I guess I should start with an apology for falling so far behind on our usual weekly updates! The last 3 weeks have been a whirlwind, complete with internet failure for a week, visitors in town (a true highlight!), and now a computer on the fritz that makes downloading photos impossible! So I suppose that leaves you with my written word alone until I can edit the post to add photos (maybe not for another 2 weeks until we are back Stateside?!). Again, another apology!
So since our last update, our family celebrated Easter with other ex-pat friends who live here and had a BLAST. Complete with Easter lunch and an Easter egg hunt, our time with friends was precious and a true memory-maker. The following week we celebrated Hud's 4th birthday and my 33rd! We had lots of cupcakes and friends over for different celebrations. Hud's gift theme showed how well everyone here knows him--a vast array of Trasformer figures, robots, and various weaponry! He was thrilled beyond words and we had a hard time getting him out of the house to enjoy the warm weather because he only wanted to stay in and play with all of his new stuff! Thankfully there are enough new toys to pass around to two brothers, as one in particular (Noah) has a difficult time understanding why everything he sees is not his the moment he lays eyes on it!
The first weekend in May we had a dear friend (Joel) come in to town to visit. He lived here in Tianjin when we first arrived, also a student at our language school, and instantly became a member of our family. He has since left to go back to Canada for a while, then returned to a different part of China to work. We had a great time reconnecting with him and even taking a trip to the beach (a drive that was supposed to be a total of 4 hours and ended up being over 8!) for one day. We also made it to another teacher's wedding, arriving about 15 minutes late! We left our house in plenty of time to get there (so we thought), but hit unbelievable traffic, taking us about 45 minutes in the taxi to go the probably 3 miles to get there. The worst part was, rather than waiting until the service was over or being able to slip in the back row like we'd do if we were Stateside, they actually held the wedding ceremony for us until we arrived! Talk about embarrassing! Guess when you have a family of 6 (and then a guest in town, too), we kind of make a scene where ever we go! The bride didn't seem miffed at all, for which I was extremely thankful.
After Joel's visit we had a day to wash the guest sheets and towels to prepare for two of Kevin's dearest friends from baseball to come in town. Bryan and Mickey came for a week to help Kevin coach the baseball team he works with here in town and connect with some people in Beijing. It was an incredible visit, totally encouraging to us as a family and really helpful to Kevin as he is looking to deepen the relationships he has within the baseball community here in China. And they came with a bag full of treats! Fun stuff like flavored coffee creamer for Kevin and me and toys and candy for the kids. They wisely decided to spread out the gift-giving so that the kids got a little something each day--and talk about feeling like it was Christmas again! The kids (and Kevin and I) were truly sad to see them go.
So we finished up the week with a little more chaos. Kevin's wallet was apparently pick-pocketed from him while he was sleeping on the train on his way back from the Beijing airport. Of course it had both credit cards, his ATM card, driver's license, and a good deal of cash in it since he was traveling; but we were thankful that they didn't get his passport, at least! We've been scrambling this week to figure out how to quickly get new cards, etc., so we're not left high and dry here in China! And we hosted another one of our usual monthly movie nights for a group of friends this Saturday. We had about 12 people over for dinner and to watch "Blindside", which was a huge hit. We had good conversation afterward and are hopeful that the movie watching will lead to more future conversations with our friends.
We in the throes of preparing for our return to the US. And can't believe it's only 2 weeks away! The list of things yet to do continues to grow: finding a bunny-sitter, getting school payments made before leaving town, etc., but our anticipation is growing and we're super pumped to see our friends and family, eat some good ol' American cuisine (and Mexican, Italian, etc.), and breath some clean air!
