We Have Arrived!

After a very long 16 hour flight, we are in Sydney, Australia!!  Let me tell you, I was SO nervous about the flight that I almost didn't want to get on that airplane last night.  Landon has been teething, has gotten a cold and has had a really bad bum rash - and so hadn't been sleeping well and I thought that the flight was going to be so hard for him.  But, God is so good - and I know there were so many people praying (THANK YOU) - and Landon ended up sleeping for almost the entire flight - maybe was awake for about 4 hours total.  And he ended up sleeping during what was Sydney's nighttime...so his clock had already started to switch!  We had a few tears at times, but only due to hunger and teething pain.  Because of it being an international flight, we had requested a bassinet seat and that was the most amazing thing!  We were seated on an exit aisle and they placed a little bassinet on the wall in front of us and Landon slept in there most of the time.  The only time he wasn't in there was when he was eating or when it was turbulent.  We arrived in Sydney this morning (Sunday) at 9am, which would have been about 5pm Saturday in Vancouver.  Landon seems to be handling the change pretty well - he is napping great and seems fairly happy.  Abby, Jason and I are feeling fairly tired, as none of us slept great on the airplane, but we are determined to stay awake until at least 7 or 8 pm tonight before we go to bed....another 6 hours to go!!

It is so great to see Ben and Kare - they live in an amazing part of Sydney....so much beautiful scenery and getting to the harbor is just a few steps away.  I am really looking forward to exploring.  The weather isn't quite as warm here as it is at home right now, due to the fact that it is their winter.  The average temp is about 20-25 degrees...so definately nothing to complain about!  On Tuesday, we go to Perth to visit Jeremy and Shari for 8 days before returning back to Sydney for the last part of our trip.  I can't wait to see Jer and Shar, but I really am not looking forward to getting on another plane - and its not that short of a trip....it is about a 5 hour flight and a 3 hour time change!  Yikes...I'm sure Landon will surprise me again, but I'm just hoping that it won't push him over the edge!  He is probably way more adaptable than we are, though!  

We have already had so much fun just getting here to where Kare and Ben live!  We had so much luggage that it didn't fit in their car, so a friend of theirs came along to pick us up and help us get to their home.  And we got here - about a 20 min drive from the airport - and discovered that one of Jason's suitcases wasn't with us!  We called the airport and found out that we had left it in the PARKING LOT!  But, it was there and everything was in it!  And this was a suitcase filled with a computer, blackberry, headphones etc....the expensive stuff!  Karalee and Jason are just at the airport picking it up - Thank you Lord!

Well, there is my nice long explanation of our arrival!  I will post pictures as we take them!!  Tomorrow Ben and Kare have the day off and are going to show us around Sydney, so I'm sure we will have plenty of pictures by the end of the day!