Greetings from our getaway!!

Rest assured, we are having a wonderful time on our vacation. I guess it would be really hard not to when we go to sleep listening to the ocean waves and wake up to the same thing!!! Dan and I are burnt due to the fact that I bought SPF 15 (for about $30) instead of SPF 30 - I've learned my lesson not to wait until I arrive at the resort (basically on the equator) to purchase sunscreen for a beach vacation!! The kids are enjoying Kids Club and they have even made some friends! Danny and I don't know what to do with ourselves all day!! Yeah right - cocktails on the beach, reading, tennis, working out, quiet lunches, and swimming in the pool while not worrying about a child drowning - we're doing just fine!!!

I'll post more when I get a chance. I've lost my USB cord so I have to see if I can borrow one from the business center so I can post pictures!! We're off to the elephant park tomorrow - should be real interesting!!

We miss you all so much and truly wish our family and friends could explore with us - this part of the world has so much to offer and amazing people to learn more about!!

Gong Xi Fa Cai (Happy Chinese New Year!)

A bit belated I know, but we have been very busy trying to enjoy as much sunshine as we can before we head back to the cold on Saturday!!

Chinese New Year or Spring Festival (as many locals refer to it) is the most celebrated holiday in China. The celebration goes on for 15 days! Family reunions are plentiful and children are given almost a month off to celebrate. I was very curious to learn more about the customs and traditions of this celebration because I kept hearing things like you can't sweep or women get new hair do's for the month and I had to find out if these things were all true!!

Here are some of the traditions I found out are indeed true (although a bit peculiar if you ask me!!)...

Do not sweep on New Year's Day because good fortune will be swept away. (Trust me, especially in Tianjin, a day without sweeping can cause a lot of dirt to build up!)

At midnight all doors and windows must be opened to allow the old year out!

One should not wash their hair on New Year's Day or it will wash away good luck.

Do not use knives or scissors on New Year's Day or it may cut off your fortune.

Eat lots of tangerines - they are a sign of good health and long life.

This last bit has to do with the fireworks (that were keeping me up before we left) and red decorations that are everywhere you look right now!! Ellie actually watched a movie about this on the same day that I did some research, so this must be a well known story!! So there once was a sea monster named Nian that would come and destroy the people - the only two things that would keep him away were loud noises and the color red. This is why on New Year's Eve fireworks go off nonstop and everyone has red decorations on their doors, windows, etc!!

There are many more traditions that I am missing, like wearing red panties and a bra if it is "your" year (my friend Sharon shared this one with me!!), but these were the ones I have confronted and been told about this year! I'm sure next year we will see and hear many other traditions that we can share with you!!

And We're Off...Again!!

Today we fly to Singapore and then Indonesia for our R&R. We started our vacation a day earlier than planned because my ayi felt in her hands that it may snow. If it snows even a tiny bit here, there is much chaos and many times the highway between Tainjin and Beijing closes. We didn't want to take any chances - even though there were no reports of snow on the internet - so we came up to our favorite hotel, The Ascott, last night! You are probably all a bit worried that I am going by my ayi's hands to predict snowfall, but really I don't want anything to get in the way of us finding warm weather and 10 days to relax!!

We are so excited to go to Singapore. Apparently it is very clean - big on my list for vacationing spots now!! They also have a wonderful zoo and night safari for the kids. I get to go to Orchard Road which is well known for the shopping. It is very warm right now with temps hovering around 90 (probably too warm for Danny!).

After three days in Singapore we will take an hour long ferry ride to Indonesia, where we will be staying at an all inclusive resort that offers child care all day! We paid the extra so Coop could take part also!! I'm not sure if Danny and I will know what to do with a bit of time on our hands and no place to go but the beach!!!!

Shonna commented to me yesterday that it seems all we do is travel. Yes, this is true in some ways, but you have to remember that China can really wear on you. Our friends that have lived here for over a year told us to always have a trip planned to look forward too. We are following their advice and are so excited to see many parts of the world that at one time we thought we would only read about!!!

A Chinese Dinner

This weekend we were invited to a Chinese friend's house for dinner. This is a very rare invitation because the majority of the Chinese do not invite other's into their homes, rather they invite them to restaurants. There are many reasons why this is so, but the main one is that they do not want to lose face or feel ashamed of their home. We were excited to go to a "local's" home for the first time and experience a real Chinese meal.



