We are Here!

We are finally here in Cebu and let me tell you the flight wasn't enjoyable at all! You all are thinking it's the kids that didn't make it enjoyable, think again. Let's begin with our journey that all started in SLC on Monday April 5. My parents take us to the airport and we are seeing warnings that there is a statewide winter storm warning from 5p.m-9 a.m. Tuesday. I'm thinking ok, we are totally missing that storm because it's clear as can be heading to Salt Lake other than the rain that we got. We decided to use the skycap because we had 13 bags and we needed some help. We said goodbye to my parents and totally lost it. Tears were just flowing down my face. After all I am saying goodbye to my parents and I'm not going to be able to see them as much as I use too. We check in and go through security and security with kids is sooo stressful. Brandon and I are use to going through security just the two of us but now we have 3 little ones and we are trying to rush them to take off their shoes, sweaters,backpacks stressful but they did awesome! We get to the gate and the kids play in the play area and all of a sudden it's snowing and snowing hard! This was the winter storm warning and I'm starting to think they are going to cancel our flight and then we are screwed! We are just sitting and waiting and I'm making some last minute phone calls to say goodbye. We hear that our plane is arriving late so now we are like 15 to 20 minutes late. We board our plane late and we are settled in. Brock sits by me, Brandon and Mariah sit together and Jazmin sat across from Brandon, but by a stranger. She was sooo mad and she pouted for awhile about it too. We then hear that we can't fly because of the snow and we need to wait until it lets up so it's going to be 30 minutes! 30 minutes sitting on the stinking plane are you kidding me! We figured ok well we have a 4 to5 hr layover in San Fran so if we can avoid being in San Fran for that long no biggie right-wrong! Our 30 minute delay ended up being 4 hrs on the stinking tarmac! We had to wait for the deicer and then we had to wait for our turn because they are other planes ahead of us and to make it even worse Brock had to be in his seatbelt so he was screaming for awhile. I was sooo annoyed and sooo hungry. I would ask Brandon if we are going to make our connecting flight and he said he hoped so. He told the flight attendant that we had an international flight in San Fran and she said we would make it so I was like ok. Well we finally leave Salt Lake and arrive in San Fran at 12 a.m. and our flight for Taipei was at 1:20 a.m but we had to still check in and it was on the other side of the airport because it's an international flight. We got off the plane and seriously booked it through that airport. It reminded me of Home Alone when they are trying to get their flight. We check in and Brandon tells the guy we need to sit together because we have 3 kids. We check in and now need to go through security. Security was closed and the attendant told us that but we ran with us over to security so that they would let us in. We get in and they were really nice. They complemented us on how our kids were doing really good for being 1 a.m. They were being good and cooperating so I was really proud of them even Brock. We get through and get to our gate and they are starting to board. Brandon talks to the agents and we told them we have 3 kids we need to sit together. At first I think they were like sorry but then they saw how young our kids were and so they made it happen. They asked people who were traveling alone if they could switch and so we were able to sit close to each other. It was 3 and 2 so that was fine. The kids did awesome on the long flight. They seriously slept through the majority of the flight. I wasn't too impressed with China Air it was crappy service and the food was crappy so that's my complaint on the airline. We arrive in Taipei and we are an hour late so yet again we get off and have to hurry to check in and go through security yet again. We board the plane to go to Manila, which is only a 2 hr. flight so that was good and the plane wasn't full and it had your own screen to watch movies so the girls were entertained with watching the Princess and the Frog. We get to Manila and get our bags and a lady from the baggage claims tells me that some of the luggage didn't make it so I gave her our baggage claim ticket and we had 6 bags that didn't make it. We fill out a claim and they told us that they would send it to Cebu for us and call us when they got their. Well there were 2 others from Utah that were on our flight and they didn't get their luggage either so I'm thinking luggage didn't make it on from Utah to San Fran which meant that we wouldn't get our baggage until the following day. When we finally got to Cebu we got a warm welcoming. It was nice and we got a car too so now Brandon doesn't have to take taxis all the time. I'm not sure I want to drive here because a)I don't know how to drive stick and b)driving here is a little crazy. When we got to Jeremy and Kelly's house (we are staying with them until our house is ready) I was curious to see what we had in our luggage that we got and it was all of my clothes and their toys. We didn't get the bag with the kids clothes, our computer, make up, toiletries, and other stuff. So the girls are just wearing Lucy and Gracie's clothes and Brock is wearing shirts with no shorts cause I had a few of his shirts in my bag. It is now Friday here and we still have now bags. Brandon the airport yesterday and they hadn't arrived. Soooo, I am going to the mall to get Brock some sandals and some shorts and a couple of other things that I may need. So that is why our flight wasn't too fun because of what we had to go through, other than that the kids are enjoying themselves. They went swimming a lot yesterday and I think they are loving the idea of having a maid, but we are going to have to talk to them about abusing that. I don't want to tell them to bring them stuff to their room or have them do things they are perfectly capable of doing. It is hot here but I would take that over the cold snow! We got our house all worked out so that is exciting. It's a pretty sweet house too! Now I've just got to get the girls situated in school and get them signed up for dance or something. I will post pictures of the house because need to get the kiddos something to eat. So I was going to put up a picture of our little warm greeting we received from the airport but for some reason blogger isn't letting me put up pictures. So I will figure how to do that later. Sorry this is a long post with no pictures.