Disneyland Hong Kong

Just found this that I never posted:        We took two taxis to Disneyland because one of us didn't want to try the public transit system. (It wasn't me :-)  It had a lot of the familiar rides like Its a Small World and Space Mountain but a couple different ones like Mystic Manor.  Almost every ride had a 5-10 min wait at the most so we rode almost every ride that we wanted until the jet lag kicked in really strong about 3:00 or 4:00.  The kids were still going strong so we rode the last 2 rides, ate some ice cream and headed back for a taxi.
     The one still didn't want to try the train so we pooled our money and managed to scrape up enough to take a taxi up to the top of Victoria Peak to see a view of the city.  It was pretty hazy to start out but was really pretty by the time we looked around for a while.  I think we all nodded off on the way back to the hotel but we woke up enough to walk over to the airport for some food and fell asleep as soon as our head hit the pillow.  We slept pretty good and got up to have breakfast and go to the airport.  I'm really glad we did Disney because it was fun and it helped us get over our jet lag.

 

View from Victoria's Peak

Are we sleeping?

We have been home almost 7 weeks and I haven't written a thing on this blog.  Coming home with a new child a few days before Thanksgiving has got to be the busiest time.  Thanksgiving, kids coming home from college, Christmas, New Year's Eve and all the cooking, shopping, mailing decorating
and cleaning associated with those happy events has kept me away from the computer.  I really wish I could have found the time to record all the things that have happened with Aleah before I forget everything, but I didn't so I will do the best I can.

She did sleep for about an hour and a half

first meal on American soil

     We had a great flight home on Cathay Pacific and all three girls did well, but Aleah didn't sleep or eat much and so I didn't sleep much.  She wasn't able to watch any movies for more than 5 seconds due to her short attention span at that point in her life as well as the fact that none of the kid's movies were in Mandarin.  I tried to watch a couple movies, but she would unplug my earphones and laugh every 10 minutes or so.  I couldn't read either because she wanted my attention most of the time so it was a long 15 hour flight from Hong Kong to Chicago.  I won't go into details about how we couldn't keep up with the airline employee in Hong Kong trying to get us to the gate and then Aleah refused to walk and the entire plane was waiting for us then I got chosen for the random gate check search.   I had 3 people's carry-on bags with me and they all were searched.  Then I had to take the walk of shame to the back of the airplane.  Alyssa, Alaina and my mom did well on the airplane although mom had a bit of an altercation with a Chinese lady.   We had 3 hours to go through customs and change planes but we got a little confused in the Chicago
airport and barely made it to our flight.
    After 24 hours of travel we were home.  I really think I could have switched over to Central time just fine if I didn't have 3 children up until 3 a.m. every night.  After 3 nights I finally broke down and gave them all Benadryl and Melatonin and they started sleeping pretty well.  Aleah has slept with me since the day we got her until last week.  We slept at various places over the last few weeks (my room, Ryan's room, her room, the guest room)  The worst was she and I on the top bunk.  Never again.  Finally, we moved to their room with Alyssa and Alaina in the top bunk with me on an extra mattress next to her on the bottom bunk.  I did that a couple of nights and then a couple nights with me slipping away when they fell asleep and she has now slept a couple nights without me at all. She regressed and needed me there until she fell asleep the last few nights, but she assures me that the flashlight friend I bought her today will do the trick.

I know this was long and I have a lot more to say.  I need to update on her medical and dental situation and schooling, but I want to end today thanking God for the indescribably gift that Aleah is.  She has already become as precious to me as each of my children are and I am daily amazed at her intelligence, humor, love and perseverance.  I am so blessed to get to raise this child.  What an exciting journey.