One Of Those Days

It's only 3:00 and it's already been that day.  It started out with Ryan getting up at 4:45am.  I blame it on the sun and the fact that there are no time zones here.  We are at the time of year when the sun comes up just after 4am and even with blackout curtains it's apparently too light for him to sleep.  I made him go back to bed and I laid down with him but he never did sleep anymore.  When Tim got up to get ready for work I went back to bed and slept for a couple more hours.  It's nice that the kids are able to entertain themselves for a while so Momma gets to sleep in.  That will change in another month and a half when Nicholas starts school, so I'm going to enjoy it now.

Once we were up and going I thought it would be a good day to go see a movie then visit friends afterward. Nicholas thought that was a great idea except that he really wanted to go to the science museum first.  We were there once before and it's not the best I've seen but there's enough to keep the interest the kids for a couple hours and it's really cheap to get in.  I knew we wouldn't have time to do both the movie and the museum so we had to decide and the latter won.  At 11:30 Wang picked us up and off to went to learn and experience science.  He dropped us off then went to buy a printer cartridge for me and I should have been paying a little more attention to the parking lot at this point.  It wasn't until we were walking in that we noticed the twelve huge buses sitting in the lot.  School trip.  We bought our tickets anyway since Wang was gone and the boys were keen to go.  OMG!  There were kids everywhere.  Every exhibit was covered in children then there were more running around, sitting on the floor eating their lunches or watching us walk around trying to get our pictures.  We managed to find an area that wasn't too busy but shortly after we got there a class of young students came running and screaming into the room.  Nicholas had to cover his ears it was so loud.  We lasted a total of fifteen minutes then left, choosing instead to check out a children's activity center that is near the museum.  Since I had never been there I wasn't sure what the deal was but eventually I was able to buy tickets for something, I didn't know what.  We were directed to a door nearby and there were a couple other kids going in but for some reason the lady didn't want to let us go.  She tried to explain something but I couldn't understand so she went and got the woman who had sold us the tickets and they chatted for a minute.  Eventually she took me back out the door and started pointing to pictures of the exhibits on the wall saying "jintian, mei you".  That much I understood.  She was trying to tell me that today, some of the activities wouldn't be available.  I told her it was fine, that we would just go in and play anything that was open.  I didn't want to bother trying to get a refund and it would be nice to know what the place was like.  Well, the woman had a point, there really wasn't much to do.  They had a little track with bikes on it and we ended up playing on them, although I don't think we were supposed to.  No one was around and someone had moved the barricade so we gave it a quick try.  Other than that and a mechanical ball thing, there was only a huge sandbox that the boys played in for a little while. Unfortunately the huge play area with tunnels and slides was closed for cleaning.  So, it was a bit of a bust as well.

Since it was now after lunch I figured we would go grab some food at the mall - subs for the kids and rice for me - then head over to Angie's place so the boys could play with Madi and Owen.  They were anxiously waiting for us!  As we were making our way to the sixth floor Nicholas told me is belly was hurting.  I figured he was just really hungry but before we got to Subway we had made two bathroom stops.  I thought if he got something in his stomach he would feel better so I ordered the subs and he took a bite.  He got up from the table, looking like he was going to barf, and started circling it like a dog that needs to poop but can't get outside.  I quickly grabbed our stuff and headed back to the bathroom.  He was sweating, pale and looking like death.  We spent a while in the bathroom but he didn't get sick.  I texted Wang to tell him that we needed to leave right away then sent a message to Angie to tell her that we wouldn't be over.  We made our back down to the parking garage and by the time we got there, Nicholas was looking a bit better.  As we started for home he wanted his sub again.  I said no, not until we got home so that if he needed to throw up he could at least go to the bathroom.  Meanwhile, I gave Ryan his sub, which he promptly dropped on the floor of the van.  Argh!  I was really hungry at this point because I hadn't managed to get any rice so I wasn't feeling the greatest either.  We got home, Nick ate his sub and now appears to be fine.  Go figure.  Not that I want him to be sick, it just fits in with everything else that didn't go smoothly today.  I feel bad that we disappointed our friends by not going over so I'm hoping we can get there tomorrow morning.  Fridays are almost always good days, so I'm positive it will be better.

Yesterday ended up being a grocery day with trips to YooHoo, Metro and Ole.  Those ones are never fun for the kids but must be done.  This weekend I think I will finally get to the stationary market to see what it's like.  I've heard great things and since I will be without kids, I'm very excited to go.  I will try to remember to get pictures.

In other good news, we found out that early next year we will have our second visitor in China!  Tim's sister, Tammy, is coming to see us in February.  She will get to see some of the festivities for Chinese New Year then will accompany us to Thailand for a week in the sun.  We are all very excited!

I guess that's it for today.  I must go get started on supper.  Have a great day everyone!