Back to Normal?

We got home July 1st and had 4th of July plans.  So I had to get packing and un-packing fast.  The boys helped by waking us up at 5 am the first night and 2 am the 2nd night!  

I had unloaded all 6 suitcases and put them into piles, mine, kids and presents.  Grabbed the presents needed for the weekend and made an appointment for the kids to get their pictures taken. 

Not fully acclimated to being home for less than 24 hours, the pictures were okay, not spectacular.  It wasn't hard to pick which picture we wanted as only 1 picture turned out with all 3 smiling.  

The kids stayed up late every night, going to bed past 11pm, until  4th of July fireworks.  Aidan fell asleep before fireworks and was curled in bed with a dog either trying to protect him or gain protection from the expected fireworks. 

I carried the sleeping boy outside in case he woke up to the loud noises I didn't want him to freak out and not know where he was.  He never woke up, until afterwards when our own front row seat fireworks exploded.  That is when the other two fell asleep.  

The kids where used to sleeping 3 in a bed and didn't mind the crowded bed at the hotel.  They loved the fruit loops and waffles at the continental breakfast every day.  

Jet lag over and I'm back to driving.  Finally home and having to deal with the aftermath of the busted pipe flooding into our pantry and my craft room.  I had to throw away all of my craft books and quite a bit of material.  I was not happy.  Couldn't believe when my husband said that's easy to replace, we just need more plastic totes!  

1 week and kids stuff put away, presents hidden(in suitcases), my clothes pile moved to my room.  Just over whelmed, especially with the paper clutter.  And the boys have gotten out every toy & game they've not seen in 5 months. 

It had been raining like crazy so the grass is over grown, the mosquitos are ferocious and I feel stuck inside with the mess.  We escape for Chinese food, dim sum buffet with the in-laws.  Felt like I hadn't left China, as hardly any English was heard.  

Had to get mung beans from the Asian market to make porridge for my boys.   Yeah, it was a success.  I also tried out my recipes of Beijing style spinach and peanut dish and Beijing style braised eggplant.  Both pretty good, I'll try another recipe to see which one will be the keeper.  

Glad to be home, where pizza tastes like pizza!  Wish I'd have known you could buy the Chinese pickling jar at the Asian market for $15.  I would not have wasted the space to bring these home.  

It's almost 2 weeks and I haven't boughten much, talked much to anyone other than family and retreated on technology.  After 5 months of not using my phone for anything other than a phone, I don't really use it here.  We upgraded to the hopper, and I'm not liking the way the new remote and system is set up.  So I'm pretty faithful to my ipad.  

Not really any culture shock to speak of unlike coming home after 9 months in Japan.  

The Return

We had scheduled a mini van to take us to the airport.  It was smaller than my mini van back home, I didn't think we'd fit, our 3 adults, 3 kids, 6 full size suit cases,   and 7 carry-ons.  We ended up more like a clown car.  

No seat belts of course.  Driver and one adult in front.  2 adults in middle row with the kids either on our laps or on the floor.  The back seat was upside down luggage, the "trunk" was luggage to the roof.  We were packed in like sardines.  

We needed 3 carts for all of our luggage.  I was very happy to check in.  To accommodate the long line they had representatives at the self check-in kiosks to check in for you.  Then you had to stand in another line to drop off your check-in luggage.  All of mine where over the 23kg, but all under 24kg.  Small miracle they didn't charge at all.

If we had gotten there earlier we could've checked out the kid play area.  The kids were thirsty and we put money into a vending machine by the boarding area.  It ate our money.  

My father-in-law called the help number and a half hour later someone came to give us the drinks.  Just in time for them to be taken away to board the plane!  What a rip off.  It was bought in the airport, un-opened why can't we take it on.  What a scam.

Double scam, because really how many for foreigners are going to call to get their money back?  I wouldn't have.

I asked to board early, due to all the extremely heavy carry-ons, chuck full of books that I ended up carrying.  So we got to board after business class.  We already went through one x-ray screening of the luggage and now they did a physical opening of all the carry-ons.  

I do not remember this extra opening of bags going to Japan.  I was not happy as I had every square inch of bag space crammed with odds and ends.  So I had to scramble to re-close all the kids ride on luggage full of breakables.  

Ahhhh seated on the plane!  Time to relax.  I liked being closer to the bathroom, so I could watch the kids go there safely and didn't have to go with them every time.  

We were waiting over an hour for take-off.  I overheard one flight attendant say they add an extra hour in for flight time on flights coming out of Beijing, because it takes so long to get off the runway.  

So instead of being early, we arrived on time.  The boys all slept about 6 hours.   We had one spill early on, was lucky I had extra paper towels to sop it up.  No room in the carry-on for an extra set of clothes.  

The kids didn't eat a whole lot on the plane.  My favorite meal, is the midnight snack sandwich.  A repeat of no soreness, I totally believe due to drinking only water or ginger ale and going the bathroom a lot.  

We arrived in the cool rain, met with two mini vans.  One to carry the people the other to carry the luggage.  I forgot how to turn my airplane mode off on my phone and missed my window to call before going into the airport.  Couldn't make a call till we were heading away from the airport.  

All in all, it ended up a pleasant travel experience, even if the kids were so awake they didn't sleep until midnight.