Lots of stories and pictures

We had a wonderful family vacation this last week. It was definitely a break for all of us, a time to relax, and just get away from many stresses we had been facing recently. I don't even mind being back home, it is great to come back refreshed.
I have hundreds, literally, of pictures I am trying to sort through. I have included the ones that popped out to me this evening. Here are ten memories from our trip:

1) We lost ONE duckie blanket. Josiah has a blanket he sleeps with and takes pretty much anywhere we travel to. I think he became most attached to it during this past year as we began our many transitions. Well, one day it was just gone. We think it must have been caught up in the sheets and taken away when they came to clean the room. He learned a new word, disappeared, and asks from time to time about his 'duckie blanket'. Now that we are home he has replaced it with another blanket.

2) The number of eyes infected with pink eye. Jacob got some sort of eye infection during our trip, we are assuming pink eye. After days of trying to figure out what it was and what to do, it ended up just going away on its own.

3) The number of hours Jared and I spent on our own, on a date. A friend of ours spent the evening with the boys, fed them dinner and put them to bed, while Jared and I went out to eat and did a bit of exploring on our own. We went to a Texas barbecue place, went for a walk, and found a place for ice cream.

4) We tried out four new restaraunts. (Well at least this was the number after my dad and brother left us. We tried out a couple others while they were staying with us.) On my birthday we went to a home cooking place, also had mexican, italian, and then the barbecue place.

5) The number of naps Jacob missed. If I also included the number of times I had to wake him so that we could go somewhere, it would be even larger. It is difficult to spend time exploring and playing as a family, with a little one who takes two long naps a day. He did great though. Often he would fall asleep in the backpack carrier, or ergo. He often coped by sticking his thumb in his mouth and playing with his hair, his go to pose for those overtired moments. (See picture below, this pose during a taxi ride.)

6) We spent around six hours, total, with some good friends. They just moved into a new home, which we were able to go and visit, and also were able to join them and friends for some time on Sunday. It was great to visit and catch up, I have known them for 10 or 11 years and used to watch their girls. It was great fun for the boys too to play at their house. Jacob was absolutely terrified of their two dogs at first, to the point where he would cling to me, shaking and whining. By the end of our time, after watching his brother who loves the dogs and has no fear, he even was willing to go up and touch one of the dogs. This was actually one new word he learned during our trip, dog. (The other was fish, after our trip to the aquarium.)

7) We went to an enormous indoor play area. I think we lost Josiah about seven times during the couple hours we played there. They had an incredible ball pit, I have included a picture below, as well as a climbing course for big kids, and play area for little ones like Jacob. The boys had a great time, although were completely worn out by the time we left.

8) The number of nights we slept in a hotel. It was a great place, complete with kitchen, dining room, big bathtub, swimming pool, and wonderful staff. We thoroughly enjoyed our home away from home. The boys loved all the room, mom loved that it was clean and had a kitchen, and dad liked the help at the front desk. (We spent a lot of time learning our way around the city.)

9) We always would shoot for a normal 7:30 bedtime for the boys, however there were many nights it did not happen until 9:00. It seemed that there was just so much to do and when traveling to dinner and different places, it often took us longer than we expected to get home. We came home with some funny taxi ride stories, subway stories, and times of unexpected events. These were times when we were reminded that we were still in Asia and had to just laugh.

10) The number of hours we spent walking (well it was probably more, I am sure I am not being exact :). It seemed we were always walking somewhere, to or from the subway station, trying to find our final destination, looking for a bathroom, just looking around, etc. It is always a bit interesting with a 3 year old, one year old who doesn't walk, one stroller and a pregnant mom. We definitely worked off any extra calories we ate.

Here are lots of pictures from our trip, in random order (I did not sort them). Hope you enjoy. Now I am off to bed. We all came home with colds and I am not sure what to expect from the boys tonight. Jacob went to bed with a fever. I am thankful we were all healthy during our trip.