Travel to Taiwan

On May 31st we left for the trip of a lifetime. After Zui's mom passed away, Dennis began planning a Kim ohana reunion to commemorate Linda. When we found out we were unexpectedly pregnant we were worried we might not be able to go, even though our plane tickets were already bought and paid for. As an answer to our prayers, Jasmine came early! We rushed the birth certificate (got it in 4 days), then once we received it rushed the passport (got it on the last business day before we flew). She was just over 2 weeks old! Here we are at the airport. Lots to keep track of: three suitcases, two backpacks, a double jogger, infant carseat, and four kids...phew!
We took an 8 hour flight to Japan, then after an hour layover, took another 3 1/2 hour flight to Taipei. The dreaded flight went better than we expected. The kids entertained themselves with the seat buckles for quite a while. We packed lots of toys and fun snacks for them. The best toy we brought was a mini retractable tape measure that I bought at Walmart for $2 (thanks Mom for the great idea!). The kids loved that and were always fighting over it (I should've bought 3!). Other great toys: magna doodle, crayola wonders, and the portable DVD player, what a winner. My Dad highly recommended we bring one and I can't even tell you how many times we brought it out on the trip.
It was kinda tricky having 2 lap children for the 2 of us. Luckily Jasmine got to sleep in the bassinet they provided.

Arrival in Taipei--this is the airport. I have no idea what this silly cow thing is, but there were several of these weird colorful animal sculptures all around. The Yamagatas, Darrell Kim's and Aunty Cynthia were also on our flight.

The kids were exhausted by this point, but we still had to take a bus, then train, then taxi to get to our hotel.
It was pretty crazy trying to get all of our stuff in and out several times. Luckily we had help from family.
Waiting for the train to come.
The hotel enthralled the kids for the first half hour or so. Then they wanted to go home to sleep in their own beds. It was a hard realization for them that we weren't going home...for a LONG time.

One bed, 2 adults, and 4 kids. I had just finished nursing Jasmine when I put her to bed and realized I had no where to sleep! Somehow I squeezed in there, I think I had Jasmine sleep on top of me. Even still, both Anjuli and Zion fell out of the bed during the night. Luckily the rest of our hotels had 2 beds in them. After 18 hours of travel we had finally made it.