The adventure begins...

Leaving our family and friends was very difficult for us all. Lots of tears were shed leading up to and at the Boise airport on Monday morning. We knew, but really found out how many important people we have in our lives. We really are blessed to have the support from so many of you- thank you! After our hugs and tears we began our adventure together starting at security check in Boise. We made it through very quickly and easily AND at the end one of the TSA workers stopped us to tell us what a great job we had done. He said typically with the size of family that we have it takes so much longer to stop and scan the bags and items. He said they didn't have to do that and we whizzed on through! I thought that was a great start for us! :) We were then able to grab a bite to eat since we kind of forgot about eating that morning. Then up to the gate to get boarded. We were traveling with 5 carry-on suitcases and a personal item bag for us all as well. Once we got to family boarding we were able to check in 2 carry-on suitcases which helped immensely on lightening our load and making walking through the airports SOOOO much easier. On the plane Audrianna really wanted to sit by Dayton and that proved to be a great help! Audrianna and Dayton put on a movie and were kept pretty busy the entire flight. Dayton made a few pretty sweet comments that had everyone around us giggling- "this is the best day ever" "I love this" "Fast mode". Preston on the other hand was a bit of a handful, not wanting to sit in one spot for long. We looked out the window, read books, went potty (3 times) walked the aisle, played with play-doh, and played with the people behind us which got them laughing. The people behind us were from Minnesota (St. Paul, Carrington, and Fargo, ND) which I really enjoyed "hearing" my roots and Robbie understanding a little better why my parents talk the way they do. :) On to MSPL-St. Paul, we only had about an hour to get to the next gate, get to the bathroom, grab some snacks and then we were boarding the flight to Paris. The boys were full of energy and wanting to run around (surprise). They got a few of the wiggles out and we boarded towards the end of the boarding time. Getting on the plane was fun for the kids as the plane was much bigger. I think Robbie loved it too! Preston decided to show off how strong his lungs were after getting settled in and we saw lots of heads turn. He hadn't really napped at all that day and it was 7 pm. Needless to say, we did everything to get him to sleep quickly. He only wanted his Daddy to hold him so Robbie was able to hold him in the back of the plane and he fell asleep. Air France flight attendants were great in helping us get him to sit with me and they had an extra strap to strap him to me and the two of us fell asleep for a couple hours- it was great! The dinner on board was little interesting and Dayton didn't eat much other than the cheese and bread. After a couple movies it was time for them to sleep- Dayton only wanted his mommy so Robbie and I switched kids. Audrianna was tired but had a harder time sleeping. Dayton got to sleep rather quickly (no Benadryl) and then Preston started up again. We called in the reinforcements (Benadryl) and he got to sleep within the 1/2 hour which meant Mommy had to hold him again. We slept again for another couple hours and I woke up to breakfast being served. Robbie didn't sleep very well on the long haul flight- we need to look into the first class ticket so has more leg room next time. :) Getting off the plane in Paris proved to be a little more trying. We gather all our things, got confused on where to actually exit, and finally made it to the next gate to go through security again. Getting up to security things quickly became a big downer- they asked Audrianna to come forward first (allowing only one person at a time and speaking in French). She was asked to take out computers, iPad, etc. Well she couldn't find her iPad mini- AGHHH!!! Then they wouldn't let me go with her through the check and made the four of us wait. I kept my eye on her to the whole time. I could tell that she was pretty scared as she looked again for her iPad and still couldn't find it. Her heart was broken! We decided to get to the next gate and then Robbie ran back to customer service to see what we could do to look for it. They said the only thing really was to file a claim with Air France at our destination. While he was doing that Audrianna and I kept retracing her thoughts and steps and we think through all the switching at the end she may have left it on the seat that had a blanket on it. Lesson learned for all of us very quickly! We have since filed a claim and are waiting (very patiently and with a lot of prayers) that someone honest picked it up and turned it in. The flight to Yerevan went pretty smoothly. The boys slept