Well we are finally here and I am finally writing my very first blog entry!  What a process, extricating yourself from your life for a while.  We had a hectic week of packing and preparing the house for house/dog sitters, preceded by many months of methodical planning (not to mention years of just talking about a “big trip.”).  Predictably, I was awake all night the night before leaving thinking, why am I doing this???  24/7 family time for five months.  No job.  No routine.  No school or soccer practices.  Homeschooling, my God.  Also predictably, about half way through the flight, flying somewhere near the Arctic I thought, wow, no school, no routine, 24/7 with my people, I’m flying over the Arctic to China…. how amazing!!  For better or for worse, the adventure has begun.

The boys, now ages 12 and 9, are doing great, they are already turning into pretty seasoned little travelers.  And what’s not to love?  They get unlimited screen time on airplanes in contrast to our pretty strict screen time rules at home.  They watched 14 straight hours of movies on the plane ride over, no lie.  It was a site to behold.  But they are troopers.  They take the hassles of travel in stride, they view the world with fresh eyes, they are infinitely open to new experiences, and they are able to see the humor in some of the ridiculous situations one finds themselves in while traveling to new places.   For instance, we all had a big laugh on day 1 after making our way one by one to the living room of our Shanghai apartment at midnight, completely awake due to the time change, in our underwear, eating Luna bars thinking “this is weird.”