Husband is Another Word for Sherpa

Shanghai has a massive airport with about 3 stores in it total. Seriously. Okay, maybe there are 5 stores and only one of them was open at 8PM. Rah.

But here's the real kicker: We had our 13 bags and a stroller with us, right? We arrived on the second floor. Departure was on the first floor. No elevator. Enough said.

The good news about flying business is that you get to go to the lounge. Apparently everybody flies business because there are a half dozen lounges, maybe more. You can get free food and drink and watch TV, albeit Chinese TV, but TV just the same. Luckily, I brought my computer loaded with a movie. 

The sad truth is that I brought 35 pounds worth of toys in their carry-ons - mostly activity books like coloring, puzzles, magnet boards and the like. They each used ONE toy. The rest of the time they were entertained by our iPads, LeapPads and iPhones. Guess who is leaving those toys behind on the way home? They'll use them in Singapore though, but geez!

The second flight to Singapore from Shanghai was another adventure. I sat with Hudson and Tom sat with Maisie. My little, shoe-loving man adored the slippers the flight attendants gave us. He soon fell asleep while Maisie was very busy asking Tom for help with dinner. She actually braved some of the unusual food on this flight whereas on the first flight she snubbed everything. In truth, the food was very different, even for me. It was absolutely gorgeous - a far cry from the crap US airlines serve, but it was definitely stuff I'd never seen before. It tasted great, once you got past the thought of it all. 

When we first boarded, I sat there thinking smugly, "Ha! Tom has to deal with our very active daughter and I can just coast on this flight. Of course, that lasted a whole :10. Suddenly, Hudson was awake and then Maisie wanted to sit with me, too. Tom? He got five hours to himself while I was buried in busy kids. Naturally.

When we first got on board, the flight attendant gave us these "toys" for the kids which were the hardest damn 3-D puzzles you've ever seen. No wonder Chinese kids are so smart! Tom and I each put one together which took a good half hour or more. The kids busted them apart in :15 flat.

Sleep? Ha!

"What the hell are you doing? It's two in the morning!?" my husband yelled when we were first together.

"I can't sleep. The sheets are messed up," I simply explained as I remade the bed with him in it. 

For weeks, he talked about it. Now - fourteen years later - he doesn't even wake up when I get up to rearrange the comforter.

All to say, I'm a lousy sleeper. Apparently, Hudson is a chip off the old block. He needs very little sleep and decided to prove it on the flight. In total, he slept 5 hours. I slept 3. He wasn't upset, just hyper as all get out laughing his head off keeping every single person on the plane awake. Most were Chinese, but a glare in any language means the same thing.

As my doctor suggested, I tested out Benadryl a couple of weeks ago and he slept like a baby (Why do we say that? Babies are terrible sleepers!). So after struggling to get him to sleep, I popped in the Benadryl. Nothing. 

I suppose the bright side is that neither kid had a tantrum or cried. 

On our way!

Here we go! 

We're flying China Eastern Airlines. Tom's office is obviously paying for the tickets. Even so, we just couldn't see springing for Singapore Airlines. One business class tickets on Singapore Airlines costs what FOUR business class tickets on China Eastern costs. So how bad can a 28 hour trip be when we're in business?

I'm afraid to ask. Toddlers don't care if you're in business or baggage underneath. To say I'm excited about the next few months would be a huge undestatement. To say I'm dreading the next two weeks of cranky, sleep-deprived toddlers would be equally understated.

The Suitcases Are Packed - All 13 of Them!

When we didn't have kids, Tom and I could go on a two week trip with one roller bag. Seriously. I covered hurricanes with one bag. I'd pack to shoot two stories back to back - one in the snow, one on a beach and still take only one bag. I honestly didn't check bags for years.

Having with kids has put an end to traveling light.

We have NINE suitcases packed for this trip - about 500 pounds of luggage: 5 giant bags, 4 carry-on roller bags. Heck, if you add our backpacks, that's a total of 13 bags!

One bag is for our tour in China at the end of our stay when we'll need cold weather clothes so that's a must. The other bags are crammed with stuff and, as it turns out, very little of it is clothes for me and Tom. The kids have a wardrobe the Queen of Sheeba would envy. Maisie gets hand-me-downs. Since this is her one 4T summer - and a very long one at that - I didn't want to leave any behind. Hudson will be changing sizes while we're there so he has a double wardrobe. Everything is twice as expensive there as in NY (now that's saying something) so I'm carting them with us. Plus, Tom has a size 13 shoe and I have a size 12 (Much to my dismay, my feet grew a full size when I had my kids). He'll be working there so he needs a lot of shoes. I'm guessing one suitcase is practically nothing but shoes.

Clothes are just the start. We are up to our eyeballs with medicines, snacks, swim floats and the like. Of course, the real culprit is toys. 

Each kid has a roller bag to take on the plane that is filled with brand-new, plane-friendly toys. It's not the first 18 hour flight I dread. Nope. I'm worried about the 5 hour layover at the Shanghai airport followed by another 5 hour flight. That's ten hours of attention to be filled.

Oh. My. God.

Going through security will be hell.

Adding an Image to Your Site

Embedding Video into Your Site

Adding and Configuring Slideshows

The 4th That Almost Wasn't

"Drive! Drive! Drive!"

We were about to miss the 4th of July fireworks, the whole reason we delayed our trip until July 9th. If we stay in Asia, we might not get to see them again. It's not like they don't have great fireworks there, but it's different, ya know?  We watch them on a beach over a lake with lots of friends. Everybody makes s'mores and the kids do sparklers. I always wanted kids old enough to partake. All those years trying to have babies and I kept thinking, about having kids on the 4th. Stupid, I know, but that's me. Here we are with kids finally old enough to enjoy and we were about to bolt...so I kind of demanded we hang out in NY until after the 4th.

I called to find out when the lake was doing the fireworks and for some reason I thought they were doing it on the 8th, a Saturday. In the meantime, Hudson's best friend, Spencer, invited us to their pool and then over for a BBQ on the actual 4th. We were leaving for the pool when Tom read an email all about the fireworks on the 4th - just hours away!

So... we went to the pool, the BBQ (almost as special as the fireworks!) and then drove like bats out of hell to the beach. We made it in plenty of time and I was right - having kids on the 4th is one of the most magical things in the world. Definitely worth all those damn shots - and delaying our trip! Ha!