Noone told me........

Gotta love Go Karts

Aunt Sue came with us to the go karts, cause she was "made for vacations" ya know.  We had a great time.   The younger boys got to ride along side us and have their hand at the smaller carts.   They did really well, and I have to admitt, I was a bit nervous at the site of my children behind the wheel of a car, no matter what kind it was.

GREAT Aunt Sue

How great she is, and don't you forget it!  :-)

Rebekah and Caitlyn

Rebekah and Caitlyn were born about 4 weeks apart.   It was really fun to see how similar and yet how different they were, both developmentally and in personality.  Joy and I enjoyed just laying there observing them for the morning while our older children played outside. Another friendship I am truly blessed with!

Gold diggers

Mom, Mandy, Joy and I al brought the children to this miniature golf center that also offered panning for gold, a life size maze, and metal detectors to search for coins from all over the world. The children had a blast.  Betwen the 3 moms, we had  11 children and one on the way.  We got a few weird looks from the employees, wondering if we were a daycare.  Thanks, no, um, this is our life!  The children had a blast and I think the moms enjoyed it too :-)  My mom came along, loving being the gramma of so many.  She was in charge of the babies.

Our Best friends, The Lloyds!

It's always one of the highlights of our trip to go to the Lloyds house.  They are the boys (and mine too) best friends.  Ryan and Beca, Aaron and Chris, and Ethan and Sam.   Me and Mandy are never in need of something to talk about, that is, if there is ever any chance to talk.  You don't get alot of oppertunitys with that many children.    Caitlyn will have a friend, when her little one is born in November, just a year younger than CJ. We usually get our pictures done at Picture People and have a blast trying to get everyone smiling at the same time.    But this time we couldn't as they closed the store in our mall.   So this year we made t-shirts with everyone's handprints.   That was tricky to say the least, but definately memorable. It was such a blessing to see each one pair off with thier counterpart and go play.  They got along so well, and with only seeing eachother once a year, you never know how it will turn out.    God has blessed us with our friendships!

Campfire!

Campfires are a favorite at Gramma and Grampa Robertson's.   The love to throw things into the fire pit, and Ryan is learning to use the poker stick.   Grampa is graciously letting him learn how to do it properly also.   One night we made Banana Boats, remember them from Girl Scouts???   The boys had fun making them but didn't really like them much.

Grampa Robertson

Next we went to My parents house.   This was particularly exciting because my dad had never seen Caitlyn before.   It was precious to see them together.  I have to admitt, I was slightly nervous that she might be scared at first, with the aweful flight, all the car rides and teething ect.   But, she did great!  Went right to Grampa and didn't even cry!   Dad did really wel also, I was so proud to watch him with my baby girl.   My heart was swelled with Joy.

When we got off the plane we drove 2 hours to Gramma and Grampa Wilson's house.   We chose to drive rather than fly from Newark because we could actually get there quicker considering the layover and waiting on the tarmack, loading and unloading ect, with 6 people.    This turned out to be a good decision, except CJ does not like car rides!   She only had one fit, for about 10 minutes that everyone had to endure.   Who can blame her though. Let the un-jetlagging begin. We took the boys out to dinner to try and stimulate them during the difficult times but it didn't seem to work, they just fell alseep on the tables.   Gramma and Grampa got a kick out that.   They really were happy to see them!

Here are a few more pictures of CJ on the return flight, which she did much better on, thankfully!

Caitlyn's first international flight

Caitlyn took her first long haul international flight as we embarked on our journey back to the states to introduce her to friends and family who haven't seen her yet.   She is 6 mo. old and being born in Singapore, many loved ones are anxious to meet her. Unfortunaetley, she wasn't a very good travelor.   She was actually one of those babies that you say "boy, I feel sorry for that mom", or "sure am glad I am not her!".   What's worse is the stares you get from fellow passengers as she lets out yet another cry when all are trying to sleep.   To top it all off, she wouldn't go to anyone but me, so when I had to use the restroom, passing her off to Steve or a flight attendant she would let out an ear piercing screech that woke all the passengers on the plane!   Now to to shed a little light on the situation, from her perspective, she was teething!   She decided it would be a good time to pop some teeth out, and learn to crawl at the same time.    So, being immobile for such a long period and having pain, made worse by the cabin pressure, who can blame her?? Here is a picture of her, in Ethan's seat as this was the only way she'd sleep more than 15 mins., after she woke from a 3 hour nap.   Isn't she cute!   

Finally Un-Jet Lagged

We arrived back in our Singapore home at the bright (actually it was quite dark as the sun never comes up before 7am here) and early hour of 5am July7th, I forget which day that is.   It has taken us a full week to get everyone onto the Singapore time.   We we seeing way too much of the "wee hours of the morning" if you ask me.   It was all to common for CJ to wake around 2am and be awake until 5am, and inbetween somewhere I would inevitably hear one or more of the boys playiong in their room as well.   As all this is going on, Steve was quite sick with a nasty respiratory infection and having to go to school.   Luckily the Dr. gave him medicine right away and he was better within 24hrs.   Probly more difficult than staying awake in the middle of the night with the kiddos is keeping them awake during the dinner hour, and watching their nodding heads with horror as I knew if they fell asleep then, I was doomed once again that night for sleep. But now it is Sunday morning and we are all sleeping and waking on normal time, thank God!  Now we are getting ready for another visitor.  Susanna is coming for about 1 1/2 weeks.   It's always fun to have someone see what life is like in Asia! So, stay tuned for pictures and stories of our trip home, America.  But be patient as there are tons of pics and lots of stories and life here is non-stop as you can imagine.