The first day...

The last few days have been a bit busier than I anticipated, and I've been tired too, so finding time to sit down and start this post has been tough.  So, I've decided to divide and conquer.  I figure if I sit down throughout the day and work on the post 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there, I should be able to get this done by tonight!

After getting through San Fran, we enbarked on the 10 hour flight to Frankfurt.  It was a full flight which meant more distractions for a tired Aberly and less room to move around.  Colin declared that upgrading to economy plus in the future (5 extra inches for leg room) would be worth it.  Aberly did nap a few times, but it wasn't ever for more than a couple hours.  We finally made it to Frankfurt and made our biggest traveling blunder there.  

Our flight came in around 11:00 am and our flight out to Oman was at 12:30.  So, we proceeded to gate A23 to wait.  Well, it turns out Colin mixed the numbers in our head, and I failed to double check our tickets when the number didn't sound quite right to me, so we waited and waited there while we were supposed to be at A32.  There were people waiting at the gate, and it was for Lufsthansa, so we weren't tipped off that something was wrong until it was 12:05 and we hadn't heard anything about boarding.  I ran and checked the reader board.  Argh!  We rushed to the next hall over, which is hard to do when you have all the carry-on luggage that we did, and got to the gate literally at the last minute.  The plane was getting ready to take off.  The had been calling our names over the PA (never heard that at all), and they had unchecked our checked bags.  Thanks be to Jesus that the last shuttle bus had not left yet and we scampered down the stairs to the bus to make our flight.  Our flight that wasn't even half full, so it wasn't like lots of people were waiting!  We got seated and took off.  Aberly napped for 4 1/2 hours, and Colin and I finally got to nap for an hour or so each, just enough to get recharged for the last leg of our trip.

All our bags arrived safe and sound at the airport.  The only items that suffered damage was some foam on our BOB stroller handle (we suspect it got rubbed on the conveyor belt) and one of our cheap locks was broken.  Thankfully, none of our locks had been broken off by security for inspection.  As we gathered our bags on carts (no charge in Oman, so nice), I headed over to customs for our baggage check.  After seeing me by myself (initially) and with so many bags (Colin was still bringing the other half), the wonderful Omani woman working the line took pity on on me and didn't have us run any of our luggage through the scanner after the first three.

Out the door we headed to the main lobby and there was a familiar face.  The middle school principal, Keith, and a few others were waiting for us to help load us in the car and get to our new home, which was about 10 minutes away.  The heat, you are wondering?  Yes, it is hot.  Colin's description to his brother is perfect.  "Turn up your office temperature to 90 and buy a great humidifier and turn it on full."  My brother and our friend Mark told us that's New York and the east coast in the summer, so if you've experienced that, you know how we feel.  Yes, it is hot and humid.  Summer is the worst time for it and the humidity will mellow in a month or so.  It's actually fairly bearable in the shade and every place you go, there is AC.  We are fine :-)

The school and our housing was a short 10 minute ride away and they helped us get all our suitcases upstairs in no time. We are on the second level.  By the time we got a simple dinner together and unpacked some of our stuff, it was 1:00 in the morning when we went to bed.  They unfortunately didn’t have a crib for us when we arrived (we got it yesterday) so we were super lucky that Aberly was so tired that she crashed right away and slept on the queen bed. 

Since then, we’ve had another day of adventures but I will add that later.  I am ready to relax this afternoon while Aberly naps.  The lack of sleep and busy days are catching up with us!