on the houses and see their reactions to various features. At the end of the weekend, we were still "house-less", exhausted and ready to get settled.
Thankfully, Jason's brother's wife invited us to a evening swim session at their neighborhood pool on Saturday evening just before we drove to our temporary housing. It was the perfect way to let the kids get out some energy.
Jenna loved reuniting with her cousin.
In the final minutes of the swim time, one of the older boys at the pool began a splash contest in the diving area. The kids LOVED it!
Jason and I were talking and realized we have flown across the Atlantic Ocean 10 times in the last 22 months, and the kids were with us 6 of those times. Even though we've learned several tips for getting through security relatively unscathed and ways to stay sane on a plane for 8 to 9 hours with three young children, we are thankful to be in one place for a while! We are still amazed that we were blessed with this awesome opportunity, and thankful for all of the experiences we had since December 2010.
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