Hobbs World Travelers: June 2005

We Are Here!!

Believe it or not, we survived our flight! We got into Koahsiung late last night (the afternoon for all of you) and got into our apartment. It is.....well....let's just say it isn't the Ritz.....but we've decided to stay here for now, at least until we talk to the other foreign teachers. The one big problem...our apartment didn't come with A/C, so we can either pay extra for the apartment for them to put one in...or we can buy one and get a sort of refund on our apartment each month. Complicated....I'll have to explain later. Anyway, it is really actually a charming little neighborhood, and the courtyard for our complex is gorgeous. I guess I just have to keep telling myself that I'm not in the US, and apartments here are a little bit different. I'll have to take pictures and post them so you can see what I mean. For those of you who I told about my nightmare before I left about the motel on south 5th in Pocatello.....well, it just about came true. But after sleeping for a few hours, it isn't all that bad.

Well, I just wanted everyone to know that we are okay and getting settled in. We had our first real Chinese meal at lunch. We ate at this awesome dumpling restaurant. WOW!! Yummy!

More on our adventure later!!!!

Love,
Us

Goodbye USA!

Okay, we are leaving here in just a few hours....so I thought I'd let everyone know our new address in Taiwan.

No. 127 6FI, Hang-Chou North Street
Fung-Shan, Kaohsiung
Taiwan, R.O.C.

Travis can tell us whether I put stuff on the right lines or not. Anyway, I am only just starting to panic a little tiny bit....hopefully that wears off. We will be trying to post on this when we get there, but don't panic if you don't hear from us. We promise we will let you know somehow that we are okay!!

We're off to see Taiwan.....

We're not in Kansas anymore......

Here is a picture of Wyatt sleeping next to Madison's baby. Madi insisted that he needed to sleep with it. It was really cute. She loves her new cousin...she even lets him have her snuggly (for those of you who are unfamiliar with the snuggly....it is an ugly, nasty blanket that she has had since birth that she carries around and won't let us get rid of. She really loves the thing...I don't have the heart to take it away!).

Taiwan, Here We Come!!!

Here is our travel itinerary for our flight to Taiwan next Tuesday. I can't believe it's next Tuesday!! Anyway, I thought I'd let you look at it to see what a wonderful flight it is going to be!

BRIAN DAVID HOBBS
KRISTA MARIE HOBBS
MADISON ELENA HOBBS

Tuesday June 28 2005
Delta Air Lines Inc - Flight DL 1513 Status: Confirmed
Depart: Salt Lake City International Airport Airline Ref: 6SA077
Salt Lake City Utah United States Seat: 11:10 AM Class: T-Economy/Coach
Terminal 2
Mileage: 584
Arrive: Los Angeles International Airport Travel Time: 1:51
Los Angeles California United States Stopovers: 0
12:01 PM Aircraft: MCDONNELL DOUGLAS MD90
Terminal 5
Meal: No Meal Service

Tuesday June 28 2005
China Airline - Flight CI 5 Status: Confirmed
Depart: Los Angeles International Airport Airline Ref: K585FW
Los Angeles California United States Seat: 3:25 PM Class: M-Economy/Coach
Terminal B
Mileage: 6774
Arrive: Chiang Kai Shek International Airport Travel Time: 13:45
Taipei Taiwan Stopovers: 0
Wednesday June 29 2005
8:10 PM Aircraft: BOEING 747-400
Terminal 2
Meal: Meal Service

Wednesday June 29 2005
China Airline - Flight CI 177 Status: Confirmed
Depart: Chiang Kai Shek International Airport Airline Ref: K585FW
Taipei Taiwan Seat: 10:35 PM Class: M-Economy/Coach
Terminal 2
Mileage: 183
Arrive: Kaohsiung International Airport Travel Time: :55
Kaohsiung Taiwan Stopovers: 0 11:30 PM Aircraft: FOKKER 100
Meal: Snack or Brunch

Doesn't this look like fun? If anyone has any ideas on how to entertain a bored three year old for several, and I do mean several, hours.....please feel free to post your ideas!

