Quick update on our travels

The kids and I made it safely to the US! This was my first trans-Pacific solo flight with the kids and they did great. Not much sleeping--my little guys were too wired--but Barret happily gamed away at his PSP (Lego StarWars rocks!) and Caroline kept us both busy with a steady stream of requests:
"I need to go potty."
"I need my drink."
"I need food."
"I want to watch Cinderella."
(20 minutes later.) "I want to watch Dumbo."
(20 more minutes) "I want Sleeping Beauty."
(Once again, 20 minutes into the movie) "Where's Little Mermaid. No! Little Mermaid 2!"
United probably could have given my seat to someone else because I pretty much spent 10 hours crouched down in front of Caroline or walking around the plane with her.

Of course, then she konked out the last hour or so of the flight, and I had to wake her up so she could walk through the San Francisco airport. We must have looked pretty cute going through SFO: me pushing our bags and hunching under a bulging backpack, Caroline sporting OJ splattered pj's and total bedhead and holding tightly to Barret with one hand while sucking her thumb on the other hand, Barret shouldering his red backpack and dutifully shepherding his sleepy sis.

We made our connection no problem. Barret promptly went to sleep for four hours, but C got a second wind and transformed into monkey-girl. Just as we started taxi and take-off she decided to wriggle out of her seatbelt and start trying to stand on her head in the seat. I was across the aisle from her (we were in the front seats of the plane) and the flight attendent and I were sweetly yelling at her to get back in her seat belt. Which she did...except she scooted back under it upside down with her legs up the seat back and her head hanging off the edge of the seat. Imagine the impish grin on her face. As soon as the wheels lifted off the ground, the flight attendant convientiently turned his head the other way and I jumped up, re-positioned her and cinched the belt as tight as it would go for my little Houdini. Per her standard airplane MO, she kept up her antics until we began descending into Atlanta and then konked out again. So, once again, I had to wake her up and watch her zombie walk with Barret through the airport.

What a relief to see Mom and Dad and know I could finally get some rest after pulling an all-nighter! I dozed in the car, ate a little dinner and went straight to bed. The kids somehow managed to stay up giggling and watching movies with Doc and Gran until midnight. Since then we've been slowly getting back on schedule so I'm guessing by next week jet lag will be a distant memory. We did find a sure-fire way to keep kids awake during daylight hours, though: When they start to fall asleep, feed them ice cream! Then, when the sugar rush wears off and they start crashing again, feed them more ice cream!

That's it for now but thought you'd like to know we made it safe and sound.

Flying the Coop

It's leaving time around here for the expat community. Hordes of people--primarily moms with kids--will depart the Taipei airport over the next few weeks to visit extended family around the world. (Working spouses left behind in Taipei become the lifeblood for a hundred deli's, pubs, and food stands, I'm told.) The travelers are joined by all of the families who have finished assignments and are moving back to their home countries or on to new assignments. Even the animals are on the move. The kids and I have been watching with fascination over the last six weeks as dozens of swallows built elaborate mud nests under the overhangs of the concrete buildings, brooded over their eggs, fed the ravenous hatchlings and then booted them out of the nest. Barret became particularly adept at spotting the "splatter patterns" on the sidewalk that gave away the location of a nest above. These four fat baby birds cracked us up. Quite obviously ready to leave the nest, they were still insisting that their parents feed them while they hung out in the cramped quarters of home. By the next day, they had finally decided (or perhaps been convinced by ma and pa?) that it was time to strike out on their own, and all that was left was their empty nest.

Buffalo Ahead!
Barret's class recently celebrated the end of the school year with a trip to Buffalo Meadow in Yangmingshan National Park. It was a great chance to get up into Taipei's mountains, and we made a family day of it. The temperature was at least 10 degrees cooler, and the lush grasses, ferns and trees made it seem like we were somewhere completely different from the traffic and smog of our city. We even got to see first hand why this section of the park is named as it is. While walking down one of the stone paths, we were startled to come face to nose with a massive water buffalo. In the 1930's the occupying Japanese government introduced herds of the animals to the area with the intent to farm them. Most have been relocated, but a few thousand still roam the park with some basic care from the park service. Warnings are posted about not getting too close--our favorite said something to the effect of, "Violators will take care of own safety"--so we didn't hang out with our buddy Buff for too long.

Taking a Blog Break

With summer here we'll be resting from our blog "homework" until school starts up again. Hope everyone has a safe, fun summer. We've so enjoyed hearing from our friends and family around the world and look forward to catching up with you in the fall!