Friday, January 24, 2014

Vacation!

This is a long one, sorry guys. 
 
Vacation time!  After 3 and a half months in Luanda, we were ready!  We were spending Christmas and New Years in Bangkok with Jon's twin brother, Steve, and his family.  Then we were going to spend 2 days in Dubai on our way back to Africa.  We were so ready for some time away that I started packing weeks before we left.  We boarded our flight to Bangkok the evening of December 19th.  Of course, no flight out, or into, Angola goes smoothly.  We flew Emirates airline, which after these flights I don't particularly recommend.  The flight attendants wouldn't let us on the plane with Connor's car seat - they claimed there wasn't room.  We tried to explain to them that he would be sitting in the car seat, which would be strapped into the airplane seat, but they refused.  Since I didn't have the information from their website printed out that states that we CAN take the seat on board with us we handed it off for them to check.  And never saw it again.  No shocker that it never made it to Bangkok, but still so frustrating.  The flight wasn't near as easy as it could have been. 
 
We started with an eight hour flight to Dubai.  Colson is an excellent traveler.  She loves watching movies, playing with whatever goodies I've packed in her backpack, and when she gets tired she lays down however she can and sleeps.  Connor, on the other hand, is pretty much the opposite.  While he enjoyed the movies (fortunately Finding Nemo and Cars 1 and 2 were available on the flight), he gets bored and restless fairly quickly.  He is only 2 after all.  And since he wasn't strapped in a car seat, where he is both more comfortable and trapped, after a few hours he wanted to be anywhere but in his seat.  I don't think he slept a wink on that first flight.  So of course neither did Jon or I.  And he became so over tired that he was deliriously hyper.  We then had a 5 hour layover in the Dubai airport.  Fortunately, the airport has strollers that you can use for free.  That seriously saved us.  The kids were so exhausted, and to their little bodies it was the middle of the night.  They BOTH crashed in the strollers while Jon and I explored the huge airport.  They woke up when we boarded our next flight from Dubai to Bangkok, which was another 7 hours.  Connor was still pretty tired, but not being in his car seat it took him several hours to finally fall back asleep.  Poor little guy.  I literally looked over and he was sitting up in his seat, head phones on, movie playing, eyes closed.  I laid him down in his seat and he got a few good hours in.  Colson watched a movie and then I think she slept most of that flight.  When we arrived in Bangkok Uncle Steve was there at the gate to greet us.  One of the perks of working for the US Embassy is that you get to greet your guests right when they get off the plane.  Oh yeah, and you get to park your car at the front of the airport and no one says anything.  We were all thrilled to see him, and be off the plane.  After we collected our luggage and filed a claim for the car seat that was lost we were on the road to their house. 
 
While we left Angola on a Thursday evening, with the long flight and the time change we actually arrived in Bangkok Friday evening.  The kids were super tired and slept ALL night.  Woohoo!  The next day we rested and organized our stuff a bit because on Sunday we were off to the beach for Christmas!  We spent Sunday thru Thursday at a villa on the beach in Rayong, Thailand.  It was amazing.  The beach was great, the house was great, the food was great, and the time with family was great.  Rayong is one of the least visited beaches in Thailand, so there were hardly any people there with us.  We had almost the whole beach and pool to ourselves most of the time!  It was so relaxing.
 
 
The beach at sunset.
 
 
 
 

Uncle Steve and Eva


Daddy and Colson
 

Shells!



 This kid LOVES sand.  Which is odd because he doesn't like his hands to be dirty. 

 
The kids playing at the park near the villa.




 


 
The kids with 'Flat Stanley'.
 
 The umbrellas by the pool had these little elephants holding them.  Connor thought they were the coolest things and HAD to take a picture by each one almost every day.
 
 
 
 
Playing at the beach and in the ocean.
 
 
 
 


 
 A few pics of Jon and the kids 'wrestling'.  If you look close, you
can even see the circle he drew in the sand.
 

 
 
 
 
Getting ready for when they revive Baywatch.
 
 
 Eva rinsing all her sand off. 
 
 
 
 
 On the way from the villa to the beach. 

 
 One afternoon, the kids decorated Christmas trees.  They were waffle cones upside down and decorated with green frosting and candies and marshmallows.  Connor really got into it, Colson and Eva were more interested in eating the frosting and decorations.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ta Da!!
 



 Xavier and his cute smiles!!
 
 

 
To save space on the van, we decided that Santa would only fill stockings at the
villa and would deliver presents to Bangkok.  Here are a few pics of the kids opening their stockings Christmas morning. 
 

The stockings were hung on the balcony with care.
 
Proud Daddies.
 



 
How's that for bed head?!
 
