Looking ahead

We have had an amazing time back this summer, but all good and wonderful things do come to an end. I have mixed emotions about this. It has been relaxing to blend in and do everyday things without being stared at. And it has been so good to see family and friends. But I find myself longing for home and our normal routines. I also greatly miss Andy. We have now been apart for 11 days and still have 10 more before we will see each other. This marks the longest time we will have been apart since we got married. In the meantime, I am going to take a trip to Seattle solo. You read that right.... I will get on an airplane by myself and then have the opportunity to spend 3 days with one of my dearest friends. But first, I am off to finish my shopping and begin the challenge of packing. (yet again. I have lost count of how many times I have packed and unpacked this summer.) This vacation has been a blessing, but also a ton of WORK. :-D

Date night

For some crazy reason, we took pictures of us separately and none together. Who knows what we were thinking?! (If you can't read the sign, this is the Purple People Bridge)

While we were in Cincy, we left the kids with grandma for a night and had a night out. We went to Ambar Indian (one of our absolute favorite places) and then headed to Sawyer Point to walk across the Purple People Bridge and on to the Newport Levy. Even though I did not grow up in Cincinnati, it seems like home to me because I went to college there and then we lived there for our first couple years of marriage. As we walked along the levy and looked across the Ohio River to Cincinnati, I was struck with how small the city looked to me. I wasn't even comparing it to anything else in my mind, but it just seems a bit smaller than I remember. Maybe it is similar to when you are a child and certain things or places seem huge, but when you come back years later those things seem to have shrunk. Obviously, nothing around me has changed but I know that I have. And often until you come across moments like those you don't even realize how you have changed. So Andy and I sat there on the levy watching the sunset and reminiscing. On our time in Cincinnati, but also over our last year. Sometimes as I have been back this summer it has seemed so surreal. Here are places that are so familiar to us but yet at the same time they seem different. While I know that my perspective has changed, I can't always point at something specific and say, "That. That is the difference in me." But I do think that one of the biggest differences this year has brought about in me is my willingness to adapt. And really the expectation that I will need to adapt on a daily basis. This last year has often brought me to the point where I realize that my attitude about an event or circumstance makes all the difference. Because I often have little control about the circumstance or problem, only my reaction to it. Really that is true no matter where we live, but I think it just becomes more pronounced living in such a radically different culture. And as I have had ups and downs, I am realizing more and more that choosing to have joy and see humor in crazy circumstances drastically alters the outcome. Not necessarily of the event but maybe my remembrance of it and how it impacts me and our family. Wow, how did I get from our date night to here? I guess as I remember all that we were talking about, I got to thinking. One conclusion that Andy and I realized is that we are so glad that we took that step and made the move last year. What an adventure it has been!

Back to Cincy

Just for the record I am still several weeks behind, but I want to chronicle our time back in the US. After spending a week with my parents in Vandalia, we returned to Cincinnati and were able to see lots of friends and spend some more time with family. 

Monday we went with Dwight and Duease to the Cincinnati Zoo. For years when we lived in Cincinnati we were zoo members. So coming to the zoo was so familiar even with all of the recent changes and additions there. I did feel like I should qualify for a previous member discount. You know, like a zoo alumni members perk or something. Ah well, just my frugal self coming out and not wanting to shell out full-price for all of us!

Watching the gorillas

Riding on the scooter with grandpa was a much coveted experience!

Feeding the goats at the Children's zoo. I love how Tori has her mouth open-wide.

Becca enjoyed feeding the goats. She just did not want them getting too close to her. Her expression says it all.

Tuesday through Thursday Becca attended a nature camp through the Hamilton County Parks. She had a wonderful time. When we were talking about coming back for the summer, Becca and I were discussing if she might want to attend a camp. Being me (and the researcher I am), I had read that this was a good idea for kids to keep some normalcy about the summer. Because as we travel all over the midwest, much of our time is busy and essentially like a 6 week holiday. While that sounds like a good idea in theory, in practice it can be tiring and overwhelming for everybody. So it is good to not just do all the fun and exciting things (like the zoo and museums), but also some normal summer activities as well. We talked about all kinds of camps and she landed on nature camp. I warned her that she would not know anyone and asked if she would be okay with that. Her response: "Well, I will know people by the end of the week." Now Josh's response was his eyes got big and he said, "Do I have to go? I think I just want to spend time at grandma's house." Amazing how different they are!

Thursday I picked up Becca from camp and then we were off to our next stop in the Wilcox crazy summer visit train- Indianapolis.

Visit to Vandalia

After spending a couple days in Cincinnati recovering from jet lag (which is always more enjoyable when experienced with a 3 year old), we spent several days in Vandalia (Ohio) with my parents. We packed so much in just a couple days! I will let the pictures tell the story.....

