We are going home for the holidays!!! We were originally going to go to Australia, but given the circumstances of 8 days here, we decided to go home. I can’t believe we are going home after only being in Shanghai for 3 months. But guess what, I get to shop and eat all the things I’ve missed from home!
So our flight was at 430 PM on Monday. At 730 PM on Sunday L was packing and I was answering the door to get our dinner. And exactly at 730 PM (on Sunday) this happened…
X and C were jumping on the bed. One fell off and bumped his head on the corner of the bookcase. Then here comes Uber to take us to United Family Healthcare while Sam is on his way. Not the way I imagined the first time going to the hospital. But let me tell you – it was quick and efficient. We were in and out in one hour. The doctor came, examined him and stitched the wound with glue stitches. BAM. Now that’s how it should be done! And everyone spoke English at the hospital since it catered to expats. More than enough time left to finish packing!
We landed in good ol’ sunny Florida at 230 AM since our flight got delayed a couple hours. Gosh – we were all wired. Well, I was and so were the 2 boys.
Getting back to Florida is an ALL day affair. First leg was 15 hours then the other leg is 3 hours. Plus the 3 hour layover. On the first leg, I slept 8 hours, one boy slept 10 hours, the other boy slept 12 hours and the big boy only slept for 4 hours. On the second leg, no one slept in our family, but I believe everyone else was sleeping on the plane since we took off at midnight (Eastern standard time). So needless to say, when we landed the little boys were wired. They were so excited to be back home AND it was literally their afternoon time. Well, we forced them to go to sleep at 430 AM because I scheduled a dentist appointment for them at 1230 PM. And I had an appointment at 10 AM. After getting 3 hours of sleep, I made it to my appointment. And talk about driving again. That felt really weird. In a good way though. I’m usually very impatient on the road – coming back after being away – I was happily sitting at all the red lights and driving BEHIND the people that drive below the speed limit with a smile. Not sure how long that will last when we move back! After my appointment, I went to Publix and Target. Ahhhh – Publix and Target. Two of my favorite stores. And they were right next door to one another. Then I had to pick up the boys for their dentist appointment. I walked into the hotel room and it was pitch dark. At 1130 AM. Those black out curtains definitely work. But damn – trying to wake up the 3 boys was like pulling teeth!!! But alas, we made it. 15 min late, but we made it. So now it was game time for visiting our friends before we saw our family. Our first play date was 12 hours AFTER we landed. If my head was dizzy from the jet lag – I’m pretty sure the boys were dizzy too but that didn’t stop them from playing. They were just so excited to be with their friends again. After playing with their best friends (from 4 families) for the first 36 hours – we drove 4 hours away to our hometown. I think angels were with us because we were both so tired and that drive was for real long.
For the remaining of the trip, we mainly saw family, gave lots of love to our cat Ally, visited Lolo, celebrated Christmas, shopped (A LOT) and ate (too much).
My mom will be coming back with us for two months in Shanghai. Hoping she wants to go out and explore since it’ll be cold in Shanghai! Her house is usually 80 deg F!!!
As much as we loved being back home in the states, it was so nice to get back home in Shanghai.