The kids had a wonderful time playing with their daughter Vicky, who is 9. She is very quiet and does not speak a lot of English, but you can see it in her eyes that she understands. I've said this before, but children, regardless of where they are from, have the ability to find a common language! It is amazing to witness this first hand! According to Vicky's parents, she had been looking forward to us coming to dinner for over a week. Since she does not have any siblings, her only playmates are her grandparents outside of school.


Our friends absolutely adore our boys! From the minute we walked into the door, they doted on them - they want chocolate before dinner, no problem, a little yogurt, yum, some yogurt candy, perfect, a little soda, that's fine too. They then could not figure out why on earth our boys did not want to eat dinner!!

The meal itself was over the top...I felt like we ate for 3 hours straight. We arrived and had some tea and chips. Then we went to the table and were served 3 different kinds of chicken on bones, pidan (I call them stinky eggs!) with tofu, garden salad, and potato salad with ham. The whole time we toasted throughout the meal, I switched to Coke after one glass of wine, I really wanted to be able to walk when we were finished!! Next course comprised of noodles, sauce (made of beans - really yummy), shredded cucumbers and soy beans. They also served some eggs with tomato, which I couldn't fathom putting anymore food in my belly at that time. Next they brought out huge, baseball sized meatballs with sauce and rice. Then they served a lovely soup and finally, at the very end, fruit platters were brought out!


Oops, I forgot, they also served a beautiful cake to the kids right in the middle of dinner!!! Can you see Coop's big eyes? He can't believe someone is allowing him to eat cake before he is through with dinner!!


We ended up with a parting gift of a honey pommelo fruit - simply because we asked what it was! They also tried to give us the toys that Eens and Coop were playing with, but we insisted that we leave them at their house - one was from when their daughter was little.

We were pleasantly stuffed when we finally left and the kids were so tired that they actually slept in the next day!! That doesn't happen very often!

What's your animal?

Yes, as we begin to look ahead to the year of the Ox, I couldn't help but do a little research on our family to find out what animal year we were born in. Even more interesting to me were the traits that we each should possess, some were right on and others were way off! We'll let you figure out which ones were on and which ones were off!!

Dan and I are both Rabbits...those born in the year of the Rabbit are articulate, talented, ambitious, virtuous, reserved(hmm), tactful, have excellent taste, and seldom lose their temper (another hmm.)

Ellie was born in the year of the Snake, quite interesting!! Those born in the year of the Snake are known for their vanity, selfishness, stinginess (does that mean not sharing candy with her brothers?!), and a calm suface, but underneath they are intense and passionate!! I'm not so sure about El's!

Eens was born in the year of the Monkey and his is right on!! These people are clever, skillful, flexible, inventive (who made a volcano out of recycled boxes!!), passionate, and strong willed!

Coop was born in the year of the Dog and his traits are supposed to be loyalty, honesty, leadership, and a champion for justice (is this why he tattles so much?!)! I'll have to wait until Coop is older to decide if these are in fact traits he possesses - it's too early to tell!!

If you want to find out your animal, go to Find Your Chinese Zodiac Animal at http://grassrootsdesign.com/zodiac/zsrch.php

Have fun!!

What Did You Do at Sleepovers?

Yes, this is in fact my daughter and her friend Rachel having their first sleepover! They watched a movie, played Clue Jr., did a couple of projects, and then begged me to go to bed and read!!! Oh, please let sleepovers always be this peaceful - they wanted to read - I'm still in shock!!!!

It's Been a Tianjin 48 Hours!

My girlfriend Karen texted me the other day saying that she overslept and took her girls 1 hour late to school, her breadmaker broke, and she was still suffering jet lag - it was a Tianjin morning!! She has taught me that those days that just don't go as planned can simply be chalked up as a "Tianjin day". Well, I have now had a "Tianjin 48 Hours"!!! I'm hoping that as I type, some of the stress will fade away and I might just find some humor in the last 48 hours!!

