Catching Up

Yet again I have allowed myself to neglect the blog while in the US and have continued to neglect it because the thought of trying to catch up with everything that has happened really didn't seem like a fun thing to do. So instead of sitting down and doing it all at once, I have decided to do it piece by piece and start with our flight back to the US and the wedding. I actually had started this post when we were home, but the internet gave out and I didn't find a chance to finish it.

Anyway, not long after Daniel returned from his basketball trip we headed to Indiana to attend his sister's wedding, which I will get to in a minute. I just thought these two pictures were pretty cute. The first one is of JoAnn at about 6 AM waiting for our flight to leave Manila. I don't know if she was tired or just trying to get comfortable.


This one was us trying to keep her occupied during our many hours in the air. Technology even since arriving in the Philippines has advanced so much and has made traveling with a toddler much easier. We were able to download a few of her favorite cartoons off of iTunes and she watched them on the computer. I know they have had portable DVD players for a while, but to me this was much better because I didn't have to carry around a case of DVDs and also since we already were bringing our netbook we didn't have to bring a DVD player or our larger heavier notebook that could play the DVDs. Instead all we had to do was download a few shows before we left and carry this 3 pound very small computer (or our iPod, which was the back up if our computer battery died). Anyway, as great as that is to keep her occupied, it wasn't long before she decided that she just wanted to get up and walk. Normally, this would be the time that I would gladly get up and stroll around the plane with her, but on this trip there was a volcanoe errupting in the original flight path and we had to take a detour, which meant two things. One, as if 11 1/2 hours isn't already long enough, it added an hour or so to the length of our longest flight. Two, most of our flight was spent over the Pacific Ocean so we spent probably almost 9 of those hours with the "fasten your seatbelt" sign on since there was so much turbulance. Normally, even if the sign is on I still try to get up for a few minutes every now and then, but this time there really was a ton of turbulance. So, the getting up and walking around was pretty much out of the question most of the time. And as usual on our way to the US, JoAnn decided that she just didn't really need to sleep and slept probably for a grand total of 2 1/2 hours during the almost 24 hour trip. The only good part to that is that she is SO tired by the time we get to Indiana that she doesn't really suffer from jet lag.


Alright, now for the whole reason we went home in the first place...Joel and Kristen's wedding. We arrived in the US on Monday and the wedding was on Saturday, so we got there just in time for all the last minute planning. I loved every minute of it. I just wish I was actually able to help more. I guess I just had so much fun planning our wedding that I love to watch or help someone I love so much plan theirs. I was so sad that for most of it I was so far away. Kristen did a fabulous job of thinking of all the details too. It was probably one of the most well put together and beautiful weddings I have ever been to. Not to mention the fact that Kristen looked absolutely gorgeous in her dress. My favorite part of the whole wedding...they provided childcare for the kids. It was one of the best things ever, it actually sort of felt like Daniel and I were on a date the whole time. I was just so happy that I was able to enjoy the wedding without having to worry about JoAnn going crazy from sitting still so long. Also, I think JoAnn had fun playing with the other kids...well at least at the reception. I guess she cried most of the time during the ceremony, which was yet another reason I was so thankful for the babysitters. So here are a few of the pictures, unfortunately I got a little side tracked during the wedding and didn't take any pictures other than the ones I took as we were all waiting for things to begin.

This picture is actually the only picture from the whole wedding that I got of Joel and Kristen and its from the reherseal and evidently my flash didn't work.


These are all from before the ceremony...

These are JoAnn's cousin's...She was the only girl that was still a little young to be a flowergirl, but Kristen still had her wear the dress. Don't they just look so cute all dressed up.

This is her cousin that is the same age as her and I love this picture with Eli in his tux and JoAnn in her dress and them both being shy. We tried forever to get the two of them to stand next to each other and smile for a picture. They would not get anywhere close to each other, it was so cute.

Alright, so that's the flight and the wedding. Next time I will talk about the trip that Daniel and I took.