 
What better backdrop for some family photos than a beautiful beach?!  We tried, but getting everyone (as in kids) to look and smile at the same time is virtually impossible. 
But, here are a handful of the 150+ shots we took.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The kids were pretty done by this point.  A split second later Xavier was crying and Connor was running after a dog on the beach.
 
 Sweet, precious, adorable Eva!
 
 
After 5 fun and relaxing days at the beach it was time to head back to Bangkok.  Just before we left for the beach Carrie and I had set out the kids' gifts from Santa and all the presents so that it would be ready when the kids walked in the door.  It was so fun to see the kids' reactions when they walked in and saw what Santa had brought!
 
 
 
 
What do you see?
 
 Look, Daddy!
 
Yeah!!  Colson had been asking for a scooter from Santa for months.  Thank you Santa (Grandmommy) for delivering scooters to Thailand!  The kids cruise down the streets on them every day - literally.  Thank goodness I brought helmets!
 
 A few pics of the kids opening presents.




 
Colson and Eva opening their matching Belle costumes.
 
 The best photo we could get. 
 

Colson in more dress up stuff.  Auntie Ash hooked her up!
 
I'm gonna wreck it!

 
 
After Christmas, we spent another week, and New Year's Eve, in Bangkok.  Stephen and Carrie's apartment is within walking distance of several malls and grocery stores, which was awesome.  Even their church is a short walk away.  We don't walk anywhere here, mostly for safety reasons.  It was a nice change to get to walk somewhere, even at night.  One day we went to the Bangkok aquarium, where I didn't get a single photo.  The kids LOVED it.  Colson was so excited when she saw the huge octopus.  It was taller than she was!  I was so bummed I didn't get her squeals on video.  Another day Carrie took me to Chinatown to do some shopping.  I rode on the river taxi, bought all kinds of goodies, and rode in a tuk tuk.  It was great!  I  also got to do some shopping at IKEA!  Another night, Jon and I met up with friends from the States, Beth and Colin.  They were in Thailand for their honeymoon.  The four of us walked to a sky bar, which was some 30 or 40 stories above Bangkok with an incredible panoramic view of the city.  It was pretty breezy and chilly though.  So we finished our drinks and walked a bit until we found an Irish pub.  It was basically empty so we were able to grab a table and chat.  Jon was wearing his Arsenal jersey, which unfortunately (well, maybe fortunately because it makes for a crazy story/memory) invited this crazy old British guy to talk to us for about 30 minutes.  He was asking us what we thought about all kinds of 'American' things - from Elvis to Obama.  Anything he could think of.  Monika Lewinsky, the Clintons, Adele and Amy Winehouse (yes, not American, but this guy was all over the place).  He even asked Jon what he thought about the KKK.  We about fell out of our chairs.  But the Brit didn't bat an eye and just moved on to the next question.  He seemed to be fairly educated, said he was a professor and had lived in Bangkok for 26 years, so I can only hope/assume he was wasted, but maybe just crazy.  Probably both. 
 
Carrie and Steve have a date night every Saturday night.  Since we were there for 2 Saturdays, we got to join them twice!  The first Saturday night we put the kids to bed, left them with their sitter, and walked to an Italian restaurant.  That was actually the day after we arrived in Bangkok, so I was super pumped about some yummy food.  And I was not disappointed.  I stuffed my face.  The next Saturday we again put the kids to bed and then took a taxi to one of their favorite restaurants.  It is a French restaurant high above a hotel with another great view of the city.  The food, wine, and double date was fantastic. 

I was actually surprised by the food in Bangkok.  I never thought I could live in an Asian city because I don't really like Asian food.  I figured I'd starve!  But boy was I wrong.  We had Italian, American, even ordered BBQ one night and Mexican food another and had it delivered.  I even ate food, well a dessert, from a street vendor outside their building.  Jon loves Thai food, so I think he was disappointed he didn't get to eat more of it. 
 
One of the best things about the vacation was how much time the kids got to spend with their Daddy.  They were in Heaven.  Jon and Steve watched the kids quite a bit so that Carrie and I could do things, and even though it was tiring for the guys, I can tell the kids loved every second of it.  Jon works really long hours here, so getting so much Daddy time was such a treat. 

A few random pics from that week...
 

About to go swimming.


 Dress up time.

Eva loves books.   

 

After almost 2 weeks in Bangkok, it was time to say goodbye.  We had such a good time, and it was great to spend the holidays with family.  Fortunately, though, our vacation wasn't over yet.  From Bangkok we flew to Dubai for a few days.  Steve and Carrie let us borrow Eva's car seat (we looked at buying a new one in Bangkok, but it was double or more the US price), so this time I printed out the airline's guidelines regarding car seats and had it in my carry on.  Jon and I were adamant that the seat went on the plane with us.  Again the flight attendants tried to stop us by telling us the seat was too big, but Jon and I didn't back down.  And of course, we were right, the seat fit and Connor did much better.
 