Hiking at Charleston Falls

Clearly, the stepping stones are the preferred method over the bridge.

Backyard bonfire 

Tori enjoying a s'more with grandpa

Doing puzzles with grandma

Tori showing off her unique mini-golf swing

Official blog slacker

Okay, I am confessing to all of you out there in blogger land that I have really been slacking. My apologies! Over the next days (okay, honestly over the next week or so) I hope to update you all on what we have been up to in the U.S.  We have had a great vacation so far and have really enjoyed time with so many wonderful people that we love. Andy left this morning to work in northern Indiana. He leaves on Thursday to spend the weekend in San Francisco with his brother and then flies on to China. I will see him in 24 days - our longest time apart so far.

Jet Lag

Becca was unable to sleep on either plane ride. So she ended up being up for over 26 hours straight! While we waited for our connection in Detroit she was a bit delirious and had some fun with the chairs (picture above). We were all bummed the benches had armrests and therefore effectively kept us from napping. Once we got to Duease's (Andy's mom) house in Cincinnati, Becca was so excited to talk and hang out with grandma that she showed no signs of being tired. However, during a lull when Duease and I were working on dinner, I walked into the hallway to find:

Becca was just done. I even tried to wake her to eat with no success. So, at 6:30 PM we just put her in bed. She slept until almost 7 the next morning. Apparently this is Becca's way of not having jet lag....

The trek to the US

Sorry for my complete lack of blogging for a whole month! There was a variety of reasons.... general busyness of life and getting ready to visit the U.S., but the main reason was that blogger and our country of residence were not getting along. Read here to find out more details.... 

Yesterday, on July 8th we began our trek back to the U.S. for a visit for the summer. We had driven to Shanghai the night before because we had an early flight. So at 5 AM, we woke up, got the kids ready and caught the shuttle to the airport and to begin our monster day. We flew back on Northwest and had booked the tickets through Orbitz. When we had booked the tickets for some reason it would not let us pick seats together. It suggested that we try again. So we did. And then tried again. Each time it would not let us choose seats together and instead scattered us and the kids all across the back of the plane. Fast forward to yesterday and we were checking in and the airline attendant told us that the flight was full and she could not give us seats together. She had to be joking, right? I mean not one us was together or even within 5 rows of each other.... for a 14 hour flight. We asked her several times if she could try to move people, but she told us we would have to deal with it on the plane. I would think that for the happiness of everyone on board, she would have been a little more accommodating to get us together. :-P Anyway, we get on board and tell the flight attendant that we are not seated together. He looked at us with panic in his eyes and rapidly began helping us switch seats. Yes! Some excellent customer service. He got us two rows together - 2 seats and 3 seats. The kids did really well on the plane. Especially considering that the in-flight entertainment was only overhead and not at all appropriate for them. I know that most parents say this, but we have really amazing kids. Some of my favorite quotes from the kids while we were on the long flight:

• About an hour into the flight, Tori announced that she had to go potty. She then looked at me with a very concerned look and asked, "Do they have a potty on this plane?"
• Shortly after this, Tori turned to me and said, "We are far from China." I said that yes, we had left China, but were not that far away. She thought for a moment and said, "we are in America." Oh, T if only it were that quick! I explained that we were going to be on the plane for a long time, almost all day, and then we would be in America. She looked confused as she processed this. Finally, she said we were in the middle. 
• Several hours into the flight, the flight attendants have everyone close the windows so people can sleep (it is daylight for the whole flight). Tori looked up after this and asked if the plane was underground. When I told her that it wasn't she said that it was in a tunnel then. I assured her that we weren't, but I don't think she ever really believed me.
• On about hour 5 or 6 of the flight, I was encouraging the girls to try and sleep. There were some people behind us who were rather loud and Becca had a hard time resting with the noise, so I suggested the girls use the headphones to listen to classical music. Later after they had taken the headphones off, Tori asked if she could use the "song-headbands" again. :-)
• And of course, a twist on the ever-present childhood question: "How much longer?"

Tori slept for almost 4 hours on the plane, but Josh fell asleep as we began our descent into Detroit. Andy had to carry him off the plane. He wanted to walk, but then he pretty much just quietly cried through immigration. Becca didn't sleep at all until we had been in Cincinnati at grandma's house for a while and then she passed out on the floor. She had been up for over 24 hours! Andy, Josh, Tori and I were all up at 4:30 AM this morning. Ah, jet lag. Which I know sounds early, but I am just glad they slept that late. While it feels good to be here, already I can tell that some things will seem really strange. Let the adventure of the summer begin!