It all started off with the piano. I thought for sure that when you make a large purchase, you should be able to use a credit card. Nope - cash or Chinese bank debit card only!! Okay, I knew we had about half of the amount of cash I needed in our safe, I would just need to take out the remaining from the ATM. No big deal, we have a daily limit of the amount of cash we can take out, but it is fairly high and I knew I would still have a teeny bit left over!! WRONG - when they sent me my new ATM card (after my wallet was stolen in November) they must not have increased the limit on the amount of cash I could take out in a day. No problem though, Danny will go and use his card and we will solve the problem. Well, apparently I can no longer add because when he came home with the max, I was still 300RMB short. Up to El's room I went to find her purse - yes, I took money out of my daughter's purse to help pay for the piano - she is the one taking lessons!!!! I found the amount I needed and told myself that it was no problem because the next day I would be able to take out more cash and all would be fine. Nope again - while in Beijing I went to 3 different banks/ATMs and all said that I had reached my daily limit of 0 RMB - well duh!!!! I kept my positive attitude and reminded myself that I could simply call the bank that night and have them fix the problem.

I have to add in here that before the dentist, we had dropped Danny off at the headquarters in Beijing and he was not coming home until Saturday. I must also remind you that all of these transactions and interactions with sales and service people have to be done in Chinese - which only adds to the frustration!!!!

Back in Tianjin, I tried one more time unsuccessfully to obtain money. All I needed was 10 measley RMB to pay for Coop's art supplies at Gymboree the next morning. I kept reminding myself I could call the bank at 9:30pm. I got home, continued to think positively, blogged, read, and at 9:30 I tried to log into Skype - no connection. Yes, my internet connection was down. Here I am, alone, in China, no money, no internet - I really wanted to cry!!! I never realized, until the internet was down for almost 24 hours, what a clutch it is for me. I can always look online and read the headlines, facebook, blog, e-mail, look at People.com, anything to make me feel a little closer to home - but I couldn't and I have to say I was a bit lost!! Thankfully, we sort of fixed the problem with the internet - no wireless at the moment, but that's not a big deal!!

Finally yesterday, I was able to obtain 1,000RMB (about $140) which is more than enough to sustain me until Danny gets home! What a hassle though!! Maybe we should just open a bank account here, but I really don't want to - lack of trust!!

It's funny how the internet and money can really mess up a day - I guess I can say having no money and no connection to the world (okay - I'm exagerating a bit) was a lesson in humility for me!

Also, in this time period, my toilet got clogged, there is now a hole in one of my walls, and my cell phone ran out of minutes so it is now dead - all this in 48 hours!! I'm ready to go to sleep and wake up to a wonderful day!! Oh, wait a minute - I have to take the kids to get shots at 9:00 in the morning! We may have to extend this to a Tainjin 72 hours!!

Miss you all greatly!! And truly we do have so much to be thankful for - we are together, safe and healthy, and we do have a new piano!!!

Beating the winter blues!

Yes, it is cold here - finally!! Up until now, I found the weather to be quite mild and warm actually for winter. Since we've returned from the US, it's been cold - a dry, windy, brutal cold. Danny informed me the other day that we are, according to the lunar calendar, in the coldest 9 days of the year. Ah yes, he has converted to the lunar calendar - his Chinese genes are shining through!! So, I guess in the next few days it should warm up - I'll let you know!!

Anyway, to beat the boredom of being stuck inside this month, we are all addicted to the Wii!! We particularly like Mario Kart!! Coop begs for it throughout the day, to the point where we now have restrictions for him on how much he can play. And no, I didn't just put the restrictions out there so he can't practice and beat me a few more times - it's for his own good, really!!!! Above you can see Coop during a practice session and then below, Eens is studying the instructions. They have been playing Uncle Michel wirelessly on the DS (we're a little addicted to that too - same game though!!) and they are all convinced he is cheating!!

Hope you are all staying warm!! It will eventually be spring!!!

Girl's Day!

Ellie and I had a rare treat today and spent the day together. I decided that she needed to go to the dentist because it was time for her six month visit and she has lost most of her baby teeth and her adult ones are starting to come in. I'm anal about teeth, so I decided that I should get a check up too! We drove with Danny to Beijing to go to a dentist I found through United Family Hospital, which is the hospital preferred by most expats in Beijing. Danny had to go to a meeting at headquarters, so we had a quick lunch with him and off we went to Sunyi, an expat area of Beijing. Of course, I organized this trip around going grocery shopping - how perfect, the dentist was right next to Jenny Lou's!!

