This week we were outside of the country waiting on paperwork to get processed for us to return to the country. So, one might ask...What do you do for 8 days in another country with 4 little ones. Well, you are about to see :)
First, we ate McDonald's for breakfast nearly every day! The sausage was the best! I can say that by the end of our trip I never wanted to see a McDonald's again, but I am still very thankful to have it available. It rained almost the entire time we were there, so most of the time we were stuck inside. The day we arrived, it was not raining (but we were too tired to do anything). We did see that there was a park near where we were staying and it advertised a playground...sounded perfect...
...then we saw this sign...still not sure we figured all of them out, but really? at a park? ...our interpretation of the pictures...1. no playing ball 2. no climbing over rails 3. no yelling 4. no elderly people with a cane trying to ride a skateboard? or is it supposed to be a storm cloud? either way, we are not elderly, so I guess it does not apply to us 5. no letting your dog go to the bathroom 6. no playing card games 6. no riding bicycles So what are you supposed to do at the park again? Oh yes, play at the playground...No luck there either. It was closed for remodeling.
So, back to the apartment we went and ordered pizza and ate chips and had sprite and coke. Besides eating lots of Western food, we also decided to take a complete break from the language. Before leaving our brains were in overload mode, and we really were struggling to function in either language. So we had a week of nothing but English...and it was a needed break. We now feel refreshed and ready to speak the local language again.
Since we did have really big rain storms, the older two kids played some computer games and the younger two enjoyed watching a few movies/cartoons. Jonathan and I enjoyed our evenings after the kids were in bed and took advantage of the really fast internet to watch 3 episodes of Extreme Makeover Home Edition. It was so much fun.
The little box of of random toys...still not sure how Katherine fit in there, but she did.
The girls decided to fix their own hair before we went out one day. Well, I guess I should say that Katherine decide to fix Lauren's hair. It was quite the site. We do love those little clips, but all at one time is a little overboard. Katherine was not happy when I redid Lauren's hair before going out.
I found it very interesting that while we were gone all of the kids called Lauren "Lauren" and spoke to her in English; but as soon as we got back to our city, they started calling her "Mei Mei" and speking to her in both languages again. I guess they took a complete break from language too :)
I had one VERY excited little girl that got to eat a pickle. We went to a burger place that was excellent!
We went to a Science Museum on Wednesday because it is free on that day. The kids had a great time and Benjamin loved the dinosaur skeleton.
The museum had a house of mirrors that was lots of fun. This was one of Katherine's favorites...a table full of Katherines.
It was also pretty cool to see the little bones inside of your ear. Benjamin couldn't believe how small they were.
Regan saw some pretty cool giraffe flip flops. We let her get them because they were very cheap and she has been asking for months for some flip flops. The sad part about these shoes is that they were from a women's store...my little girl wearing ladies shoes! Now she does have big feet (she is a size 3), but you also have to remember we live in an area of the world where most people do not have big feet, so the ladies sizes are much smaller than in America.
Probably one of our most favorite things to do when we leave the country is lots and lots of bubble baths!!! We are still trying to teach Lauren that the water stays inside the tub. She has no concept of this because where we live the entire bathroom is one big room, so the whole thing is wet when you take a shower. How do you explain to a 2 yr old that many bathrooms don't have a drain outside of the tub? :)
More fun in the tub.
So, another thing we did was mall hop. Really not my first choice, but it lets the kids move around instead of being inside the apartment all day long. While we were at one mall, Lauren got run over by another bigger kid. She fell flat on her face. She had 3 loose teeth, a chipped tooth, swolen gums and lips, and lots of bleeding. We could not get her in to see the dentist for a couple of days. By then the swelling was completely gone, she had started eating again, and two of the 3 teeth were much firmer. We still took her to the dentist just to make sure. She is just fine. There is a chance that one or more of her teeth may turn grey, but that is just a wait-and-see thing.
We had told the kids all week that we had planned to find a beach, but with all the rain it was not looking promising. Well, the last day we were there, the forecast went from 100% chance of really bad thunderstorms to thunderstorms some places and maybe a few sunny spots. So, we packed up and headed to the beach. I had one excited little boy! He has always been my beach lover.
So, I took as many pictures as soon as we got there because I could see the storm heading our direction. Katherine had bought a little pail and shovel in hopes of coming. I'm so glad she got to use it.
We didn't actually go into the water very much because the under current was very strong. We did have lifeguards all around us, but I still did not want to be in that kind of current. And yes, we did get rained on! But the storm passed and we spent another 45 minutes at the beach....and believe it or not, we even saw the sun!
Jonathan helped the girls make a sand castle. With all the rain, it was not hard to get the castle to work. I think they are all ready to go again :)
Such a beautiful view...the islands and my kids! :) Gotta love em!
