After nearly four weeks, a combined 40 hours of air travel (and what feels like at least as many hours in airports) and visiting four states and two countries...
After having Christmas with both sides of our family, catching up with friends, attending appointments @ the eye doctor, the pediatrician, the office...
After traipsing to Target, and Wal-Mart, Oakbook, and more...
After savoring the culinary wonders of Christmastime and Chicago's extremely edible fare...
After enjoying all the winter wonders of the east coast and mid-western United States, and then reveling in the "winter weather" Hawaii has on offer...
After all that... we are back in our two story apartment home in bleak, grey-skied Qingdao, China.
And... what's more, despite the atmospheric conditions, we're happy to be here. Bei disappeared into playroom, enjoying her beloved old toys as if they were new ones. Eliza stayed in her bathrobe all day, and Millie, in the late afternoon, devoured more of her latest book by candle-light, cuddled under a cheneille throw.
Jet-lag when traveling east, is never as bad for us, and of course it was quite tempered by our wonderful five day respite on the Big Island and Oahu. Still at five o'clock this morning our family of five piled into Mom & Dad's bed and recounted our favorite moments of recent weeks:
Spending time with grandparents and great grandparents, playing in the snow, sledding and eating icicles, meeting up with "China friends" in IL and Boston, catching up with old friends, playing with cousins, a trip to the zoo in MN for "noon-year's eve", playing for hours with our dog who lodges @ Bopa & Mema's in our absence, and all the other dogs we met (and loved) along the way (Guinnea, Maxx, Cope, Ruby, Seamus, "Yappy" & Wilma (the dogs were all lovingly recounted by name this morning, so I honor them here!)
Other animal encounters also topped the list: in Boston, Lucy's bird Sunshine, and in Hawaii the macaws and parrots Eliza remembers by name, the lazy sea turtle who glided through the Resort's private lagoon, The humpback whales and spinner dolphins we saw in the warm waters of the Pacific ocean, and the spotted lizards we spotted each morning on our walks....
They will be tired girlies when the get off their bus this afternoon @ 4:00. They will more-than-likely, have another early bedtime (although, hopefully not as early as last night's) and another early morning (hopefully they will slumber just a little later each day.) Their days will be filled with the stuff of daily life: school and homework, chores and playtime; but in their minds and hearts they will always remember the adventures of this last month, even as they continue to live their daily China adventure for another half year.
1 comment:
Glad you are back safe and sound. Wish we could have seen you in IL but we got snowed in here.
Post a Comment