The Trip

We are well into week three of living out of our suitcases, so we can't give you pictures, but I will tell you the highlights from our trip. It will be hard to do without pictures, but I will give it a shot.

1. DC to LA

Laird and Jeffrey were extremely excited to ride in a taxi - a minivan taxi at that. Our stuff barely fit.

Our inflight entertainment was the awful movie "Speed Racer". This entertained Jeffrey, while Laird chatted it up with the fellow sitting by the window. Halfway through the flight, Laird asked the guy if he could sit by the window, so we shuffled seats to accommodate him. Upon moving around, Laird looks at the guy and asks "Why are you sitting there?" Laird promptly fell asleep for the rest of the flight. Lucy was quite squirmy for the entire flight though, giving Sheralie fits.

We stopped at Carl's Jr. on the way home from the airport. Ah, Carl's Jr. In'N Out is the usual place, but we didn't see one.

After an enjoyable weekend in San Diego with Sheralie's family, we went back up to LA to fly out.

2. LA to Tokyo

On this flight we got the whole middle section of seats (5) for the family. We also had the little TVs where you could pick out what entertainment you wanted. I was initially excited, but the selection on these TVs were terrible! I did watch two Office episodes and suffered through Ocean's 13. After that, it was time for me to entertain the kids.

This was a full 12 1/2 hour flight. The kids did surprisingly well, though they did get antsy. With a combination of new books (many hours), play dough (15 min), the portable DVD player (an hour or so) and the inflight TV (half hour or so), Jeffrey and Laird didn't get too bored. Lucy was tough though, since nothing really entertains her. She also freaked out if she didn't see Sheralie. Everyone slept some (except Sheralie) and we made it to Tokyo in one piece. The boys and I slept for about the last 3 hours of the flight.

In Tokyo, I was happy to see free carts to push luggage around. We grabbed a couple and Jeffrey was a champ at pushing one, though I think we switched him to the stroller because there was a complicated brake mechanism on these carts.

At the Holiday Inn, I went down to the gym. Apparently the Japanese are famous for having tons of vending machines. There was one on my floor. I bought a gatorade for 200 yen. I couldn't tell what flavor it was. Even after tasting it, I had no idea what flavor it was.

I went down to the gym for a run. Unfortunately, the treadmill instructions and buttons were all in Japanese. After randomly pushing buttons, I finally got it started. I must have chosen the super mountain workout because I was running hills with 15 degree slopes. Painful.

We all went to bed around 8 pm Tokyo time, which was 4 am LA time. Jet lag soon reared its ugly head. Around 1:30, Lucy and Laird woke up wide awake. In an attempt to give Sheralie and Jeffrey some sleep, I took Laird and Lucy on a tour of the hotel. We met a guy in the lobby who apparently did not have a room. After an hour of roaming around, we came back to find that Jeffrey and Sheralie were wide awake too. We decided we would all go back to sleep at 3 am, which we did. Jeffrey was so excited about his book though that he woke up at 5 am and turned on a light and started reading, which woke up Lucy, which woke up Sheralie. Laird and I got a little more sleep but we were all up again by 6 and feeling kind of cranky.

3. Tokyo to Manila

They wouldn't let us bring our carseat on the plane for Lucy, even though we had been able the previous two flights. We were in Japan, going to Manila on Philippines Airlines and they asked me if the carseat had been approved by the FAA. What did the FAA have to do with their regulations? I didn't even know the FAA got into the carseat regulation business (I learned later they actually do). It worked out fine though since the flight was half empty and we got a row of three and a row of four to ourselves.

Once again the inflight entertainment was terrible. I guess this stems from most movies coming out being awful, but I had a vain hope for something good to watch. We were all exhausted from our adventure in Japan though, so we slept pretty soundly on the flight.

We touched down in Manila and were met by an "expediter" who got us through all the hoops and into our huge van to take us to our place. So we are now here, in our temporary housing, which we are glad is only temporary, since we don't have a dishwasher, internet or cable and Lucy is sleeping in our room. They did give us a DVD player, but upon trying it out, it only plays DVDs from the Asia region. Handy. In any event, we are faring much better than many of our friends in Houston, who still lack power even 2+ weeks after Hurricane Ike.

