Day 1 - Friday

Our day started early on Friday morning.  

Jon was packed and ready to go, so we just had to get ourselves and the kids ready and out the door.  We had to be at the airport at 7am.  

The last couple of days before he left, Harper had been crying a lot, very sad about the idea of Daddy being gone for 10 days.  It broke both our hearts and we tried our best to reassure her that everything would be okay.  Thankfully for everyone, she did not cry when we said goodbye to him at the airport.  Both she and Jasper were in great moods which made it a million times easier.  

On my way to pick the kids up from school, a HUGE storm blew in to town and there was flash flooding and crazy winds as I drove.  It seemed like it literally came out of nowhere and I checked the radar and it was not in the forecast.  I had planned on taking the kids to a few places once I picked them up and had hoped to be home by 7:30 since Jon thought he was going to be able to call at that time.  But the storm was so crazy and knocked out signals and caused so much traffic, we were a little hurried.  We made it home right at 7:30 but, as we found out later, the wifi on the plane would not work more than 100 miles off the coast of the US.  Bummer!  The kids weren't expecting it though, so no harm done.  The kids were in great moods and despite the storms, it was a good night.

Jon and I had come up with the idea to have little notes and presents to give to the kids each night he is away.  We are used to him being gone for dinner, bath and bed time during the week due to his work schedule.  But we call him each night and are able to Face Time so we can say good night.  We knew we wouldn't be able to do that obviously, so we thought this would be something for the kids to look forward to each night instead.

Here they are after bath, looking a bit stunned.  They've just found out about the notes and presents.  

They loved reading Daddy's note and LOVED the presents.  Harper got 4 hair bows and Jasper got a "monster truck" which he practically has not let go of since Friday night.  

In his note, Jon requested that we look at the map of Manaus, Brazil and the Amazon so we could know where he was.