In Dubai we went to the Wild Wadi Water Park.  We bought our tickets online a few days before, without checking the weather, so of course the high that day was only 70 degrees F.  The water was heated though, so as long as you didn't get out it was ok!  And, since it was a bit chilly, there was hardly anyone at the park - no lines!  The kids LOVED it.  The park had a section just for smaller kids and Colson and Connor couldn't get enough.  They were freezing, lips blue and shivering, but they didn't want to stop.  After several hours Jon and I were tired of being so cold so we convinced the kids it was time to go.  They were reluctant, but exhausted.  After naps we decided to take the train to the Dubai Mall.  Biggest. Mall. Ever.  Seriously, I'm pretty sure it holds a few Guiness World Records.  One I know of for sure is that it has the largest viewing aquarium wall, or something like that.  We went to the mall that night to check it out and grab dinner, but it was ridiculously crowded, and so big we had a hard time finding the restaurants.  So we got the kids ice cream to hold them over (hey, it was vacation) and took the train back to the hotel. 
 
About to head to the mall.
 On Connor's cheek is a sticker a man gave him as we were leaving the water park.  It says "I love Wild Wadi."  It took 2 days to get it all the way off.

 
Near the hotel was Applebee's, which was on the menu for dinner that night.  Normally I don't really like Applebee's, and while on vacation I like to eat at places that you can't eat at at home.  But since 'home' now is Angola, Applebee's was just fine. 
 
The next day we took the train went back to the mall to go to the Aquarium and Underwater Zoo.  Of course we had to stop for donuts on the way first.  Before we left Texas Connor wasn't too into donuts.  My, how times have changed.
 

 
Our hotel was right off the freeway.  The overpass bridge thing in the pics below is actually the train rail.  We could see it from our hotel window, and Connor was amazed.  I think one of his favorite things about the whole trip was riding the train.


 Our hotel directly in the background, and the Burj off to the left.
 
 
The mall was much less crowded this time, and there really weren't many people at the aquarium.  While parts of the aquarium were really cool, the Bangkok aquarium was much better.  But I remembered to take pictures this time.
 



 
 
In the tunnel.
 
Sharks!
 
 In front of the record holding aquarium wall.

 
 
Cheese!
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 After the aquarium we did some shopping and then had lunch at the Rainforest CafĂ©.  Again, it passed the 'something we can't eat at home' test.  And there was no chance we were eating anywhere else once Colson saw it.  A cool thing was that it was right next to the aquarium and you could see the fish swimming while you ate. 

Dubai holds like 80 or more world records, including home to the tallest man made structure, the Burj Khalifa.  It is pretty impressive to say the least.  There is a model of it in the mall, so Jon and Colson wanted a pic.

 
 
 A fun carousel ride on the way out of the mall.


 

 
We took the train back to the hotel again and found this park just outside of the hotel.  The weather was great, and the park was fake grass.  Too bad we didn't find it sooner!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
By the end of our second day in Dubai we were pretty tired and weren't up for going out to eat.  We decided our last meal should be a family favorite - pizza.  We found Papa John's online, so I was super pumped.  Unfortunately, we couldn't find a phone number and it was too far to walk to.  So, Jon walked to the Pizza Hut just down the street and we had that instead. 
 
Colson being goofy before bed.

 
 
 

 Look at my muscles!
 
 
Early the next morning it was time to board a plane back to Luanda.  So, we loaded up a taxi, took a short drive to the airport, and hung out in the Dubai airport for a few hours before we boarded.  Again the flight attendants tried to argue that the car seat wouldn't fit, but after Jon and I practically yelled that it would, in unison, they didn't protest. 
 
The flight back to Angola - worst flight ever.  The first 7 hours were fine.  And then, 45 minutes away from Luanda, after they had already collected the head phones and the blankets, the pilot came over the intercom to tell us that there was a plane stuck on the ONE landing strip we could land on.  Seriously, as much international travel as goes through Luanda's airport and there is only one strip we can land on?!!  So, we flew around for another 45 minutes to see if they would clear it before we ran out of fuel.  They didn't, not surprisingly, so we had to fly to the Brazzaville, Congo, airport to refuel.  After refueling, which took well over an hour or two, we taxied out to the runway.  And sat.  After a while the pilot then announces that one of the tires is leaking air faster than he is comfortable with.  Really any sort of leak of air is faster than I'm comfortable with, but whatever.  So, we taxied back to the gate to wait for a technician to come look at the tire.  Since this airport only has 5 tiny gates and no restaurants I'm pretty sure this huge plane was the largest that has probably ever landed there.  It was Sunday evening as well, so of course no capable technician was available.  By this time we had been sitting on the plane, on the ground, for probably 4 or 5 hours (after being in the air for 7 hours) - thank goodness I had kept our headphones and had packed blankets.  Now the Emirates people in Dubai, our pilot/crew, and the crew at the Congo airport were trying to arrange a way to let us off the plane.  Finally, around 10 pm, 7 hours or so after we were supposed to land in Luanda, we were able to get off the plane.  But, Congo didn't want us to enter their country so we weren't allowed to leave the terminal.  So 300+ passengers spread out and slept on the floor and hard chairs.  Colson and Connor were so exhausted that they fortunately slept for a few hours. 
 