...then we saw this sign...still not sure we figured all of them out, but really? at a park? ...our interpretation of the pictures...1. no playing ball 2. no climbing over rails 3. no yelling 4. no elderly people with a cane trying to ride a skateboard? or is it supposed to be a storm cloud? either way, we are not elderly, so I guess it does not apply to us 5. no letting your dog go to the bathroom 6. no playing card games 6. no riding bicycles So what are you supposed to do at the park again? Oh yes, play at the playground...No luck there either. It was closed for remodeling.
So, back to the apartment we went and ordered pizza and ate chips and had sprite and coke. Besides eating lots of Western food, we also decided to take a complete break from the language. Before leaving our brains were in overload mode, and we really were struggling to function in either language. So we had a week of nothing but English...and it was a needed break. We now feel refreshed and ready to speak the local language again.
Since we did have really big rain storms, the older two kids played some computer games and the younger two enjoyed watching a few movies/cartoons. Jonathan and I enjoyed our evenings after the kids were in bed and took advantage of the really fast internet to watch 3 episodes of Extreme Makeover Home Edition. It was so much fun.
The little box of of random toys...still not sure how Katherine fit in there, but she did.
The girls decided to fix their own hair before we went out one day. Well, I guess I should say that Katherine decide to fix Lauren's hair. It was quite the site. We do love those little clips, but all at one time is a little overboard. Katherine was not happy when I redid Lauren's hair before going out.
I found it very interesting that while we were gone all of the kids called Lauren "Lauren" and spoke to her in English; but as soon as we got back to our city, they started calling her "Mei Mei" and speking to her in both languages again. I guess they took a complete break from language too :)
I had one VERY excited little girl that got to eat a pickle. We went to a burger place that was excellent!
We went to a Science Museum on Wednesday because it is free on that day. The kids had a great time and Benjamin loved the dinosaur skeleton.
The museum had a house of mirrors that was lots of fun. This was one of Katherine's favorites...a table full of Katherines.
It was also pretty cool to see the little bones inside of your ear. Benjamin couldn't believe how small they were.
Regan saw some pretty cool giraffe flip flops. We let her get them because they were very cheap and she has been asking for months for some flip flops. The sad part about these shoes is that they were from a women's store...my little girl wearing ladies shoes! Now she does have big feet (she is a size 3), but you also have to remember we live in an area of the world where most people do not have big feet, so the ladies sizes are much smaller than in America.
Probably one of our most favorite things to do when we leave the country is lots and lots of bubble baths!!! We are still trying to teach Lauren that the water stays inside the tub. She has no concept of this because where we live the entire bathroom is one big room, so the whole thing is wet when you take a shower. How do you explain to a 2 yr old that many bathrooms don't have a drain outside of the tub? :)
More fun in the tub.
So, another thing we did was mall hop. Really not my first choice, but it lets the kids move around instead of being inside the apartment all day long. While we were at one mall, Lauren got run over by another bigger kid. She fell flat on her face. She had 3 loose teeth, a chipped tooth, swolen gums and lips, and lots of bleeding. We could not get her in to see the dentist for a couple of days. By then the swelling was completely gone, she had started eating again, and two of the 3 teeth were much firmer. We still took her to the dentist just to make sure. She is just fine. There is a chance that one or more of her teeth may turn grey, but that is just a wait-and-see thing.
We had told the kids all week that we had planned to find a beach, but with all the rain it was not looking promising. Well, the last day we were there, the forecast went from 100% chance of really bad thunderstorms to thunderstorms some places and maybe a few sunny spots. So, we packed up and headed to the beach. I had one excited little boy! He has always been my beach lover.
So, I took as many pictures as soon as we got there because I could see the storm heading our direction. Katherine had bought a little pail and shovel in hopes of coming. I'm so glad she got to use it.
We didn't actually go into the water very much because the under current was very strong. We did have lifeguards all around us, but I still did not want to be in that kind of current. And yes, we did get rained on! But the storm passed and we spent another 45 minutes at the beach....and believe it or not, we even saw the sun!
Jonathan helped the girls make a sand castle. With all the rain, it was not hard to get the castle to work. I think they are all ready to go again :)
Such a beautiful view...the islands and my kids! :) Gotta love em! Also, while we were there I had an eye appointment to get new glasses. You may have noticed that the past several months worth of blogs that I appear in my glasses. Long story short...I cannot wear contacts anymore due to severe dry eyes (not making any tears), so I have been wearing old prescription glasses. I now have new glasses and can see clearly again! YEAH! It's also good to hear from my 7 yr old that she likes my new glasses because I don't look like I'm "wearing granny glasses anymore" I'm so glad that she approves. I guess I can still be a "cool" mom! :)
So, that is what we did while we were waiting!!! Oh, and yes, we got all the paperwork in order, all processed, and we are back home again!