The first thing El said when we parked in the strip mall was, "Mom, everything is written in English!!". I think it is surprising for El when she can actually read the signs and the store names. Most are written in Chinese, so we basically have no clue what lies behind the doors!! We went to the dentist office first and filled out a gajillion papers, and, just to make sure I understood, I signed "the I am financially responsible" paper about 10 times!! We were called back promptly at 1:00 and were happy that the room was clean and had modern equipment. The only real difference I found throughout both of our appointments was that the dentist actually did the cleaning! Ellie asked me to go first. They used that high pressure water cleaning device (have no idea what it is called, I just know I don't like it). I really don't like getting my teeth cleaned, so she sat there and watched me wince occassionally. By the time it was her turn, she started crying and begged the dentist not to use the sprayer - I don't blame her!! He said he doesn't use it on children and she ended up having a wonderful appointment. He was very gentle and explained everything he was going to do before he did it! My overall impression was that it was a very clean, professional office and we will definitely go back - next time with the whole family!!!

After our appointments, I tried with no luck to retrieve money from the ATM (I exceeded my limit yesterday buying the piano!!!). I was hoping that Jenny Lou's would accept my Visa, and thankfully, they did!! Ellie took forever picking out cereal - it was ALMOST like a US grocery store with half an aisle devoted to cereal! She is used to choosing between 2 or 3 different kinds, so imagine having about 30 in front of you! I splurged on Bounty paper towels - about $4 per roll, but so worth it!! We loaded up on snacks for our trip next week and for Ellie to eat on the way home! She was so cute, she kept asking how many minutes it had been since her flouride treatment. She knew she had to wait at least 30 minutes before she could eat!

I used my last bit of money (40 RMB) to buy a grande vanilla latte - I cannot leave "mini America" (as Jen calls it!) without a Starbucks!! We had a lovely ride home watching the sunset against a perfectly clear sky!! I know it was only a trip to the dentist and some grocery shopping, but I will take whatever alone time I can get with my daughter!!

I've got proof!!

Too funny - today as I was using the restroom (clean, "western style" restroom) at the dentist office, this sign was hanging up!! Perfect for the blog to prove to everyone that the post I wrote yesterday is in fact very true!! Hehe!!!

That's the way they do it!

In a previous post, I wrote about how I thought that the air pollution and the smoking would be the two things that would be most irritating to me while here in China! I've changed my mind after being here about six months...the two things that I find a bit difficult to digest are the driving (it has driven Eens to carsickness) and the toilets and bathrooms! Let me explain!!


The other day, I was with my ayi and driver on our way to the post office to pick up a package from my mom! The two of them got into a little tiff, while we were sitting in the middle of the road, about the best place to park, because neither of them think it is proper for me to walk more than two steps out of the car! In the meantime, I'm watching this car come directly at my side of the car at full speed. In the end, both cars honk at each other, pretending that they each had the right away and drive on as if nothing happened - I'm sitting in the back thinking I almost got crushed and no one really cared. Driving in China is dangerous, but what can we do.


There are also no seatbelt or carseat laws in China. We always use the carseats (unless on our way to Sunday lunch with Jen and Kevin) in our car, but when we are in the taxi, the kids have learned to sit without even seatbelts on. Of course now, the kids would much rather ride in a taxi than our car because they don't have to wear seatbelts!!! I love the US rules of the road!!! One year ago, I never would have allowed this...
Yes, there are 10 people in a minivan fit for 7!! Life in China....

My next complaint are the bathrooms and hygiene practices that are in place here. The bathrooms, you all know, usually contain a squat potty. You stand, there is no sitting and do your thing. Ellie and I continue to avoid public restrooms. The boys love the squat pottys and Coop gets mad when there is a regular potty. I have decided that this is one reason why God thought I should have the two boys - life is much easier in China with two boys going to the potty!!!

The next part about bathroom etiquette is a bit gross, so if you have a weak tummy, you may want to quit reading now!!

Most public toilets are unable to accept paper down the drain, due to the plumbing apparently, so the Chinese simply wipe and throw away the toilet paper in an open garbage can in the stall. It is really too much for me to handle - the smell, the sight, too much. So the other day, I was getting on Cooper about wiping his tushy when he went to the bathroom and he kept telling me he did wipe. I didn't see any toilet paper in the potty, instead, I found it in the garbage can beside the potty. He's apparently becoming a local!!!

Welcome, Our Newest Addition!!

It has been months in the making, but we finally have a wonderful seperate dryer in our laundry room!! Our ayi is so happy - imagine trying to wash a family of fives clothes, towels, sheets in a teeny washer/dryer where about 5 items fit and each load takes 2 hours. She spent all day attempting and usually failing to get the wash done! We are all happier and love the fact that we can now use dryer sheets!! It truly is the little things that make life a little easier here!!

