Home Sweet Home

If you've been following along, you know I spent the last few days at home to celebrate an Anniversary, Emerson's birthday, and a brief reunion with friends and family. I was able to rest well on the flight home - thanks in part to half of an Ambian. Chris picked me up at the airport Friday morning at 8:45. I joked that I was able to experience June 12th for about 48 hours!. With a Starbucks in hand, we loaded my two HUGE bags into the car and headed to the house. Knowing how much I'm going to be traveling, I kept only two small bags back in Singapore at my hotel and brought all my big luggage home (one of the suitcases was loaded with gifts for the family).

Emerson asked that I bring donuts to her school on Friday since it was the last day of school and we were celebrating their last day of school. I was sooo excited to see my babies, it was unbelievable. After the celebration with Em's class and saying goodbye to Ms. Petty, Chris and I hit the local joint for our regular Friday "wings-n-beer" (I love America, and Buddies!!). We spent the rest of the afternoon with the neighbors having a cold draft beer from Chris' Keg-r-ator (did I mention I love America, and Coor's light?). Connor recapped his last AAA game with me, in which he hit a double, stole a base, and scored twice. Big game. Later that evening, I opened the big prize suitcase. A side note: in all the hotels (5 different hotels in all), I grabbed the toothbrush kits to give the kids. I kept handing them out as if this was these were their prizes. Finally, when I reached in to the bag, Emerson said, "Mom - this time can I have something cool?" Fortunately, I was able to come through with a couple of fun things.

On Saturday, the four of us spent the whole day together. We went to Build-A-Bear for Emerson and the Lego Store for Connor. Then after our shopping, we went to a Family Fun Center called Players. We did some bowling and many, many arcade games. Afterward, we came home and had a fairly low-key night with nachos and Wipe-out on Tivo.

Sunday was the big day. After toasting our 12 year anniversary, Emerson was delivered breakfast in bed, which consisted of Frosted Flakes and Orange Juice (by request, btw). We got ready for the big birthday party at another Family Fun Center called Bullwinkles. Both Emerson and Connor had several friends there along with their cousins, Leah, Logan, and Kayla. There were more arcade games, the Frog Hopper, Bumper Boats, Go-Karts, Mini-golf, and Bungee Jumping. After all the activities, we hit the party tables to have pizza, presents and cake. Later that evening, we had a very small BBQ at our house with friends. Chris' parents arrived and we all enjoyed the evening catching up.

Monday was my day alone with the kids. We had a nice lunch and went for a big bike ride. Later that evening, we went to dinner with Nana and Papa. Tuesday was spent getting ready for the big trip. Kids were shipped off to Brookings and the dogs went to the Doggy Hotel. I began the extremely laborious task of submitting expenses.. YUCK! I went to bed early knowing how early 3:00 AM was going to come. We arrived at PDX in plenty of time. First leg of the return trip is over, and I am writing this blog entry from the Japan Airlines Lounge at LAX. We leave for Tokyo at 1:20... so I wanted to use this time to update my world-traveling-status.

Chris and I will be in Bintan, Indonesia for a couple of days and then Singapore. He flies back on Tuesday. and I am back to circling the ASEAN nations. I will keep you posted. Thanks again for your love, support and interest! xo - Nic

Link to where we are staying in Bintan: (http://www.holidaycity.com/nirwanaresorthotel/index.htm)