Update

After a very, very busy end of the school year, and a reeeeeeaaaaalllllllyyyy long trip home, we are in the U.S.

We had programs and parties to attend before leaving, plus going-away parties for our dear friends who will not be returning in the fall. That is the difficult part of expat life - saying goodbye to the wonderful people you meet along the way. We had to say goodbye to some completely lovely people this year. We all know it's part of the culture of an expat community, but this was my first full year and therefore my first goodbye to true, real friends. So sad!!

Then we were all set to return home. The car picked us up in China at 7 Thursday morning and took us across the border and across the big bridge to Hong Kong. We checked in and shoved breakfast down the kids' throats, only to find our flight was delayed. Delayed 7 hours! So we killed a bunch of time in the Hong Kong airport - luckily they have a nice little playground in there. And a great restaurant where we loitered for a really long time over various salads, sandwiches, tea and sodas. Finally got on the plane and flew over the north pole, down to Jersey. Of course since we arrived so late at night, we had to stay a night in Jersey. The people at Continental Airlines were completely fabulous in handling things for us. We got off the plane and were met by customer service reps with room keys for a local hotel plus food vouchers. We were shuttled off to the hotel and headed straight to our rooms. Very nice service. We had a whopping 4 hours to sleep before we had to return to the airport to head home...it was a really long 36 hours of travel. I have to say, my kids totally rock. They were so good and so patient! People around us were amazed they had been traveling for 36 hours by the time we got here. Way to go, little dudes and dude-ette!

So, after discombobulated sleep patterns we are finally here for our first full day in East TN - yippee it's good to be home! Tim and I went for a walk around the neighborhood this morning - not quite the same workout as the hills of our China neighborhood but a nice walk nonetheless. I went to Curves with my mom, where we had another little workout - and we had a nice, normal lunch. So far, so good. I'm going to do my best not to turn into a pufferfish this time home! Wish me luck with that.