The time is coming..

when we will be leaving our life here in Shanghai and heading back to the US.  John's assignment was a 2-3 year deal and this summer will be 3 years for us.  As much as we have loved living here, we are so ready to be back!  The main reason for this great desire to move home is so that we can actually see John again on a regular basis.  Most of you might not know but for the past 2.5 years, John has spent most of his time each week working at the factory where the joint venture is.  Unfortunately for our family, that factory is about 6 hours from Shanghai.  So each week, John leaves on the train to go there on Monday and comes back to us late on Thursday night!  Needless, to say we are ALL very tired of this arrangement.  We didn't really know exactly what we were getting into when we moved here on that front so not having John with us more has certainly been disappointing...one of the only real disappointments we have encountered about living here in Shanghai.  The girls miss him immensely each week as do I.  And to top it off, John's work life at the factory has been VERY difficult (to put it mildly).  So almost 3 years later, and as much as we love Shanghai and all the wonderful things we have gotten to do while living here, we are more than ready to be back together on a more regular basis as a family!

So that's our big news - we are moving back to the US probably in early July and will be heading back to the small mid-western town we were living in before moving to Shanghai.

I know most of you must be falling over because I have updated the blog so many times in one week.  I'm sure I won't keep that up but I do have several other ideas in my head that I want to post about life in China so hopefully before things get too hectic with move preparations, I'll get those out!  One final note, moving back to the US is already shaping up to be so much easier than moving to China! :)

And just because an all text post is boring - here is a cute picture of the girls enjoying the beach in Vietnam.

Oh, ok, one more...

Chinese New Year

OK, this post is REALLY late but I just downloaded some pictures from my camera - from February - and forgot these were on it.  I know I have told you before about the fireworks during the Spring festival and the first year I even posted pictures of them.  Well, this year we went to Vietnam for a week during the Chinese New Year (fabulous, beautiful beach!) but came back in time for one set of the fireworks.  These fireworks are definitely something our whole family will miss!  I don't actually have a photo of the fireworks from this year just several videos that are too huge to upload here. 

But, what I really wanted to show you is this...

This is what was left sitting outside our Chinese neighbors house after he finished his fireworks.  Do you see these?  It's like what a small town in America would have for their whole 4th of July show! :)  And this was just ONE of my neighbors trash!  Imagine each of these boxes being set off maybe 50 feet from your house - in every direction!  It is truly amazing and mind boggling!  It is something we will never forget and feel so fortunate to have gotten to witness.  I'm afraid our girls are not going to be terribly impressed when we move home and go to a 4th of July fireworks show!