On the Road Again

So much to write.

Andrew had his last day of school on the 13th of June. It was so sad to know that it would be his last day at the Canadian School. He has grown and learned so much in just five months. His teacher, Mr. Shawn, will always hold a very special place in our hearts. It was a bit awkward when word got out that we will not be returning next year (Andrew will be moving over to the American School with Jacob). I was approached by at least three people trying to sell me on the benefits of the Canadian School. It would have been a much easier conversation if I hated the school...but I love it. 

The next day we woke up bright and early to head to the airport. As the boys and I were waiting in the security line, Andrew sporadically threw his hands in the air and huffed/yelled, "Not this guy again!?" The only man near us was middle-easterner, and, not wanting to offend him, I dismissed Andrew with a comment like, "What are you talking about." Andrew then raised an accusing finger and pointed it right at the guy  - who was by then staring at us. Thus my attempts not to offend the man made the situation worse. Thank you, Andrew.

The flight from Singapore went well, even though Jacob felt inspired to use the bathroom every 30 minutes or so. About 11 hours into the trip, I put Jacob on the floor so we could all stretch out and get some rest.  However, once the flight attendant discovered his location, I had to move him back into a seat. 

Our time in California was a blast. The boys had a great time visiting everyone, and loved running around Opa and Grandma Jan's beautiful back yard. The only problem (as mentioned in my last post) was that they do not have internet access. One evening I was able to hop onto a neighbor's network, but it was so slow that my entire battery was drained after checking two emails (it took me over an hour). I have to admit, going to Safeway at 1am to use their wireless was pretty random and quite fun. 

On Friday night, David and Jan took the boys and me to a fantastic Mexican restaurant to celebrate Andrew's birthday. Unfortunately the boys revolted against the chicken strips I ordered them. Major frustration as a parent: when someone tries to do something nice for your kids and they complain about the food. The best part about the evening was when the servers came to sing to Andrew. They approached him from behind, so when they broke into song (very loud song), Andrew literally leapt out of his chair. After the initial shock, he was absolutely thrilled. The look on his face was priceless.  

The next day the boys and I hopped on a plane to head to Florida to see my parents. I was supposed to have a short stop in Chicago with no change of planes. The flight to Chicago was long.....primarily because we had one of the most active (i.e. obnoxious) little boys in the world sitting across the isle from us. He spent about half of the flight swinging from the armrests on the isles. Rock, rock, thump. Rock, rock, thump. Once he realized we had portable DVD players, we became his greatest interest. He spent another 45 minutes of the flight perched on Andrew's armrest. Even when the flight attendants asked for everyone to fasten their seat belts, this kid was still partying in the isle. When Andrew finally fell asleep, the kid kept trying to poke him to wake him up. Go away little monster! I was so glad when they got off at Chicago.

As mentioned, we were not supposed to change planes in Chicago. After everyone de-planed, an announcement was made that those of us going on to Ft. Lauderdale also needed to get off and head to another terminal. I had to to wake up Andrew and and run to the other gate (since that flight was set to leave in 20 minutes). I arrived at the gate to find out that the new flight was delayed for at least 2 hours. Boo. And for those of you who know, 2 hours easily turns into 3 hours in the airplane world. We finally landed in Florida at 1:15 in the morning.

Sunday was spent recovering from the late arrival. 

Monday, my mom and I took the boys to the beach. Generally speaking, I hate going to the beach if it is not located immediately outside my door. I think that is mainly because of the process involved in getting the kids and gear ready to go: bathing-suits, sun block, sunglasses, buckets, snacks, drinks, towels, book, yadda, yadda, yadda........ You then arrive at the beach to have sand stick to every square inch of your body and every thing you have brought along. However. I must say that we had a great time at the beach that day. The weather was beautiful and the water was perfect. As we were showering off the sand at the end of the day, I noticed that Andrew had handfuls of sand in his suit. Being completely unsuccessful in getting it out of his suit and off his bums, I finally had to strip him down and hose him off. I then quickly wrapped him in a towel to respect and honor his privacy. As I turned around to rinse off the rest of our gear, Andrew took off running down the path towards the parking lot. It's not that fact he was running towards the parking lot that frightened me - it was the fact that he opened his towel like a large cap took off like some naked superhero. So much for modesty.

Yesterday evening my parents came up with a great activity for the boys. They decided to take us fishing out on the deep blue sea. Jacob and Andrew love to fish...although we are plagued as a family of actually being able to catch anything. (We have been to two stocked ponds in the past and have been unable to catch one single fish). We were scheduled to board our boat at 7:15pm. Since we arrived a bit early, the five of us decided to run across the street to grab a bit to eat. I later realized that extremely greasy fish and chips are not a wise choice before getting on a fishing boat. 

The ocean was quite choppy and we had a wild ride out to sea; we all thought it was a blast. However, because of the waves, we had to move the boat to a different location about three times. As the five of us dropped our lines into the water, the lady next to us decided to start throwing up over the side of the boat. As the retching sound escaped her body, I realized I was not feeling so hot either. However, I refused to be ill on that boat (and was somehow successful).

The boys had a great time - even though they only caught on fish a piece (and that being with the assistance of an adult). Jacob caught the first fish of the evening. Actually, one of the crew members snagged it and allowed Jacob to real it in. Jacob was so proud of his fish. The guy took it off the hook and then threw it back in the ocean. Jacob had a total look of horror and shock on his face. After a few stunned seconds he asked, "I can't keep my fish?" The response he received, "You don't want that thing. Unless you like the taste of cardboard." Seriously sir, you think a seven year old cares what a fish tastes like? To them, a fish is a fish. Jacob was also the baiter for the evening. No one in our group wanted to touch the chopped up fish given to us as bait. That was, no one except Jacob. Whenever one of us lost our bait, Jacob would grab a fish head and shove it on the hook for us. One time he dry heaved and I asked if he wanted my help. He shook his head, wiped his hands off, and went back to work. My hero!

Andrew, along with my Mom, caught the largest fish of the entire group. It was a 17 inch snapper. I guess that fish passed the taste test because it was not tossed back into the ocean by Brent. Jacob was miffed that Andrew got to keep his fish, and Andrew kept demanding he wanted to keep the fish a pet. At least both of them were unhappy with the outcome. After three hours on the boat, we finally headed back to land. Andrew fell asleep on my lap, and Jacob asked if we could go again tomorrow. 

I am sure I have forgotten a number of things in this post which will come to me as the day progresses. I will be sure to publish all them as they come to mind.