Blogger just changed things up on me so I need to figure out all the new stuff now- bear with me!
Here we are, stateside!
Last Sunday morning us and the Herrmann's headed out at 2:00 in the morning. We thought we would be able to sleep on the way to Port-au-Prince but, you know, plans change. After a less than stellar trip from the hospital to the airport (six rounds of puke in our family with one shared puke bag- we think the Herrmann's still like us????), we got all checked in and ready to board our flight. Things got a little crazy at one point while I was standing at the top of a very fast escalator with two boys, two backpacks, a carry-on suitcase, and a folded up stroller. Danny had made it down the escalator before I realized quite how much help I was in need of and finally there was an airport worker that graciously helped out. Or maybe it wasn't gracious and he just wanted me out of there. Either way, we made it down and out the door to the plane where we could finally drop off some of our load and encourage our overtired and a little bit scared kids up the stairs and onto the plane.
After landing in Fort Lauderdale and making it to our hotel, we grabbed some Wendy's that was next door to the hotel and got the kids ready to swim. Tucker doesn't have his own puddle jumper or anything so Summer got the arm floaties and he got the pink floatie:) We thought about trying to make it all the way to 7:00 in the evening or so and then just all going to bed early, but after hitting a wall we decided to nap and stay up a little later.
We all crashed for a couple hours around 4:00 and then ordered pizza. It was the first time for the kids to have pizza delivery in front of a TV in a hotel and it was a hit. I mean, what's not to love?
Herrmann's had an early morning flight so we said our goodbyes before they went to bed and we had the whole next morning to kill by ourselves. We took a little walk around the hotel and the surrounding area and saw a rooster and a chicken roaming the parking lot pecking away at someone's discarded food. We had to double check to see if we were really back in the states or if it was all a dream and we were really still in Haiti:)
Our flight out wasn't until 4:00 in the afternoon so we had pleeeeeennnnnnty of time to kill. The airport was dead when we checked in. It was so weird! And for the first time since we've been flying with the kids, they were invited up into the cockpit! I might have been more excited about it than they were:)
Tucker was tuckered out. All the kids were such troopers after having such a messed up schedule. Summer and Sawyer didn't take any naps on the plane but it must have been the car seat effect for Tucker and he just cashed.
Meanwhile Summer made a puppet out of the barf bag:)
We made it to my parent's house around 9:00, had a little unwind time and snacking on our requested groceries time, and then hit the hay. Tuckered out Tucker slept until 11:00 on Tuesday morning while the other two wasted no time in jumping into life with cousins:)
The first few days were pretty low key as we caught up on sleep and got used to being up here. However Summer did get to go out with my parents for her belated birthday outing. She chose Chic-fil-A and Build-a-Bear and came home with this giant unicorn. She loved it!
It's been a good mix this week of resting and family time. My sis-in-law snapped this picture of the boys the other night and I'm pretty sure I want it framed for their room. Summer and Sawyer have been BFFs for awhile now and Tucker is really getting into the mix too, now. It's a different friendship between brother/sister versus brother/brother. It's fun to see them all grow together!
Helping grandpa and grandma pick beans. I think he actually picked a few!
Out for ice cream!
Guess who's old enough to know he needs wants his own now??? The last time we went out for ice cream he was not even a year and was perfectly satisfied with just having a few bites of someone else's. My how things change!
Tomorrow we leave here and head to a missionary orientation/retreat with a small group of other Harvest Call missionaries. We are looking forward to that time and then Friday we will head the rest of the way out to Danny's family and start to get settled into our temporary place of residence. More sweet reunions! And more acclimations:) But all acclimating aside, it's good to be here!
