CA

First thing this morning found us at the US Consulate for our consulate appointment and visa application.  Tomorrow afternoon Faith's passport and visa will be ready for pick up.  It's been a long week, but we're finally to the tail end of it.

Yesterday we traipsed back over to Shaiman Island and did a little souvenir shopping.  Bought each of the kids their own chops, which was very fun.  Resisted the urge to buy Chinese New Years clothes, which I may regret when we get home.  But I am trying very hard not to spend money on 'stuff', even if it is cool 'can't get it at home' stuff.  We had lunch at the deli next to the White Swan Hotel, hung out in the park near Lucy's, stopped at Starbucks and then came back to our hotel.  We had dinner at a fast food joint down the street and ice cream cones from McDonald's before calling it a day.  (I'd tell you what we did Tuesday but it's such a distant memory - I'm thinking it must have been  'not much'!)
 
Today we were done with our big event by 9am.  We are finding ourselves less and less motivated to be out and about with the kids.  They are tired of being schlepped.  We are tired of schlepping them.   So today we are playing lots of Go Fish, Uno and Carcasonne in our room.   I have started packing up to go home.  I have one and a half suitcases packed, clothes laid out for the next two days, and am starting to weed out all the paperwork the kids have generated during our stay at the Garden.  By this time tomorrow I'll likely have us all packed and ready to go, just to be busy doing something, despite having another night's sleep ahead of us.   I feel a little bit guilty about not reveling in the opportunity we have to be here in China.  But at this point we're starting to feel like we've been here forever, with very little to do between appointments.  Am I the only one that found this so long and hard?