Jetlag...

When we moved to England when I was 9 years old, one of the first things people said to us was, "are you getting over your jetlag?" I thought it was some kind of serious illness and was worried about what other horrific things England might have in store if we already got Jetlag and we were just there a couple of days! My family soon set me straight after much laughter at my expense and apparently, I was so traumatized by their jeering that I have never forgot about it...thanks fam! ;-)

I have thought about that over the last couple of days as our entire family has been getting over our Jetlag...Indonesia style. The first night we were all up at some point between 11:30pm and 4am...AWESOME for Mom! The second night we did a little better, but Andrew was up for about 3 hours straight although he was good and just laid in his bed (we have caved and given him his pacie back while we adjust...yeah yeah I know...SAVE IT). Last night was a lot better...both boys made it through the night, but Audrey decided to act up, and Tanner keeps waking up and wanting to talk between 2am-4am. I am just grateful for any sleep I get when I can get it. We did actually see the end of the England vs. USA soccer game live. It was on at 1:30am here! But I must say, there is one perk of having jetlag...and there really is only one...

(the view from our living room window at 5:30am)

We've Arrived!

We are here!!!! We arrived safe and sound after a 5 hour flight to LAX, a 4 hour lay over, a 14 hour flight to Hong Kong, and then a final 4 hour flight to Jakarta. The kids actually did great considering the amount of time we were on airplanes. It was mostly tough just getting them to settle down each time we got on a new plane. At one point Tanner said on our plane in Hong Kong...What is this? A jungle gym? To which a stewardess who was walking by said in all seriousness "This is a 777". She actually thought Tanner thought it was a jungle gym. Hilarious. Gotta love the language barrier.

It was great arriving at the airport, we were quite the spectacle, but people are so nice and smiley. When we walked out of customs, there were these two people waving frantically and jumping up and down so excited to see us. They were our sponsors! I almost cried I was so happy to see them. They are so wonderful and we just had a great time chatting with them while on our way from the airport to our temporary housing, which is pretty much a hotel, although embassy families do live here. It is very nice, and we will be happy to live here until our house is ready in a few weeks. They had dinner delivered for us and our place was stocked with some items from the grocery store. It is so nice not having to worry about running out immediately to find a grocery store.

From what I have seen of the city, which is super limited I will admit...Jakarta isn't as dirty as I thought it would be, at least the parts we've seen...there is lots of greenery and flowers, even on the highway. It was funny driving by Dunkin Donuts, Sizzler, and a few other "American" restaurants. Hopefully we will have time and not be jet lagged enough to get out a little bit this weekend, but for now we are just going to hunker down and try to get ourselves on the right time! Andrew is in love with all the motorcycles on the road, and Clark has seen nothing of the city because he was completely passed out in the car from the airport to the hotel. We have quite the view, and he has decided this one building looks like an alien spaceship, but he doesn't seem to concerned! Will try to post some pics soon!

P.S. I totally want to go back and check out Hong Kong at some point. It looked like a super cool place from the air. Hopefully we will since our temple district is Hong Kong!

POST EDIT: Pack Out Day!

See how tired I am? I wrote July 8th...that would be June 8th, and I guess it was technically 3am THIS morning.

Pack Out Day!

As I type, the movers are packing up ALL of our stuff...we were up until 3am last night making sure everything was in the right pile, and now we have nothing to do but sit here and watch them work...and try not to fall asleep ;-) Audrey is hanging out with us and the boys are at a friend's for the day. We leave for Jakarta on July 8th and luckily we get to spend a week in Florida with the family prior to our flight out. We've almost made it!!!

Audrey's Blessing Day

Today Audrey was given a name and a blessing at our church. It was a beautiful occasion and we are so happy that Tanner's father and a few close friends were able to be a part of it.

Sunday Outfit

Who would have thought I would ever dress my child like this? I love it!! Thank you Shanda for the BEAUTIFUL bonnets you made for Audrey! Happy Sunday!

Happy Birthday and Hail Storm!

Today was Tanner's birthday. He had to go to work, but the boys picked out a cake for him at the store (Black Forest--chocolate cake covered in cherries). Tanner got some great gifts from his parents and my family. I only got him a snorkeling set to take with us to Indonesia, since we just bought a bed, and Tanner wanted that to be his 'gift'.
The surprise part of his birthday happened when the clouds suddenly came in...

Don't pay any attention to the girl being way too dramatic on the video. It wasn't golf ball-sized but they were bigger than gumball-sized! We thought it gave new meaning to 'popcorn popping' (if you look at the hail seemingly popping out of the grass). Clark asked how the ice got there, we told him it fell from the sky. He said "I think an ice airplane flew by and dropped them to us". What a cute little imagination he has.

HAPPY 31st Birthday Tanner! We LOVE you!!!

Last Visit To Charlotte

Due to changes in our moving schedule (we are now moving in early June), we had to move the date we were going to bless Audrey. Tricia and her family were also planning a visit to see us one last time the week following the blessing. So, since we will probably be in Indonesia by that time (although you never know with the U.S. Government), we decided to take one last quick trip down to North Carolina this past weekend. We were very glad we did since the cousins had a blast together, everyone got to see and hold Audrey, and Tanner and I got in good visit time with Trish and Dan. Trish and Dan also hooked us up with a ton more kid clothes and we U-Hauled one of their couches back to VA so we can take it to Indonesia with us. Thanks for the fun weekend!!!

SANDWICH!

We love you guys!

The 3 girls on the Carter side

I love this picture because you can really tell how small she really is. She looks terrified that the couch is going to swallow her whole!

Audrey's first swing experience! She loved it and fell asleep.

One Month Already: Part 2

April 17th

April 19th

April 20th

April 28th: After only a month, Audrey has already mastered the art of telling her brothers to "talk to the hand". She did this after Andrew tried to lay on top of her in her carseat.

One Month Already: Part 1

Wow...how time is flying by here in our house. Audrey is already one month old! We are getting ready to move in a month and so it's a little crazy around here, but we still manage to find time to coo over our little girl. Here are some pics of her from this last month.April 4: Audrey was not harmed during the placement of toys...
the boys were very nice and careful about 'giving' her their toys.

April 4th: Enjoying the beautiful Easter morning outside with Dad

Notice the little thumb sticking out of her sleeve...so cute!

First Bath!!! She liked it, for about 30 seconds.