most of the way and Audrianna and I slept intermentingly. Robbie struggled to sleep again but was able to get in lots of shows. :) The food didn't look very appetizing so most of us didn't eat- Robbie enjoyed the hot pocket version that was served. Flying into Yerevan was neat, Mt. Ararat his humongous and seeing the different landscape was fun. You could see farm fields, one field was being burnt that I could see, there were very old buildings that looked abandon and falling apart. The airport was easy to navigate and getting through the passport part was fairly smooth as well. Our baggage came quickly to baggage claim. The couple we met in July that we will be teaching with gave us some Armenian money so we were able to rent a couple carts and the gentlemen helped us get all 6 suitcases, 6 action packer totes, 5 carry-ons and our backpacks loaded up. No one is allowed inside the airport so as you exit outside there is a large waiting area that was super crowded with people. Robbie said he felt like a movie star walking out of the doors. :) We had Sargis (the school's driver), his son, and Jeremy (Director of Instruction) waiting for us with their vehicles to help us get it all out. They took care of us so well. They loaded everything up and drove us to our new house. It was about 9:30-10pm so we couldn't see a ton other than city lights. The drive was about 15 minutes or so to the house. Our landlord was there waiting to help us with the house. While we talked with him, the men unloaded everything for us. They grabbed Robbie's phone changed his SIM card and got him connected to the "Armenian" world. We really didn't have to do much. Everyone left and we were able to message our family that we had arrived. Robbie and I had gotten a burst of energy so we began to unpack things-mostly to find where we packed everything. Wednesday morning (Tuesday evening for Boise peeps-we are 10 hours apart) we were awoken about 4:00 am by Audrianna first who couldn't sleep, then Preston and Dayton were awake within 15 minutes of that. So our day began about 4:30 am. There were somethings for breakfast so the kids tried some of the food- the biggest hit is the yogurt. I don't have a coffee pot yet so I am drinking instant coffee- but it's coffee and I wasn't complaining. We unpacked a little more, connected to internet life, FaceTimed with family then got ready for the day. We got outside and walked around the neighborhood, the school, and checked out the little market/store that is super close to us. It was nice seeing the neighborhood and all the kids that are outside playing. The kids will have lots of friends. By about 10 am we were all starving and tired. We ordered pizza with the help of Jeremy from Pizza Hut- the only pizza place open. :) The boys scarfed it down. Robbie and Audrianna weren't big fans as they think it smelled funny and tasted different- which it did a little. We then got them settled in for a nap and we all fell asleep quickly. Our little nap lasted about 5 hours. It was needed! We then got up and went over to Jeremy's house to have dinner with his family around 7pm. They were so gracious for hosting us. They ordered food from some different Armenian restaurants so that we could sample things. They had BBQ beef (steak), BBQ chicken, cheese style bread, potatoes, french fries, and some yummy desserts. It was very nice to sit down with Jeremy and his wife, Olga, and ask more questions and sample some local food. The kids played with his son and even Audrianna might be getting her first babysitting gig- their daughter is a year old. Audrianna enjoyed hanging out and playing with her. We called it a night a little early and were home around 9:30pm. We got ready for bed and the kids fell asleep pretty quickly. Preston however, woke up around 2am not wanting to go back to sleep- not cool dude!! :) We might have given him a little benadryl again and he was asleep by 3:30 am. Audrianna and Dayton then woke up around 4 am so Robbie went and laid down with them. They slept for a little bit, but Dayton was ready to get up by 5:30. So we started our day early again! Preston and Audrianna were able to sleep a little longer though. We are now hanging out and watching cartoons on our Netflix- thank god Robbie knows technology so we have our own VPN, router, and Apple TV- we should be fairly well connected. It's almost time to start getting ready for the day- we have a shopping trip planned with Sargis to get more groceries and things for the house. The house came furnished but it's definitely needing somethings to become our home. We will see what they have... For those of you who made it to the end of this novel- sorry I'm long winded- hope you enjoyed laughing with me as I reminisced about our travels in the last couple of days. I will be writing again soon...we've got lots to do to get settled in! Love and miss you all!