Delays...Delays...Delays...

By -
Family trip to the Jelly Belly warehouse!
This whole month has been all about hurry up, we're leaving for China ANNNDDD nevermind. I have completely three times this month for an overseas trip to China of unknown length, without actually going. Believe me, it is much worse packing for a trip and preparing for a trip and saying goodbyes for a trip and then not actually going. I guess the simple explanation is that the Chinese company that Austin is working with is not ready for him yet, and tend to let us know at the last possible second that they aren't ready. What usually happens in situations like this is they figure it out too late and we get to our destination and spend time there waiting for various things. This time, they just decided to let us know earlier in the day of our flight, several weeks in a row. Sounds like we are going for reals next Friday, but I'm a LEETLE skeptical at this point so we shall see.


The boys are excited...
There are a few hard things about trips getting delayed. It is harder when trips get delayed from the U.S. side then from the overseas side. Mostly because if we are overseas and are delayed, it is just business as usual, Landon and I do the exact same things and we have the exact same articles in our suitcase that we brought from the U.S. and that's all we have to worry about when packing. In Chicago, we have access to our storage unit and a kitchen. This means that we retrieve extra clothing, toys, books, laundry detergent, and cooking things from our storage unit and bring them to our hotel. Three times now, we have collected those things from the hotel and put them back in the storage unit. We love our storage unit. Landon especially loves the storage unit because he gets all of his toys out and plays with all of his long-lost toys and books while Austin and I put stuff away and get out other stuff. It is a pain to do this over and over because tearing Landon away from the storage unit is akin to tearing out his kidneys. He has a hard time leaving.





Every week during grocery shopping, I think we are leaving the next weekend. This means that I have to be extremely careful about what items I decide to buy. I want to buy exactly the right amount of food to last a week without any going to waste. I love to bake from scratch, but I opted not to buy flour and sugar and all of those ingredients because we were only going to be here for a week. Well, that has turned to a month and it's frustrating to look back and think to myself, " I could have made an apple pie and chocolate chip cookies and molasses cookies and all my favorite things from scratch if I had only known!" Instead, we have been buying more prepared food (already marinated, boxed mixes, etc) and it's just not as good or as good for you as made from scratch. In conclusion, it's difficult for me to meal plan and make my family less nutritious, more convenient food to save money only to find out that we have another week here and could use more ingredients. Food rant over.

Austin is super excited for CANDY!
Landon has been a trooper this month. Every week, we tell him we are going to China soon, and we wait until a few days before our flight to tell him that we are leaving. That being said, each day when we had checked in for our flight and thought we were going, he woke up knowing we were going to China. He was genuinely excited to get to go on the big airplane to another new place! Then comes the let-down. Instead of going to the airport, one of his favorite places, we try to do something fun together as a family to get our minds off of the reality that again we are not leaving.


There are a few good things that have come from all this. We get to eat familiar food for awhile longer. That is always welcome. We have had enough Mexican food at our hotel and out at restaurants to make up for the many months of no decent Mexican food in Asia and Europe. It is great. Also, we have caught up with various medical appointments and even got our teeth cleaned! Those are the things that fall off the bandwagon when we are hurriedly going from one location to another. As a family, we have been able to go hiking, swimming, go to a baseball game, and eat LOTS of watermelon-all wonderful spring/summer American pastimes. Those are the things that I fear Landon is missing out on sometimes with all the traveling.

That being said, we're so ready to go. I'm ready to re-start our adventure and see where it takes us. Here's to getting on a plane next Friday! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Mommy's International Flight essentials

By -
Image
My carry-on bag for international flights is my diaper backpack. I set aside some room for diapers, wipes,  snacks, and an extra outfit for my toddler, and use the remaining space to bring a few things for myself on board. Here are my favorite essentials to bring on a LONG flight: - Individually wrapped (or a small package) of antibacterial hand wipes. I picked this up by reading other travel blogs. I wipe down every surface around our seat that my toddler to conceivably touch or lick. For super long flights, a little peace of mind goes a long way. - Ibuprofen, homeopathic motion sickness meds and dramamine : headaches happen. Occasionally with turbulence I get motion sick. I start with the homeopathic motion sickness meds and if they don't work, dramamine will do the trick! - Children's tylenol and Peace and Calming essential oil: These are for my son for his ears (tylenol) and to help him fall asleep after the initial excitement wears off from being on an airplane. ...
Read more

Venturing into Jamnagar

By -
Image
At Reliance, we are 35-40 minutes drive away from the Jamnagar city proper. Fortunately, Austin has a driver that takes the workers to and from the refinery in the morning and evening. During the day, he hangs out in Reliance Greens waiting to take the workers. So, we asked him if he could take us into Jamnagar. He lives on the outskirts of Jamnagar, but was more than happy to drive us into town and show us around.  The trucks here are painted with all sorts of cool and colorful patterns, like this! Thanks, Mr. Khan, for taking our picture! Cows by the lake On the way into town, we passed by many different kinds of buildings and houses. Some were living in hotels that looked like well built structures. Some were in cement walled houses with tarp roofs. Others were in leantos that were all built next to each other with dirt floors and laundry hanging everywhere. I watched ladies washing clothing in the dirty river. I saw two little kids playing unsupervised near the...
Read more

Landon update

By -
Image
 Landon has changed so much since we came out here to Korea. He has morphed into a full-blown toddler! The latest word from Austin's work is that our release date is moving closer to August due to some delays at the refinery. At any rate, here are some things Landon is doing lately: Talking in small sentences/long phrases. He says things like "I swing!" and "baseball bat". It seems he learns new words every day, and really practicing his new words. When he says "beach" it sounds a lot like the "B" word, and he yells it whenever he sees sand or pictures of water, so good thing we are in Korea and they can't understand what he's saying! Counting to 1, and sometimes 2. He is also learning the power of negotiation in that he will come up to me with a candy or treat that he found in the snacks and say, "Bun Candy! Bun Candy!" That means "one candy".  Learning colors! He thinks everything is pink right now,...
Read more