That's right, just 17 more nights before liftoff and yes, I'm a little excited. I'm afraid my blog posts (the few that I have done this last couple of weeks) have acquired a rather negative tone so I think I need a break from China. On a positive note though, both boys are enjoying their new schools so that is a relief.
Again it's been several days since I've written. Last week was so very busy and although the weekend was slower, I was lazy. Thursday, I took Ryan for the dreaded physical and blood work. As it turned out we picked the worst possible time to do it since the Chinese schools started today and the place was packed with people. It is so incredibly disorganized that we ended up being there for two hours which meant that Ryan didn't eat anything until about 11am, although he didn't seem to care about that much. He was so upset about the needle for the blood work that the only thing he would eat was ice cream. We made a trip to Ole for some expensive New Zealand Chocolate Mint Kisses, Cookies n' Cream and Rainbow ice cream. That helped him forget.
 |
| Waiting, waiting, waiting and they don't know why. |
 |
| Registering for the physical |
 |
| After the ice cream, Ryan and Samuel were quite taken with this mannequin. |
Friday morning, Ryan and I went to a birthday party in the morning then hung out at home until it was time to walk to Carrefour for Nicholas. We didn't do anything ambitious on Friday night or Saturday and I was glad. On Sunday, the boys and I went to the stationery market while Tim went to the gym. Nicholas asked me earlier this week if, for his birthday, he could get a clipboard. I told him that he didn't have to wait for his birthday for that, we could get it sooner so he can do his important work. Again I made a poor choice of venue and for the same reason. Because school was starting today the place was packed with people shopping for supplies and they don't get a lot of foreigners so, of course, we stood out more than normal. It was also very hot so as soon as we found a wooden, $.75 clipboard and a package of plain, green pencils for the same price, the boys wanted to get out of there. As we waited for Li to pick us up Nicholas thought he was going to throw up on the sidewalk. We got in the van and he seemed pretty ill so I decided to just take them home instead of going for lunch like we had planned. After cooling off and getting some water he was fine, but we still stayed home for the rest of the day. I walked to Carrefour and found myself some t-shirts and we all went out to play baseball for a while. It was fun. We also built quite a bit of LEGO buildings over the weekend and I spent a fair amount of time sorting the real LEGO from the imitation stuff that Santa brought. I must remember to tell him not to bring the cheap stuff next time, it's horrible!
Today I delivered all my boys - Nick to the bus, Tim to work, Ryan to school - and headed off to do a little shopping. Because of the massive amounts of road construction going on here (and the disorganization of it all) it took us 2.5 hours to get everyone where they needed to go and another two for me to pick up both boys and get home. By the time all that driving is done, there isn't a whole lot of time left over for shopping. I went looking for pants for the boys but couldn't find anything for a reasonable price (I will wait for Florida!) but I did find velcro rollers and lunch. I still have a list of things I need to get before we go home so I will have to try again on Wednesday.
 |
| Lunch Restaurant |
Unfortunately the food I ate and all the driving has given me a headache so I must get to bed early tonight. Have a great Labour Day everyone!
Again it's been several days since I've written. Last week was so very busy and although the weekend was slower, I was lazy. Thursday, I took Ryan for the dreaded physical and blood work. As it turned out we picked the worst possible time to do it since the Chinese schools started today and the place was packed with people. It is so incredibly disorganized that we ended up being there for two hours which meant that Ryan didn't eat anything until about 11am, although he didn't seem to care about that much. He was so upset about the needle for the blood work that the only thing he would eat was ice cream. We made a trip to Ole for some expensive New Zealand Chocolate Mint Kisses, Cookies n' Cream and Rainbow ice cream. That helped him forget.
Hi Jan, I had a nice long note written back to you yesterday and I somehow deleted it before I saved it. How annoying is that! I was so annoyed I just closed your blog and thought I will rewrite it tomorrow. So here I am. I will probably not remember everything I said but will try.
ReplyDeleteI love the photos of the boys checking out the mannequin. They are so cute and so is she. I have never noticed a small one like that before. I am sure we have some in our stores but I just didn't take notice.
You must be getting very excited about you trip to Florida and Nova Scotia, maybe more destinations, I can't remember. It will be great to see you guys.
Glad to hear Ryans check up is over. It must be a relief to you and to Ryan. It is so hard to see them upset. I was always the one to take our boys to the Dr.'s and it was so sad to see them cry from needles. Stefan still hates needles.
We got Dev moved on the weekend. He has made several trips to Truro but I think he is almost finished. It was a very busy weekend as most people move on Labor Day weekend for universities and such. Now we will be moving Stefan up to Dev's mini home. He and Angie are moving in there soon. My house will be very empty. I will really miss him.
Mom and I got down to Windsor to visit Aunt Helen on Monday. We also took a chest of draws down to Dev's apartment. Elaine was in Windsor, Ont. visiting with her daughter Heidi and Stephen and her granddaughter Sydney. She had a really nice visit and played most of the time with Sydney. Brian made us lasagne and I made a coconut cream pie. We had a delicious supper and a wonderful visit. I took down my 2 scrap books of our trip to show Aunt Helen.
Stefan and Ellery are very busy getting the rink ready as the guys are installing the gyp-rock. It is coming along quite well. They have made quite a few changes to the dressing room areas of the rink. You will see quite a difference.
Well dinner is ready so I must go and eat. Bye for now and have a great day.
(I didn't delete this one!)
Jan, it is hard to believe that in less than 2 weeks you guys will be on your way. The time sure has passed very quickly. I am looking forward to seeing you all.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that Nick still loves his school and that Ryan is settling into his. They sure have changed in the last year.
Cute pictures of the boys checking out the mannequin they do seem quite taken with her. She has a different look about her and she isn't very big.
Jennie went back to Northport today, we are going to miss her. We had a good visit although we didn't go to far away this time. We did get down the shore to Maitland and Noel. Stopped in at Lawrence House and visited a couple of gift shops, came back up thru to Milford and stopped in Shubie for supper. Tracy and Kenzie came with us. We also made a couple of trips out to Masstown Market and Tuesday night we drove over to Pictou and walked on the board walk, everything was closed but we enjoyed the walk.
Andy and I were going to take the boy's Geo Cashing today but it rained. We had heavy rain all day we got 3 inches total and we are getting more this evening and tomorrow.
Well Jan, it is getting close to bedtime so I guess I will get my pj's on and do a little bit of reading.
Hi to the boys and Tim, take care.