Ecuador day 1: (Okay, Getting to Ecuador)

Hi everyone! We are alive and well. Here is a short run down of yesterday before I get to today.

So, the journey getting to Ecuador was....long. Sunday night, Devin's fantastically wonderful sister Alisa picked us and our million bags up and drove us to Salt Lake for the night. But first, we stopped at Kirston's house because she kindly volunteered to feed us. It was especially nice of her because we had been living on whatever was in our fridge for the last week (cheese and tortillas, namely). That meal was divine, especially because I knew that our eating situation in Ecuador was probably going to be iffy.

We got the kids to bed at Alisa's house at about 8 and then Devin and I attempted to go to sleep at 10. I didn't sleep until well past midnight, so our three am wake-up call was rather awful. We arrived at the airport at 4 am and stood in the most giant line to get checked in. In the meantime, Devin found a friend from high school who was going to be on our same flight, plus one of his co-workers, who was also going to be on our flight. This was excellent news because we had far too many bags to handle ourselves. The co-worker helped get everything loaded into the plane, which was so nice. We were worried about checking bags and the weight on our bags, but there were no issues, even though two were slightly over weight. (I think the agent was just trying to hurry as she had a major line behind us). They did tell us that we could not check Jace's pack-n-play, even though we had been told twice on the phone that we could and it would be free. We took it to the gate and asked them there and they checked it no problem.

Our first leg was to Dallas and very uneventful. Hallie and Jace were both awake from 3:30 am on, though Jace did take two small naps on the first two flights. In Dallas, an agent approached us about checking the rest of our bags (the three carry-ons) as it would help them with space. We jumped at the opportunity as it was free and it helped us A LOT. I mean really, we had the three suitcases, four personal items (all very large bags stuffed to capacity) and the stroller (plus two kids) that we were dealing with. So that was a great blessing.

Dallas to Tampa was also no problem. Tampa to Miami was short and sweet and Jace slept the whole time. Hallie fell asleep just as the plane was landing. Major bummer. We waited two and a half hours or so in Miami before boarding our plane. Of course it had to be late-- everything else was on time, so the odds were against us. We then sat in the plane for another hour and a half or so because the door was broken and wouldn't shut. Great. Not a problem we wanted to have....but it got fixed and off we went. We arrived in Quito wayyyy past schedule...but the flight dragged on even longer because it was too foggy to land here. We circled the city for a time before it finally cleared enough for us to land. Phew. So arrival time was about 1:30 am versus the 11:15 scheduled time. Luckily, both kids slept the whole flight, which was SO nice.

We are renting an apartment from a man named Andres, and he was kind enough to come pick us up at the airport. Poor man waited the whole two hours over. He has a large car and we were able to shove everything in there to get to the apartment. We got home and in bed at about 3 am. The apartment is really great--- two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a front room, and a kitchen area. Plus it has laundry and internet. The only bummer is that it is up four huge flights of stairs. Poor Devin got to haul up all the luggage himself. Haha! I was taking care of the kids and getting them to bed and Andres has a bad back and couldn't help. Needless to say, we were beat after the 22 hours of traveling and being awake. Quito is 2 hours ahead of Utah, just in case anyone wondered!

We were slated to be to the orphanage this morning to see Flor at 10 am, so we knew that we would only be getting 6 hours of sleep or so.

Devin was sure that I would cry when we took of from Salt Lake and then again when we landed in Quito. Well, I am happy to report that he is wrong on both counts. I didn't cry either time, but I probably would have when we landed in Quito had I not been so tired. I was however shaking with excitement. I love Quito and Ecuador a lot. They hold a large piece of my heart and more importantly, they hold my daughter (for now.)