2013: New Beginnings : Countdown to Munich

So begins the hourly countdown to our flight to Munich, just 35 hours until we are on a plane to a fun-filled family Christmas break. Luckily, this week has gone a little bit faster even than last week, so I've not had time to sit and wait or even pack!

Last weekend was an active one, and we did quite a bit of exploring around Shenzhen Bay Park. On Saturday we relaxed for a while before walking down to All City Mall. We'd seen some billboards with Thomas the Train on them, so we thought it would be fun to go check it out. Maybe Paul could see or play with Thomas. Thomas was there, but only in a static display that we couldn't even touch. It was frustrating, especially for Paul because all he wanted to do was climb up on Thomas. So after wandering the mall for a while, we headed home early.

Sunday was another slow start, but we did pull ourselves together to make an Ikea/Metro run. It's always fun to have breakfast and then browse Ikea before the crowds get too intense. Paul napped through most of it, so when we got home, he was ready to go play. So we geared up to go back to the park, this time planning a different route to find an easier way in. We found a different way in, and ended up walking through the park for 4 hours. We were looking for easier access, but we never ended up finding it. I think I've got it figured out now, but it was a long day.

This week at school has been breezy, and I'm wrapping up my fourth unit today. We did take a field trip on Thursday all day to a theme park called Window of the World. I went with the other 12 year old teachers and 71 students. It was a really fun day! I ended up wandering around with Grant and Zack and we had a great time pretending to be giants, taking goofy pictures and of course monitoring kids. The park is made up of all kinds of monuments from around the world. They are all shrunk down in some way, on different scales. So we wandered through Venice on a scale 5 times smaller than usual. We went to Ankor Wat on a mini-version. We saw Manhattan, the White House, the Capital, all in the span of 5 minutes. They had a section indoors called the Alps. It had a huge ice skating rink, and a skiing hill! It was more fun than I thought to see all of the places I'd visited around the world in one place. :) Grant and I were competing to see who had been to more of the monuments, so I counted them. I'd been to 18 of them, and since Grant hasn't spent much time in Europe, I won. Hehe.

Then last night was quiz night, and we've been on a bit of a streak. I think we've placed either 1st, 2nd or 3rd for the past month, which is nice because you win a prize that you can use to buy food or drink at the next quiz night. It doesn't really matter to me if we win or not. I enjoy the socializing with Zack and Honey and seeing everybody relax outside of work. It is pretty competitive though, and can get kind of intense. I think we'll host one in the new year.

Today is a short day, and we're planning on going to buy ferry tickets, then getting haircuts and lunch before we head home to Paul to pack and prepare for our trip. I know time goes by at a constant rate, but if I could just speed it up a bit...:) We'll see Ron and Angie on Sunday, and Matt on Tuesday and then Mom and Andie soon after that on Christmas. :) My heart soars when I think of it.

This blog will be closing soon, I'll start another for 2014, but there are still some adventures to be had in 2013. So stay tuned and love to all.