Blah.

That's been the last couple of days.  It's been rainy here and although yesterday it did stop for a good part of the day, we only went as far as the recently opened shop at Galaxy Bay, a new apartment complex next to Eastern Venice.  They have "fresh" blueberries there and since I haven't been able to get my usual frozen ones at Metro, I've resort to those.  When I went to pay I ended up being a little short on cash but they let me go without putting any of my fruit back.  It was very nice of them but left me with a bad feeling so when we got home I left the kids with Ayi and went back to give them the difference.  Since I had already walked that far I decided to keep going and got a couple groceries from Carrefour and a little sushi for our lunch.  It was nice to walk and browse on my own.

Tuesday we went to the doctor for Nicholas to have a TB test (it's required for school) and so all three of us could get another vaccination.  I didn't tell the boys that we were going until shortly before we left, mostly because Nick gets himself very worked up when he knows he's getting a needle.  By the time we got to the hospital he was really nervous and making little whimpering noises.  I had tried telling him to relax but it wasn't working so Ryan blurted out, "Oh Nicky!  Stop whining.  I'll be good".  I had to stifle my laugh and Nick, who was a little hurt, rebutted with, "Well, Ryan, how would you feel if you had to get four needles?" and on and on (even though he was only getting two).  The TB skin test wasn't too bad, they injected a small amount of liquid just under the skin on his arm.  He handled it well but was still scared about the vaccination. As it turned out, after waiting around for a while, we were informed that the nurse had called the health department and they advise against getting this particular vaccine during the summer months.  So, we are all off the hook for that one, at least until October.

Since they had done well at the doctor I decided a reward was in order.  I suggested a movie but the boys both thought that a toy would be better.  Fair enough, we headed to a market similar to Wu'ai but cleaner and quieter.  After searching for a bit, Nicholas chose a selection of dinosaurs (that's what he's "into" now) and Ryan decided after "really wanting" several different toys, that he didn't really need anything and just wanted to go home.  Huh?  Who is this kid and what has he done with my son?  In the end, as we were leaving, he did find one cheap GI Joe-like figurine and said he would get that, but just the one.  No more.  Okay, I'm not one for arguing. Perhaps since he didn't get a needle while Nicholas did, he thought that he shouldn't get rewarded.  Who knows.

I had my Chinese lesson today and organized some of the travel info for our upcoming trip.  I have a folder to keep things organized and although most things have been booked for a while, we are starting to get a little more excited as we look through all of our documents.  I checked in for our cruise today and printed off luggage tags - that makes it seem a little more real.  Only a little over two months and we'll be off again!  Thank goodness.

I guess that's it for now.  Tomorrow we have a quick trip back to the doctor to check the results of the TB skin test then we will do some shopping for groceries and a few more school supplies.  Should be fun!