In Chinese, the word for America is "Mei Guo" and it litterally means "Beautiful Country". The past week has been full of a few surprises, some challenges and lots of blessings in the beautiful US of A. Repatriating from China is not as easy as I thought it would be, but we are happy to be closer to our family and friends here on the West Coast.
Getting to and from the airport with all of our luggage seemed to be more stressful than the actual 12-hour flight, but we are so greatful that our friend Justin gave us a ride so we did not have to take two taxis to Pudong International.
I was surprised at how smoothly everything went and was amazed that Giselle slept for the entire flight. She slept, she ate, then fell back to sleep. Jim, Jameson and I, however did not sleep. When we reached LAX, Giselle was ready to play and Jameson, Jim and I were ready to sleep. By the time we were ready for bed both kids had fevers, so no one slept that night, or the following night, or the night after that as well.
After four days of Jameson experiencing mouth sores, fevers, fussiness and a strange rash, Jim took him to urgent care. He found out that Jameson has hand, foot and mouth disease and is very contagious. Luckily, Giselle and I seemed to fight of the virus as Giselle is still nursing and perhaps I was already exposed to the virus as a child. Unfortunately, JIm caught some symptoms of the virus and did not feel well until this morning.
We have spent 6 nights at the Residence Inn at Carmel Mountain and have only made it to the pool one time. This was Giselle's first trip to the pool. She loved being outside, but thought the pool was a little chilly.
Getting to and from the airport with all of our luggage seemed to be more stressful than the actual 12-hour flight, but we are so greatful that our friend Justin gave us a ride so we did not have to take two taxis to Pudong International.
I was surprised at how smoothly everything went and was amazed that Giselle slept for the entire flight. She slept, she ate, then fell back to sleep. Jim, Jameson and I, however did not sleep. When we reached LAX, Giselle was ready to play and Jameson, Jim and I were ready to sleep. By the time we were ready for bed both kids had fevers, so no one slept that night, or the following night, or the night after that as well.
After four days of Jameson experiencing mouth sores, fevers, fussiness and a strange rash, Jim took him to urgent care. He found out that Jameson has hand, foot and mouth disease and is very contagious. Luckily, Giselle and I seemed to fight of the virus as Giselle is still nursing and perhaps I was already exposed to the virus as a child. Unfortunately, JIm caught some symptoms of the virus and did not feel well until this morning.
We have spent 6 nights at the Residence Inn at Carmel Mountain and have only made it to the pool one time. This was Giselle's first trip to the pool. She loved being outside, but thought the pool was a little chilly.
In spite of a nasty virus, Jameson is still loving our beautiful country
Our biggest blessing this week is signing a lease on a home in Rancho Penasquitos. The house is gorgeous, has great acoustics, is in a lovely location and best of all, it has room for lots of guests. Tomorrow we shall move out of the Residence Inn and may not have internet access for a while, but I will post tons of photos as soon as I can.
Jameson calls our new house the "bigger, bigger house" and we are all excited to move in tomorrow. On Sunday, Jim plans to fly to Oakland and move all of our things out of our house in Pleasant Hill. Jameson, Giselle and I will be on our own for a few days in the bigger, bigger house. We will be camping out a bit as we have nothing but clothes to move in at this point, but just having an oven and a bathtub should keep us entertained for hours!
Jameson calls our new house the "bigger, bigger house" and we are all excited to move in tomorrow. On Sunday, Jim plans to fly to Oakland and move all of our things out of our house in Pleasant Hill. Jameson, Giselle and I will be on our own for a few days in the bigger, bigger house. We will be camping out a bit as we have nothing but clothes to move in at this point, but just having an oven and a bathtub should keep us entertained for hours!