Anyway, we are happy to be here and are getting used to it. It is still rainy season, so it is still very rainy and humid - we live just a couple minutes from Manila Bay too, which doesn't help humidity-wise. Hopefully we will get some pictures up next week when we get our air shipment delivered.

We have arrived

After three long plane flights, several nights in hotels and with relatives, we have arrived in Manila. We are very happy and excited to be here. Today is my first day of work. We have limited internet access right now in our temp quarters, but hope to be fully operational soon.

Our thoughts are with many friends and family in Houston, many parts of which were really beaten up by Hurricane Ike. Hope you guys get back on your feet soon.

We will have some travel logs and other interesting posts soon.

Outings, Comings, Goings

On Thursday, Laird and I went on a "date" to Wendy's and the playground. I think the Frosty wound up him pretty well, as he just went around the playground shouting "I am a Pirate" to anyone who would listen. And he didn't fall asleep until 9 pm - luckily I went on a late run and missed that.



On Thursday, Phil and I went to go see Jerry Seinfeld in Baltimore. We were almost late because we spent 15 minutes hunting down a McDonald's that they advertised on the sign but which was nowhere to be found on the exit. They needed the golden arches perched where I could see them. But luckily we found a Wendy's in downtown Baltimore. Having see "The Wire" I was curious to see inner city Baltimore. It did not disappoint. Inside of Wendy's there was a sign at the back in front of a desk: "Baltimore Police Substation: Official Use Only". I had never seen part of a Wendy's commandeered as a substation before. And while we there, a policewoman came in, broke out her laptop, made a call and had a burger (actually I didn't see if she ate anything - we were in a hurry as it was). Very odd. The show itself was terrific - highly recommended to any who have not seen it.



Dad Broadbent swung into town briefly. He jammed on the piano with Jeffrey, who is coming right along, after three months of lessons.






Leaving amid Tropical Storm Hanna

We are five days away from taking off for Manila. Posts may be sporadic as we travel and get settled. We will have to go back to the laptop for a while, with its intolerably slow speed. Our flights: DC to LA, LA to Tokyo and Tokyo to Manila. Roughly 22.5 hours in flight and some time in between on the ground.

Mt. Vernon

On Labor Day, Jeffrey, Laird and I went to go see the home of our first President, George Washington. Word to the wise, if you bring kids, bring the stroller in. It's not just a house - it's a huge estate.


At the gardens


The house itself


The cellar was quite a hit


By the time we got to the 8-sided barn, these boys were pretty tired.

DC Temple

Last week we visited the Washington DC temple and visitor's center.


This photo courtesy of Jeff

Super Heroes

Our local super heroes:


"Top Jack"


and his sidekick Super Laird


For the runway - he really thought this was how we was supposed to wear his new belt

Aunt Melanie

Aunt Melanie returned in December from her mission in Brazil.



And a few days ago she called to say she was engaged to the man in the photo below. He holds himself out as "Daniel Burk".



Congratulations Melanie!

Olympics in San Diego

Sheralie and the kids had a great time in San Diego while I was slaving away back in Virginia. Events included:


Swimming with Grandpa Keith


Surfing


Baseball


The Swings


Archery


and Seaworld

The Case of the Foul Odor

The day that Sheralie left for a week to San Diego, I noticed a terrible smell coming from the kitchen. This wasn't totally unexpected. Since I am not very punctual about doing dishes when it is just me, I figured that something had been left out that shouldn't have. So I took out the trash, did the dishes and ran the disposal. But the next day, the odor was still there. Every time I though I had beaten it back, the smell would return. I had no idea what the problem was. My only guess was that it was coming from the refrigerator (but not inside it).

When Sheralie came home, she was quite appalled that the kitchen smelled so bad. After a thorough cleansing, she called maintenance. Since she had cleaned so well, they couldn't really smell anything, but she asked them to look in the back of the refrigerator. The refrigerator in this apartment is super old and the back has some holes in it exposing parts of the machinery (picture below). Sure enough, inside the fridge was a dead mouse, which had burned to death on the motor. Mystery solved and smell removed.