Joanna's Family

Just a few days after arriving, we were able to go out to my aunt and uncle's for a quick lunch. It was great to see family again after several years!

My cousin, Cory, and his wife, Liesel

(Somehow this was the only family pic I took. Guess I was still brain-dead from jet-lag! Stay tuned for pictures of the others in the family! LOL)

Carly fell in love with my Aunt Lynette's new puppy, Bandit

He's the cutest little fur ball!!!

Silver Dollar City.....we've missed you so!

Silver Dollar City is one of our favorite places on the planet! Once again, my mom bought us all season passes for our Christmas present. (Thanks, MOM!!!) But the good news is that we don't have to wait until December!! So one of the first things we wanted to do after arriving in the States was to go to SDC with Mom and Dad.

Papaw, Caleb, Carly and Minnie

So good to be back!

We were able to be there for the last weekend of the Bluegrass and BBQ Festival

The biggest snow cone ever! It took 4 of us 30 minutes to eat it all!!

Checking out one of our favorite rides....Powder Keg!!

Not sure about this??!!

This is a new ride for this season....an insanely huge swing!! Holy cow!!

The Giant Barn Swing in action!!

As we were leaving the park, this family was performing.

Thanks, SDC, for a great day! We'll see ya again soon for Kids' Fest!!

Cook-out with the Lucks and Benders

A couple of days after we arrived, Addie and Emily's families (the Benders and the Lucks) invited us over for a cook-out. Thank you all so much for doing this. The food was wonderful and the fellowship was even better! We're looking forward to having lots of time over the next few months to make lots of memories!

Even the boys were pretty excited to get reacquainted.

Can we say "jet lag"???

Arkansas!!!

After about 54 hours (since we left Manila), we boarded the last plane headed to Little Rock, Arkansas!!!

The Arkansas River

Wow, the Little Rock airport has changed quite a bit in the last 3 years!

We're here!!!!

Surprise!! Emily and Addie were at the airport!!

Family pic

We went to Red Lobster for lunch. I think it tasted good, but honestly, I was so tired I have no idea how it tasted. I was just glad to be home.

Thankfully, Sam was there to entertain Caleb.

After lunch, we stopped by Sam's to buy a few groceries. Dad and the girls found a place to take a nap!

Taipei - Seattle - Houston

We flew EVA Airlines this time. We had never flown EVA before and were very pleased with our experience. We especially enjoyed the bigger seats and the individual entertainment options. (A WONDERFUL thing when flying with children!!)

Carly - somewhere over the Pacific Ocean

We made it to Seattle!!!!

Ahhh. Gotta love American water fountains!!

(You wouldn't want to do this in the Philippines!)

Just happy to be on American soil

See those big smiles on my kids? Well, they were short-lived! After enjoying the Seattle airport for about 5 hours, we were informed that our flight to Houston had been cancelled. Ugh. At that point, we were sent to a line to re-book our flight. That line took over 2 hours! In the end, we were sent to the Holiday Inn (for about 4 hours) and then re-booked on the morning flight......IN FIRST CLASS!!! All in all, it wasn't that bad of an experience. The kids were real troopers, especially during the long wait. We got a little extra rest, a hot shower and then were on our way to Houston the next morning.

Caleb enjoying 1st class!!

However, I'm not sure how much all the nicely dressed businessmen around us enjoyed a very excited and talkative 8 yr old boy who was about to see his grandparents!! LOL

You know you're an MK when....

As we flew out of Seattle, we had a spectacular view of the mountains! Wow, our God is an incredible Creator!!

We're on our way!!

Well the day FINALLY arrived and we headed to the International Airport in Manila to board a plane headed for the United States!!! It's been 3 years and we're very ready to see lots of friends and family!!!

Waiting in the Manila airport

The plane that will carry us to Taipei, Taiwan

The airport in Taipei was BEAUTIFUL - especially the orchids!

The plane that would carry us from Taipei to Seattle

The only thing I didn't enjoy about the Taipei airport was the food. There was very little international food. Almost everything was either noodles or dumplings. However we finally found a little snack bar that had ham and cheese sandwiches PTL. And thankfully, we had bought these Pringles in Manila! Next time, I'll be more prepared and be sure and have plenty of snacks for Taipei! (I'm just not a big fan of noodles or dumplings!)

Some things can be found in ANY airport!! :)