This day was a bitter sweet day. I was soooo glad to finally be on our way. The few days before we left were so stressful. I had to make sure everything was done with the house, all of our things were in storage, all of the suitcases were packed, etc. etc. I was so ready to be done. Here are some pictures of our last Sunday at our ward. We could not get the boys to look at us at the same time. This is the best we were able to get.
After church Roy and Starr came to see the boys one last time before we left. They took 3 of the boys to the Marriott for the last three days we were there. On the last night we stayed at Jeff and Erica's. Here are some pictures of Roy and Starr with the boys.
Jeff and Erica were so thoughtful by buying us a yummy cake. The boys really enjoyed that. Thank you Jeff and Erica!!!
One of the saddest parts about this night was saying goodbye to our little dog Chloe. We didn't know what would happen to her here, so Jeff and Erica have been kind enough to keep her for us. We, especially Cam, will really miss her.
Morning came and we loaded up the suitcases in Jeff's truck. We were allotted 10 bags. I was worried about making sure they ended up in Macau. My mom came over to help us get everybody over to the airport. It was nice having all of the help, especially to get all of the suitcases up. After that though it was time to say goodbye to Jeff and Erica. The airline was nice enough to give my mom a pass so she could help me get the boys through security and to the gate. It was finally time to get on our way.
All of us were excited to see Eric after two months of not seeing him. We were also excited to be on our way to a new adventure. I was so nervous about flying with our boys all by myself. I didn't know how they were going to behave. First we had an hour flight to LA. Then, after a 2 hour layover, we had to walk to a different terminal to the plane that would take us to Hong Kong. This flight would last nearly 15 hours. After that long flight, we then had to board a ferry to take us to Macau. The ferry ride would be about 45-60 minutes. It was such a long day, but luckily the boys were very well behaved. I don't know if it was just because they were excited to be going on a plane and moving to a different place, but they surprised me with how good they were.
Cam decided he was tired before we even boarded the first flight.
Connor was made at me because I was trying to take a picture of him.
Kyle or Kade insisted on taking a picture of what was out the window.
After we arrived in LA I was worried about what we were going to do for a couple of hours. However, once we were off the plane we had to find out where our next gate was. It ended up being in a building right next to the one we were already in. That was a relief because I thought we were going to have ride a shuttle to the opposite end of the airport, so just having to walk over to the next building was super easy.
We went to the desk of the next flight. They asked to see my baggage claim tickets and told me they would take care of the rest. I didn't have to touch one of our bags. They told me to just proceed to security and then to the gate. After we were through security we bought some food to eat. The LA airport was super busy. Once we were done eating we decided to go sit by the gate. It was almost time to board the plane for our really long flight. There was several people that noticed I was by my self and offered a helping hand. This made my long day better. I am also grateful they let families board first. It helped us settle in for our long long flight even better.
Waiting for our flight to Hong Kong.
During the 15 hours all of us did a lot of sleeping, watching movies (each seat has a screen on the back and a variety of movies and tv shows to watch) and playing on the ipad. The boys did not fight or really get antsy. They liked most of the airplane food. The only time it was really difficult with Cam was when the flight was almost over. He wanted to start walking up and down the walkways, which of course nobody would like. After this long flight we were finally in Hong Kong (about 8:00 p.m. Hong Kong time). Eric told me as soon as we get off the plane to go to the ferry terminal and give them our passports. They would then give us our tickets. It was seriously that easy. Because we were arriving so late the airport was not very busy. Our ferry left at 10, so we had a little bit of time to figure out what to do. Although I slept on the plane a little bit I was so exhausted. I just wanted to get on the ferry and get to Macau. I was also excited and curious to see where our family will now be living.
Waiting for the ferry.
On the ferry. I thought the ferry was going to be this little boat, kind of like the one Eric and I went on while whale watching in Hawaii. It wasn't though. It was so much bigger. It had an upper and lower deck. The seats were comfortable. While waiting it looked like there was going to be a lot of people on the ferry, but because of how big it is it seemed like were almost the only ones there. I was sooooo tired. All I wanted to do was sleep, but of course I couldn't because I was worried about what the boys would do.
As we were pulling into port we could see a lot of the lights of Macau. We were all really excited to finally be there. (I wish I had pictures, but our ipad was completely drained by the time we arreived)We still had to through immigration, but that didn't take very long. Once we were done with that I will never forget the boys seeing Eric and just running up to him to give him a great big hug. I was relieved and for the first time in a couple of months I knew I could relax. Eric took our baggage tickets so while the boys and I were getting in the vans he went and grabbed all 9 suitcases. I am truly grateful for how easy he and the Sands made it for us. The only time I had to handle our bags was before we left Las Vegas and then picking them up in Macau. The airline did a great job getting all of them where they needed to go. We did not lose one of them. After we were all loaded up we headed to our high rise building.
The container with all of our furniture was still on the boat. All we had in the apartment was this really 8 seat rustic table and a table for the tv. We also had the boys bunk beds Eric had bought before we came. He also bought a dryer. Almost all of the apartments here do not come with an oven and they don't have closets. Everyone has to buy a counter top oven and wardrobe boxes if they want these types of things. Some of Eric's colleagues borrowed him a blow up mattress and a crib mattress. We also had two mattresses for the boys' bunk beds. Mattresses here are not the same as in the States. They are super hard and very thin. After our long day I was just grateful to have somewhere to sleep. After about an hour or two of being here we all fell asleep. I am so grateful everything went well and we arrived safely.
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