A Thoughtful Gift

This year for Christmas, Danny and I decided not to exchange gifts, instead we decided to buy things in Hong Kong that we wanted! It's really difficult to find something here and it would take a lot of time to find something meaningful and special! Time, that I just didn't have this year. Apparently my sweet husband had a little extra time on his hands because he gave me this beautiful limian(inside) painting with the kids middle names on it. All of our kids have Chinese middle names...Ellie Ling(meaning tinkling pieces of jade), Ethan Wen(meaning cultured), and Cooper Li(meaning strength). Danny worked with his assistant to figure out the correct characters for each of their names! I know it took a lot of time and I am so thankful for this very special gift!

They did it!!!

I'm not sure how they were able to pull it off, but here is the balcony less than 24 hours after I had taken the picture with the kitchen on it!! Our new neighbors have been delayed, which Grace is thrilled about because of the smell!! They will now arrive on Monday to a totally remodeled and most importantly, finished unit!!! We hope they are fun and tolerable of the noise we tend to make!!!

Hen Mafan (Very bothersome!!)

This week we have not only been plagued with jet lag, but also the banging that is going on next door, as our compound attempts to prepare the unit for a new family. I had to call Grace (our manager) last night at home and tell her to call and have them stop working. Our units are connected so we can here the banging quite clearly! The other night they were working at 4:00am - but then they didn't show up until about noon the next day. I don't even try to understand!!

Anyway, I was giggling this morning as I went past the balcony for the fourth day in a row and saw that their "kitchen" was still sitting out!! My children are concerned that they may have to cook outside!! Grace seems to be more concerned with the smell of the paint, than the fact that the kitchen sink is not hooked up!! The family is arriving tomorrow from England!! I wonder if it will be ready...more to come!!

Carry On Perfection

After countless times trying to figure out what to bring in our carry on bags, I think I have it down. On our first flight over, I had adorable bags made with the kids' names on them. They were filled to the rim with individual activities. Dan was not real happy about carrying these bags and the kids used about 2 items I had put in them. Needless to say, those bags are now our "restaurant" bags full of goodies for waiting for food when we are out to eat. I now carry on my Vera Bradley and a book bag only. In these two bags I pack....

As far as I'm concerned these DS games are lifesavers during our flight! The kids love them and so do Dan and I!!
Leapsters, just in case they get tired of the DS or the batteries run out! Plus, I think the Leapster games are more educational!!

You never know when you will need some batteries!!!

These are fantastic kids' headphones for Ethan and Coop - they actually stay on their ears!! Yes, we have tried to find them in other colors besides pink for the boys, but have not been able too!!!

Another lifesaver!! Sorry it is upside down, but this 5 point harness for Cooper keeps him in his seat!! I now use it more as a threatening tool since he is getting used to flying, but for the first few trips, it was invaluable!!

Chewable Dramamine (thanks dad!!) is the way to go for our little motion sick boy!! He kept begging for more pills the whole plane ride!!
I have found that I can only sleep with this lovely pillow!!

Danny found this portable DVD player that has a 12 hour battery - perfect for a 13 hour flight!!!

Extra pair of clothes - no explanation needed!!!

Packing is now an organizational challenge for me - I enjoy it and take great pride in bringing as little as possible to get by!!!

What's in the bags?

I mentioned in a previous post that we go back to the States with just a few bags - the essentials, but we come back with overflowing bags! Some people have asked what we can't find here that we have to bring back. I mean everything is made in China - right, but the funny thing is, everything is exported out of China. We can find fakes galore, but quality items are quite difficult to come by! On this trip, I took advantage of the winter sales and stocked up on the kids clothes for next winter. I even found Coop a coat for next year!!! The washing machines are really rough on the kids clothes and my kids are much taller than the children here, so finding clothes here is a real pain. Plus, I love on-line shopping and I'm pretty sure I'm doing a good job of keeping Gymboree in business!!

I also stock up on kitchen supplies! Some of the things I needed this time were: 3 rolls parchment paper, 2 rolls press & seal, 3 vanilla caramel coffee mates, 6 bags Starbucks coffee, chocolates and more chocolates, muffin liners, granola bars, oatmeal, gummies, Tastefully Simple Beer bread and potato cheddar soup (great for Sunday nights when I have to cook!!), fun napkins and paper plates, and lysol cleaning wipes!!! I also like to buy candles and any little craft things for the kids to do. This time ayi requested Shout - she's hooked - it's much better than scrubbing at a stain with a bar of soap!! I also buy lots of gifts for kids birthday parties so I am prepared when they get invited!! There are so many things I'm missing, but I think you get the point - it's a lot!!!

