As part of my International assignment I am given an allowance each year established specifically to travel home, visit family/friends, and take care of any appointments which are necessary in the United States. We elected to travel home this year in July to take advantage of the beautiful Michigan summer and also to accommodate the boys summer break from school. Our planning for our trip home began at least a month in advance as we filled the calendar (yes I literally had an Excel worksheet) with doctor appointments, social events and where we were planning to stay with family each week. I was able to take a three week vacation with sporadic visits to the office while Natalie, Cooper and Brady stayed in the United States for approximately six weeks.
There were so many highlights from our visit home it is hard to share them all but I will touch on a few. Foremost we had such a wonderful time with family. Cooper and Brady loved staying at their cousins home which included many late nights, swimming at the pool, running around the house and just having a great time at whatever they were doing. Time with Grandmas, Papa, Great Grandparents, Aunt, Uncle and all Cousins was so refreshing and almost felt like time had stayed still as we all picked up where we left off prior to us leaving for China. Furthermore we were able to spend so much quality time with our friends and just relax with a few laughs.
Without hesitation we placed our Pontoon boat in the water for a week of relaxation at our family cottage in Brighton. The moments we had on the water and with friends is a part of living in Michigan that we miss very much, as a result we soaked up plenty of sun that week and the weather was amazing.
Thanks to Aunt Stacey and Uncle Mike, Cooper and I got to go to a ball game. Cooper and his cousin Connor even were picked to appear on the scoreboard! As I headed back to China, Natalie and the boys had three more weeks to enjoy visiting with everyone. I took the opportunity while away from the family to travel for work again to South Africa. During this time they took the opportunity to visit Grandma and Papa at their home in Tennessee. Thanks to Grandma and Papa, Cooper and his cousin Connor got to travel to the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes and also go fishing for King Salmon! Additionally they had a great time at the Knoxville Zoo, going on an animal safari, and relaxing on the boat amongst many other things!
They had so much fun visiting their Grandma and Papa whom they love very much…..
Shopping, oh boy did we shop! A few months back we made the hard decision to not travel home again until July of next year and instead visit Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji over the coming Christmas Break. As a result we had to buy clothing for summer and winter seasons, shoes (school and leisure) for current size and another for future growth, food items hard to find in China and the list goes on and on….
So in conclusion there is so many people to thank. Our family is amazing and we owe so much to my Sister/Brother-in-law, Grandma Joan, and Grandma Cindy and Papa Jim for opening their homes to us during our stay. We also have some many friends to thank for making our trip home so much fun many who extended help in various forms through lending vehicles, taking time out of their busy summer schedule to spend time with us, and simply making our home visit feel so familiar and enjoyable. We are truly blessed for all those in our lives back home in the US and also in China. So in closing I thought I would list a few things that you may find interesting….
Things we enjoyed while in Michigan:
· Family and Friends (always a given and I really cannot stress enough!)
· Staring up at the blue skies and white puffy clouds, no air pollution
· Ability to shop in one location for Groceries
· Less people!
· Driving a vehicle and freedom of a flexible schedule
· English speaking population in our commonly visited places
· Little building construction
· Golf! OK maybe that was just me…. ;)
Things we welcomed in our return to China
· Continuing to experience a new culture and learn each day
· Travel, Travel, Travel… Bali in October, and in the coming year Australia/New Zealand/Fiji, Philippines, and Malaysia to name a few
· Seeing our wonderful friends and the boys best friends in China!
· Returning the boys to school (a little breather for Natalie) and all their extracurricular activities (as I said only a little breather for Natalie…).
· Golf! (Ha, if I can find the time…)
· Returning back to our international home
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