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!

Overseas adventures begin!

So here I sit in the San Fransisco airport at 10:40 am waiting for our 2:00 pm flight to Frankfurt.  It's a bit of a wait.  We got in to San Fran at about 7:00 am after a 5:30 flight out of Redmond.   Luckily for us, Aberly napped on most of the first flight and was pleasant the rest of the time.  We are hoping that trend continues on our next two flights but we aren't holding our breath.  Airplane white noise is definitely helpful in putting a kiddo to sleep. 

As we speak, Colin is taking Aberly on a walk around the international terminal.  She is a tired bug and needs another nap.  Hopefully a few laps and she'll knock out for awhile.  Colin and I would love to nap as well but we'll run on fumes for awhile and wait for our flight. 

We were blessed by our wonderful families and some good friends from church (a wonderful surprise and blessing!) at 4:15 this morning who helped send us of and shlep our nine suitcases (plus carry-ons) to the airport.  We couldn't have done it without them! 

We   S L O W L Y  got through the ticket counter as the United workers figured out our checked luggage.  Unfortunately, United changes it's baggage policy about monthly, so we had to wait for them to figure out how much we owed for our extra bags since the tickets were purchased prior to the baggage change.  I think the 9 bags and early hours (and seriously growing line behind us) flustered the workers enough that we got out of there actually paying less that we should've.  I told Colin that was God's way of blessing us since we didn't lose our cool with the United personnel.

Next we smoothly got through security thinking we were golden.  Close, but not close enough.  Upon deciding we should change Aberly's wet diaper before boarding the plane, we discovered we were sans diaper bag.  We knew it had come in the airport with us.....  Called my mom and yes, she did indeed have it slung over her shoulder!  Good thing she was in the parking lot!  She brought it back, causing me to have to go through security again which had a much longer line now than before.  By the time I made it through, we were the LAST to board. 

As I said, Aberly did great on the plane and once in San Fransisco, we navigated our way to a sit-down restaurant for breakfast and then off to the international terminal where I now sit.  Aberly has entertained herself on the moving sidewalk and escalators, as well as pulling her little suitcase around. 

Colin just stopped by and Aberly is OUT COLD in her stroller.  Thank goodness.  A little battery recharge is what she needs!

Much love from all of us! (this picture is from our afternoon at Elk Lake a few days before our move)

Our Toddler

My mother-in-law made the comment tonight that we no longer have a baby, we have a toddler.  She is very right.  I knew it was true, but to have someone else say it made it more of a reality.

Aberly woke up a few days ago a different little girl.  If you are a parent, you understand this.  You can't describe it, you just KNOW they are different.  They have more abilities, they understand more, they are more grown up, they are just more. 

Aberly's vocabulary grows and grows and she is very good at trying to copy a lot of what we say.  She just picked up "cheek" and loves to point them out on our faces all the time as she burns it into her knowledge base.  Some of her fun new ones are milk, nukkers, blankie, dumbo, truck, car, house, owie, push, helmet, meat, outside, inside, treat, cookie, cracker, almost, and brush.

She has figured out how to open all doors (which allowed her to slip out my friend's sliding door today out around their pool while we talked today!), how to ride her trike, how to jump, run, play chase, and play in her sandbox.  She is also becoming a lot more adventurous and strong, which allowed her to pull over a propped door against the wall on herself (it was off it's hinges due to a refrigerator being moved) and got a big scare and egg on her forehead when it fell on her.  Don't worry, she is okay.

As for me and Colin, we are continuing to try to keep up with her along with prepping for our move.  She keeps us on our toes and keeps us laughing.  She is quite a little ham.  We are very lucky parents.

 Pretending to sleep

 Hi Mom!

 Family picture on a hike at Tumalo Falls in Bend.

 Walking by herself like a big girl.

 Lunch break! Happy hiker!

 Getting help from Uncle Connor on the way down.

Coming out to "help" dad after her bath.