Ahhh....Allegra

You know, it's good to be married to a strong, sturdy, handyman like Brian. You see, my dad is still trying to get my grandparents completely moved out of their old house. Well, right now he's in the process of tearing down the old outbuildings...and Brian being the industrious volunteer that he is has been trying to help when he's not at work. Okay, actually I have been volunteering him when he's not at work. It isn't that he wouldn't volunteer, but after spending eight hours in a hot attic, he doesn't always feel fresh for a new evening of labor. Unfortunately for Brian, this is Idaho. Pollen infested, dust encrusted, rusty nail occupied Idaho. So yesterday he had four rusty nails puncture his foot, and spent the evening not being able to breath due to his allergies. Consequently, he didn't sleep at all and today when my dad had a new project outside...well, let's just say that I'm now the strong, sturdy, handyman in the family. But just for today. We built a corral for my dad's horse, and I mowed his lawn with a push mower.....has anyone out there seen his massive lawn? Okay, so edged with the push mower while he got the rest with the riding lawn mower...but really, why did I get stuck with the push mower? And then we got done and he started thinking of all kinds of new projects that he needed to get done. Taiwan is looking pretty good right now!

Wyatt Ryan Archibald's First Appearance

Well, he's finally here folks! I talked to him on the phone right before we left Kansas and made him promise that he would wait for me to get here before he decided to get born....and he kept his promise!

The day we got here Nanci started labor......or rather continued on in the two month long labor she'd been having, but this time for real! And he was born the very next day. Way to go Wyatt, he already knows to listen to his favorite Aunt!

Anyway, here are the pictures of him......finally....and hopefully I'll soon have some more now that he looks less like a pop eyed frog and more like the beautiful baby boy that he is!!1

Wyatt still in the wrapper.....while Mommy gets a nice massage from Great Aunt Annie

Grandpa Allen getting ready for his turn to hold the new baby......great, now all we have to do is wait for him to get born!

What do those nurses have over there?

And here he is!!!!! Presenting: Wyatt Ryan Archibald. He's really had a long day!

What time is is??? BABY TIME!!!!!

Only a couple of minutes old and already getting dirty...must take after his Daddy.

Proud family waiting......Uncle Jake, Grandma Archibald, Grandpa Archibald, Uncle Kevin, Grandma Allen and Great Aunt Annie.

In the delivery room he heard Nanci's voice and turned his head to look right at her...and smiled....no really...he smiled when he heard her voice.

He loves me already....

Favorite Aunt Krista and cousin Madison get to hold the baby.

Here is Wyatt saying what he thinks about getting his diaper changed...

Ah....the free trip up the Stratosphere. You know, when things are free, you really tend to enjoy them more.....

McDonald's.....breakfast, and one of the two meals we actually had to pay for.

Me chilling with Brian while we wait for our shuttle to High-Pressure Salesville....

Brian chilling out while we wait for our shuttle to High-Pressure Salesville.

Fabulous Las Vegs...for $20.00 a day!

You know, you've really gotta love a place like Las Vegas. We won this trip, so airfare and hotel was free. We got to the hotel at about 7:30pm, and decided to go for a little walk to find out where we wanted to eat dinner. We walked into the Stratosphere and someone gave us their tickets to see the view from the top of the hotel (a great view of Las Vegas, actually). We were delighted to discover that those tickets were worth about $10.00 each. Then after an awesome dinner at the Crazy Armadillo...(more on that place in a minute)...we went back to our hotel where we were offered four free buffets and show tickets if we listened to a sales pitch for a timeshare. Now, normally we would have run the other way....quickly...but since we had no other plans and were just there to relax without our usual three year old company, we decided to do it.

Well, to make a long story shorter....we went to the sales pitch, participated in a game show there that earned us more free buffets, and left three hours later with free pretzels and crackers, a big headache from the high pressure sales, but still on top with our free meals and show.

So, we spent thirty dollars on dinner the first night...five dollars on a souvenier for Madison...and five for breakfast at the airport this morning. Ta da!! Las Vegas for fourty dollars in two days! We decided it wasn't too shabby, considering we got a virtually free vacation, including meals and entertainment...and all we had to do was drive to Salt Lake....where we needed to go anyway to buy some stuff for the big move!!

Viva Las Vegas!!

Our Big Move.....

Sooo....we are moving to Taiwan...hopefully that isn't coming as a surprise to anyone. I guess I'll give the update. We finally got Madison's passport, so now we are just waiting for the ticket information so we can wait for the visas...and then we can go! Of course, then we'll sit on the plane and wait to get to Taiwan. Hmmm....lots of waiting!

The Las Vegas Trip

Krista and I won a trip to Sin City last year and we are finally going.

Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial

On the Oklahoma Memorial there are two big walls opposite eachother, with a time 9:01 and 9:03 engraved into them. These times represent the minutes of when the bombing started and ended.