Nana is here! My mom arrived in Beijing last week on Tuesday, and the past week has been filled to the brim with birthday celebrations and sweet time playing catch up.
Last weekend was a busy one. It was Hud's third birthday on Sunday, so we had a family celebration of opening presents, then left him to go out on a date on Sunday night! (We weren't originally planning this, but we ran into some friends Sunday morning. The mom, a friend of mine named Audrey, suggested we do a double date that night. When I explained that it was Hud's birthday and we would be celebrating as a family, Hudson interrupted me, explaining that he would rather have Audrey's kids come over and babysit! We all laughed and agreed to grant his request to have the kids come over to watch ours that night. When we came back, the boys were in full swing, playing with Andrew, Audrey's 12 year old, who loves to rough house with our rowdy crew!
On our date night, Audrey and her husband Chris took us to a Thai restaurant that was the best meal out I've had here in China! The food was incredible, the atmosphere amazing, and it was in a really neat historic area downtown--the former British Concession from 150 years ago when the British were in control (at least that's the mini-history lesson I received during our trek around the area!). The photo of Kevin and me on the iron horse is from the British Concession, and the other one of Kevin and Chris standing in the street is just down the road from the house that Eric Liddel (the runner in Chariots of Fire) lived in for a time.
There was a national holiday on Monday, so since we didn't have school, we took the kids to a Chinese market to purchase bikes for them. It was a successful trip, and we eventually made it home with bikes for all three of the older kids! (Will get a picture attached of it soon!) Karis' bike does not have training wheels, so we're still in the process of learning how to balance. And Hudson can almost pedal forward the majority of the time, rather than backward. But we sure do draw a crowd as we get some exercise and fresh air out in our apartment courtyard!
As another update--Hudson's potty training is going great with very few accidents. Captain Underpants retains his title! And Eli's head is healing very nicely with the glue still intact, PTL!
My mom has done amazing here already--jumping right in to our normal routine as if she hasn't been away from our world for the last 7 months. When she arrived it was like Christmas. She had over one full suitcase filled with birthday presents for me and Hudson, along with other things for the kids and for some of my friends here that she had met when she came over with us in September. She was able to join a group of my closest girl friends here for a birthday tea that one of the girls threw in my honor on Wednesday--which was so special! She's helped me run carpool the last two days, with each of us biking around town with kids on the backs of our bikes going to pick them up from art class and go to and from our home school group. (Which, let me tell you, is no small feat! The traffic combined with the crazy driving "rules" coupled with the constant road construction makes maneuvering around town quite the challenge!) She watched the kids for over an hour at the park close by with a sandpit so I could do my huge grocery store run--all the while trying to figure out how to communicate with all of the other sweet Chinese grandparents who desperately wanted to know (by asking in Chinese of course!) all about her and all 4 of her grandkids!
Today, she has a massage planned with Kevin from our blind masseuse place and then shopping with me this afternoon to look for some souvenirs to bring back to the States. Tonight we're having a cook out with some friends at their house, and then my two teachers and their fiances are coming over to dinner tomorrow night. So we're making the most of introducing her to as much of our "new normal" as we can!
