Fun in the Sun!!

During the first week of April we escaped for five days to Sanya, China. Sanya is located on a small island in southwest China. We spent some time there during our first year and had mixed opinions about it, however we only had a few days and flying to another country seemed to be too much mafan (trouble) for us!!

This trip was much more enjoyable than our first trip!! We stayed at the “other” end of the beach and were not bothered at all by locals taking pictures of the children on the beach. We were not the only expats there, so we did not draw much attention! There were many other expat families at our resort and the kids all ended up making friends with other children!

We spent our days on the beach, in the pool, and eating!! We did no exploring and Danny even got used to paying about $7 for a can of soda because we couldn’t be bothered to leave the resort and find cheaper options! The Marriott had a wonderful kids club with some activities that the kids enjoyed! There favorite was probably the treasure hunt on the beach. It was simple enough with bracelets buried under the sand in a little circle, but the kids couldn’t stop digging!! They also had a game room, where we were able to practice ping pong and air hockey - Eens loved the air hockey!

Ellie and I spoiled ourselves at the spa. They had a special menu just for kids, so she picked a mermaid massage and mani/pedi. I was a bit jealous because Ellie definitely got pampered more than mommy and mine cost about double the price!!

It was a wonderful little getaway until we arrived at the airport to go home, then things got a little bit messy!! The ride from the resort to the airport was a bit rough with a lot of stop and go driving. El complained about not feeling well, but I kept telling her to smell the lovely scented washcloths provided by the resort! That seemed to help her. By the time we got to the airport, El was feeling better and I truly thought we had escaped disaster! No sooner had we gotten into the check in line when I see projectile vomit flying in front of me right into El and Coop’s hair. I turn around and see Eens holding his hands in front of him trying to catch everything. I just stared in disbelief - Eens hadn’t complained at all about not feeling well!! Instead of people helping us, they all just stared. Danny was thankfully better about thinking on his feet and rushed Eens to the toilet. I was stuck with the mess, so I laid out my pashmina (which was a bit soiled) and neck pillow over it and just proceeded in the line. Of course, I was also gagging and trying to not do the same thing as Eens (morning sickness was still lingering!)! We finally made it to the front of the line and were trying to secure our seat assignments. The airline had given away three of our front of the plane seats and refused to help us - I threw a bit of a tai tai fit, but it had no effect as the customer service rep did not speak English!! In the end, the airline won and the boys and I sat in the very last row of the plane, while Danny and Ellie sat in the very front row!!

We have learned over the past three years that flexibility is the key to surviving and not going completely mad here, so for a few hours there was rough sailing, but the rest of the trip was full of wonderful family memories!!