 Jon on the ground, Colson on the chairs.

Connor out cold.
 
Connor woke up at about 4 AM and wanted to play.  Which meant I woke up at 4 AM.  And then he woke up the whole airport.  The airport has several thick columns with marble ledges/seats around them.  Connor was playing on one and fell and busted his mouth and face.  Instantly he was screaming, blood gushing from his mouth all over his shirt and face and all over my shirt and hand as I rushed him to the bathroom.  There were no paper towels in the bathroom so I had to use wet toilet paper to clean us up.  After several minutes I was able to control the bleeding and do a closer examination.  His lower lip was bitten, and the source of all the blood, but didn't need stitches.  The gum above his front tooth was pretty bruised, and both upper and lower lips pretty swollen.  Fortunately, there were no loose teeth.  Phew!  We were in no place with any sort of access to emergency care.  I had a spare shirt for Connor in my backpack, so I changed him and held him for a while.  He didn't want to eat anything solid for the rest of that day or a few days after.  So thankful it wasn't any worse though! 
 
Looking back, I don't know what we did to pass the time.  The batteries in our tablets were almost dead and there were only a handful of plugs around.  There was one escalator that went either up or down, depending on if a flight was boarding or landing.  The kids spent quite a bit of time riding it down and then taking the stairs back up.  The airline had unloaded as much food as they had, so they did serve breakfast, sort of.  They ran out of good stuff pretty quick, so by the time we got up to the line there were only bland pastries.  But, I had packed a ton of food in our backpacks, so at least we didn't starve.  In the middle of the night we had learned that the plan was that the airline was going to fly another plane from Dubai to Congo to pick us up.  But it wasn't leaving until 6 AM Dubai time, 9 AM our time.  It was scheduled to arrive around 2 PM, so we just had to wait.  It did arrive around 1:30 PM to a round of applause.  Then they decided to serve us lunch in the airport.  What a debacle.  They kept running out of food, so it took forever to serve everyone.  But, it wasn't that we were waiting for lunch to be finished to board the plane.  For whatever reason it took hours to get the crew back and the plane ready.  We finally boarded around 5 PM.  And then we sat on this plane for another 2 hours before we took off.  I watched an entire movie on the plane before it even taxied to the runway.  Something about loading the luggage and waiting on paperwork from Dubai about how the luggage was supposed to be distributed, yada yada.  We were all so done.  We FINALLY took off, and after a 55 minute flight landed in Luanda.  I have never been so happy to be in Angola.  And hopefully never will be again.  We landed twenty nine hours after we were originally supposed to arrive in Luanda.  By the time we got our luggage and made it home we had been traveling for 40 hours.  Like I said - worst flight ever.  The kids did great.  Amazing, actually.  Other than the injury that left Connor with a front tooth that has now begun to turn grey they couldn't have been better.  And like I said at the very beginning of this ridiculously long post, no flight out of or into Angola goes smoothly.  Well, not for us so far anyway.  Let's hope we never have to experience that again. 
 
To save room in our luggage, we didn't take any Christmas gifts to Bangkok.  The kids got to open more presents when we got home.  We saved them until the next day though.  The kids were so exhausted after that flight they didn't argue a bit.
 
 Stockings!

 You can totally see how swollen the left half of Connor's face is here, about 40 hours after the injury.  I didn't realize it was that bad until I just looked back at this picture! 

A pink tux for Ken, yesssss!
 
 
So now we have been back in Angola for almost 3 weeks.  The jet lag wasn't near as bad this direction.  Colson went to school one day out of four that first week, mostly because I was too tired to get us all up, but is happy to be back with her friends again.  The weather has really started to get hot, so we will probably be spending more time at the pool.  And so I can be completely caught up on the blog, here are a few pics from the last few weeks.
 










 
 
Our next vacation will be to Texas in March, and the countdown has already begun - literally, there is a countdown on the calendar.  We can't wait to see all of our family and friends, eat some great food, and be back in the States for a few weeks!!   


-Amanda