February Update

Still here!  I survived Chinese New Year and sixteen days home with both boys.  It was fun and challenging but we did okay.  I did a 1500 piece puzzle which took up a lot of my time and kept me out of the kids' line of fire.  We enjoyed the fireworks that were set off right outside our windows and the kids were allowed to stay up until midnight on the eve of the new year to watch.  Poor Ryan was so tired he feel asleep on the window sill while staring up at the night sky.

Luckily the air quality so far this year has been much better (although still not great) compared to last so I haven't been minding it as much.  Temperatures have been milder than usual so they aren't burning as much coal which creates a lot of the pollution.  It's still not good enough to go outside most days, but it hasn't been up to 400 and 500 on the index so I'll count my blessings for that.

Last week Ryan and I had to make an unexpected visit to Beijing to get his passport renewed, again.  Next month we are going on our winter trip to visit Hong Kong and then Bali, Indonesia and I thought everyone was okay for passport expiration until I went to book our flights.  When travelling to Indonesia your passport must be valid for six months from the date of entry.  Ryan's will expire 5.5 months from the date we enter the country.  Bah!  I'm really glad I realized when I did but it doesn't leave a lot of time.  I would have gone two weeks ago but because it was Chinese New Year and the busiest travel time of the year, we couldn't get train tickets until a week later.  I was tempted to drive but Ma didn't think our car would make the seven hour drive each way.  Flights were too expensive so my only option was to wait for the next available train.  It turned out to be a very nice, one night trip.  We stayed at a beautiful Sofitel hotel (for a very good price), ordered room service and visited the arcade at the IMAX theater next door.  Ryan didn't want to leave as he was very excited that "We got food in our room and we didn't even have to make it!  The hotelers made it!".  He's becoming spoiled!

We visited the Canadian Embassy and submitted the paperwork for his passport on February 12.  They said it will be ready by March 12 and will be delivered by March 15.  We leave March 19 so that's a pretty small margin of error but I'm confident it will be done and in our possession well before that date.  The last time we had to do this it arrived quickly so keep your fingers crossed that it will be the same this time.

Other than a Valentine's Day party at Nick's school and a few outings with friends, we haven't really been doing too much else for the last month.  Just living.  Everyone is well though and we are all excited for our upcoming trip.  Tim and I are especially thrilled because we have a little surprise in store for the boys.  When we arrive in Hong Kong there will be a familiar face waiting to greet us.  I won't spoil it by giving you any more details, but I will blog about it when the time comes.

I hope everyone out in the blogosphere is happy and healthy.  Happy Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day and any other holiday I may have missed!  Enjoy the Year Of The Horse...