This is what our bed looked like after 6 of the 8 bags had been unloaded!!

2 bags to go - it really feels like we are moving again when we begin to unpack and try to find space for the things we bring back!!!

Some Family Time and a Peaceful Good-Bye

Our trip to the US was bittersweet. We had so much fun spending time with our family, but I also wanted to visit my grandma's grave and say a final good-bye. My mom and I went to the cemetary after the ice melted to help me have some closure since I was unable to attend the funeral. As we were leaving, the most amazing thing happened, I looked out the window and staring right at us, were 8 beautiful deer. This really wouldn't be that big of deal, but in both my grandma and grandpa's obituaries, it talked about how they would take long drives to count deer. It was such a peaceful way to leave such a sad place, and I will be forever thankful for the sign that they were there and they will both continue to live on in my heart!

It was wonderful being back right after the holidays. There was really no place to rush off to and I got to see a lot of my family and spend quality time with them which is sometimes difficult during the holidays! We also squeezed in a run to Bettendorf (oh how I miss this place!!) for me to get a new license (wallet stolen beginning of December!), visit Dr. Omar (Coop had a double ear infection and we were advised NOT to take out his tonsils - yippee!!) and spend a quick lunch with friends at BK (thank you girls for making time for us - we miss you already!!), and meeting dear Jeannie in the parking lot for literally 10 minutes!! Danny's parents came down for New Year's which was fun and very relaxing!! We made it to Chicago for 1 night before we flew out the next morning! Unfortunately, 6 days went way too fast, but I am thankful for those six days and the memories we made!!

Coming to America

I have a bit of catching up to do...

I thought it would be fun to document our 23+ hours of travel time it takes us to get from our home in Tianjin to my grandparent's and parent's house in LeRoy, IL. When I decided to do this, I assumed there would be plenty of funny stories, but really the trip was thankfully quite boring!!!! The kids must be getting used to flying and they now realize they are stuck in the plane for about 14 hours - they can eat, sleep, color, watch tv, or play video games in the comfort of their tiny economy class seats!!! A little gripe about United - we are all Premier flyers and do we ever get upgraded to Economy Plus - never because there are too many of us!! The only preferential treatment we get is to skip the "big" line at the airport and be put in seating 1 - which allows us to find our seats at the back of the plane quickly - whoopee!!!!

Our journey begins in Tianjin...

On the way to the US we only take our minivan, but when we return we always have two minivans pick us up! We stock up on the things we can't find here!!!

Here are the boys fast asleep on the 2 hour drive to the Beijing Airport. El decided to read her book, so I followed suit! It was actually a nice drive until we had to wake Eens up!! He was a bear!

Once we arrived at the airport we quickly checked in our 3 suitcases with 5 extra ones tucked inside!! Then we proceeded to the Star Alliance lounge where we filled up on snacks and drinks because you never know what the food will be like on the plane!! The airport in Beijing is fantastic! It is very clean and easy to navigate! I also love that they have little carts all over so I don't have to carry all the carry on bags!! It truly is the little things!!! We also noticed on this trip that they opened up a Pizza Hut close to the gates!!!


Once on the plane, we play musical chairs with the fighting of who is sitting where!! I always end up with Cooper and this time I got both Eens and Cooper!!! The good news was that we had an entire row of 5 chairs for the 3 of us. Danny got the "easy" ride with Ellie and him sitting in the row in front of us!!

Ellie enjoying her first drink service out of 4 or 5!!

The boys and I keeping busy during the first hour of the flight!

Eens watching Wall E on the tv - thank goodness they normally show at least one children's movie! It keeps them occupied for a couple of hours and then we can turn on the Disney Channel for awhile!

No more tv for this boy! He's moved on to the DS, about 4 hours into the flight!!

After about 5 hours sleep takes over my boys!! They have now been travelling for about 10 hours!

Still sleepy eyed after about 7 hours of sleep!!!
It's time to brush those teeth - a necessity after all of the dry air circulating in the plane!!


After a little over 14 hours on the plane and about an hour going through customs, it is all worth it when we see grandma and grandpa!!!

Our 2 hour drive to my grandma and grandpa's and parent's house!!

Finally after a long journey, we are safe and happy to be with family!!