Well, I think it's high time I finished up these posts.  These photos were taken on our last night in Astana.  Our sweet neighbor Sarah came by to tell us goodbye with her grandson.  She had been to the opera that evening, but brought us some chocolate bars to share with our family at home.

We had some other visitors also.  Kamka and her brother came by with treats and gifts.  Our friend, Emin, came and picked us up early and took us to the airport.  And, as is traditional in Kazakhstan, he helped us into the airport and stayed until we went through security.  We love our Kazakh friends.

We were kind of dreading that long 14 hour flight from Istanbul to LAX, but it turned out that we were in business class, so that made it easier to do.

Here is a shot showing the flight route we took.  Looong flight!

We left Astana around 6 am and arrived in Tucson about 10:30 pm the same day.  It was so good to see our kiddos that made it to the airport.

We made it!

Some of the grandkids trying out their Kazakh / Turkish / Russian hats

We were happy to be home for the holidays and have enjoyed visiting with our other family members in Idaho and Hawaii