Did We Really Just Move to Nicaragua??!?!

In all honesty this all still feels surreal and I expect to wake up back in Utah laughing my head off at such a crazy dream one of these days. I can't tell you the number of times Mitchell and I have looked at each other and said "Is this real?" "Did we seriously move our family to a foreign country?" "What were we thinking?!" We say this not because it has been a negative experience so far, it's just so far out there that even we, living it, have a hard time believing we're really here!

Last Wednesday (the day before our move) Mitchell took all of the kids to run some last minute errands in Salt Lake and I stayed home and did some cleaning, directed the carpet cleaner and the housekeepers. *Best decision ever to hire a team of professionals to deep clean the house!* It felt totally weird having free time the day before moving! I actually sat in the garage, eating a popsicle and thinking "this feels too easy." Well, it was about to change! Around 6:00pm Mitchell had a thought to call Delta to verify that we could take cardboard boxes as checked luggage. It must have been an inspired thought because we took a cardboard box with us 2 months ago with no problems. However, he checked the website and saw that the policy had changed! Cardboard boxes are not allowed as checked baggage! YIKES!! We had 11 boxes packed and ready to go! Mitchell made a mad dash to 2 thrift stores and bought 15 large suitcases! At 9:30pm we literally dumped every box in the middle of the living room and separated everything based on priority (in case we didn't have room for everything). It turned out, thanks Violet's mad packing skills back there, we did take everything! 16 checked suitcases, 6 backpacks and a carry on suitcase! We barely fit in the giant 12 passenger van!

Wednesday afternoon Audrey spent some time playing with one of her best friends, Kessa, who's mother also happens to be one of my best friends. When Tianna came to drop Audrey off we got teary as we said one more "see ya later." When Audrey came in she saw the tears in my eyes and hugged me at first to comfort me but then her own tears came. She said it perfectly "Mommy, it's so hard to say goodbye!" We hugged and sobbed for a good long time. It broke my heart that she was feeling the sadness of saying goodbye too.

We never would have finished everything without Violet! She's an angel!

Off we go! This was while I was still smiling. The progression of photos shows first a smile, then a grimace then the tears started to flow. It was so hard to leave such wonderful friends and family behind!

Have I mentioned before that Violet is amazing?! Well, she is! Not only did she stay up late helping us re-pack, she woke up super early and prepared a delicious breakfast feast for us before we had to go! Many of our dear friends and neighbors gathered early to see us off!

The kids were all amazing on our all day travel day Thursday. We got picked up by the airport shuttle at 7:00am. It took a while to weigh and check all of our suitcases but the kids waited patiently and we got through security without a hitch. They waited when they needed to wait and hurried when they needed to hurry. Mitchell and I were so impressed! Even on the airplane they happily played with their new travel toys (Lalaloopsy dolls for Audrey, Transformers for R&R and a stuffed animal for Layne) and colored. Many travel hours later, 13.5 hours to be exact, we arrived in Nicaragua!

Waiting patiently at the airport while we checked all 16 suitcases!

Chillin'

Audrey got invited in to the cockpit to meet the pilot!

We made it!

Thursday evening everyone was pretty tired so we got to our house and opened just enough suitcases to find sheets to make beds and we all fell asleep. The sun comes up early here! I slept very well and woke up around 5:00am and it was full daylight. Since no one else was awake I went back to sleep but by 6:30 we were all up. Mitchell got us all moving and despite the heat, we unpacked everything! I'm so glad we got that done right away so I don't have to worry about it this week.

Mitchell's work employs a full-time cook and we enjoyed a delicious lunch Friday afternoon at the office then we went to run some errands. We bought a few things for the house, looked into internet service and bought groceries. It takes us forever to get around here! For one thing, it's a big congested city with tons of cars on the roads especially during rush hour. Also, everything is unfamiliar so we make some wrong turns and it costs us 15 minutes to get back on the right track! Good thing we've been catching up on watching the Amazing Race to prepare us! Haha!

Saturday poor Reid wasn't feeling well at all. He was losing liquid from both ends and had a mild fever. I'm sure we'll all have to adjust to the new microbes around at some point! Fortunately, it was short lived and by the end of the day he felt better and by today he was back to normal.

Today we went to church and attended quite possibly the kindest, most welcoming and wonderful ward in all the world! Every person greeted us, told us they were our new friends and oohed and aahed over our blonde kids. Even the stake president made a point to tell me how happy he was to see us there today and that he would be available to help us in any way possible. Turns out this particular ward isn't our assigned ward and Mitchell and I both felt a little sad about that. *Funny story: I think the Nicas like to hear our accents. In Sunday school I got called on to read a passage of about 5 verses. Moments later Mitchell was asked to read 10 verses! Haha, the other members of the class only read about 2 verses.  :)

Observations:
*The dish soap here is a paste rather than liquid, and it's amazing!! It cleans so great!
*Friday felt so hot that it was hard to keep working on unpacking; I kept finding myself sitting down and sweating. Saturday and today weren't nearly as hot though. Yay!
*The city water doesn't have pressure all day. In the evening, and other times during the day that I haven't totally figured out yet, there is no running water. Our house has a water storage tank and a pump so we should have uninterrupted running water. We didn't get the system up and running until mid-day on Friday and I found that I am really grateful for running water!
*When it's 90 degrees out with nearly 100% humidity, you don't really mind too much that the water heater isn't getting hot water to your shower. The cold water feels pretty refreshing in fact!

This is the view from Audrey's bedroom balcony! #nofilter

This is our little street, our car is the SUV on the right.

Redick and Audrey on the only furniture in the house! 

Ahhhh, the pool

It's HOT!

After *HATING* swimming lessons she has made peace with the water and is a happy little fish again!