Journey of a Kumquat: Week 200 and Week 112.5

We had a good few days with Sherry and Larry before we left to go to America. It is great to see them and we are lucky that we get to see them so frequently.

After a nice dim sum lunch (thanks guys!) Sherry witnessed my total loss of meatballs at trying to buy something from an ignorant manager at a Duty Free Store in Macau (called Esscents - avoid like the plague). I simply cannot stand customer service idiocy.

We took Imee and her son John Roi to Hard Rock Cafe before we left too. We took them to the Dragon show at City of Dreams - which Charlotte was super scared of and Sophia liked a lot. Sophia has begun potty training (and is doing pretty well).

We realized recently that Charlotte likes to wear her socks inside out.

We took Sophia to the doctor - she sort of fell on her scooter and was complaining about her privates hurting when she peed. The Kiang Wu Taipa clinic is as imcompetent as ever - luckily her pain subsided before our plane ride. This happened the day before the flight.

Two days prior Char was complaining of ear pain. I took her to the pharmacist where she got ear drops and then all was well within the night. When it rains it pours with these kids (calamityville prior to flying). Oh and Matt accidentally gave Sophia a shiner the morning we were flying! Argh!

We think crib sleeping is over for Sophia. She just prefers the bed (and even can sleep well with a proper blanket and a pillow).

We flew for 27 hours on Sunday - Sophia started being a tyrant on the plane (as car seats were her enemy - and subsequently everyone else was ours - inconsolable) - but that of course just meant she was overtired and she slept for 5 hours! I was too giddy with delight at her sleeping to sleep myself (I suppose the adage of the newborn - sleep when the baby sleeps applies to any long haul travel with toddlers as well). I even watched two movies - The Internship (a perfect flighty flight movie) and About Time (wonderful as I love all movies Richard Curtis). We were happy that there were screens in the seats - though Sophia still did not sort out the ear piece and screen combo - but at least she was distracted some.

Char was a champ on the flight - not fussy - watching movies on the screen and the iPad. I think we have passed the hurdle of idle flight time passing - at least with her.

We landed in Toronto - which is our new standard for flying! That airport is great - clean, cheerful, with family lines and Tim Horton's! The best part of all was the US Customs - you don't have to take your bags off and re-check them in. It was astounding how easy it was - and we did not have to go to customs again in Atlanta! We landed in Atlanta - and getting a car rental is a nightmare with a zillion bags and two toddlers and no car seats and minimal sleep and an international arrival. Sigh. We lived. And we slept at 3AM that night.

The week has been jet laggy for the girls - Charlotte has just begun to wake at a normal hour (meaning not 11 in the morning). The girls are sleeping through the night but are supertired (somewhat by design) as there has been nary any naps.

We got to spend an evening with the Briggs family! So nice to catch up with them in the ATL after our Singapore adventures...

The girls love their cousins! We have spent many days with Ava and Sabrina - and everyone plays together and it is very cute and I wish we lived closer. We found an indoor playground as the girls need to get good and tired (and are sort of homebound in this cold weather)... Matt had to go to Wisconsin for a family matter and Nicole is in town visiting this weekend. More on this next week...

Hard Rock: