Friday

Another busy week. I hate to sound like a whiner, but I have been so tired after working this week. Bo has been working late everyday and we have hardly seen each other. I am looking forward to the weekend and hopefully having some family time.

Our fingerprints expire today and the wonderful USCIS has not sent us our apt. to have them redone (for the 3rd time). I requested they expedite our case, but of course, their idea of expediting and ours is obviously not the same. I hope to hear something from them next week, or I may have to contact our Senator. We cannot have anything that is expired when we travel and I'm afraid this may end up being a problem for us.

Brady has survived his first week at band camp and has actually decided that he liked it. He has even complained about another kid who is older than him being a "whiner" and not liking the exercises and running. Brady said "Mom, you think I'm bad, you should listen to this kid". I'm glad to know he can recognize a whiner:) I was beginning to wonder.

Ashton was supposed to go to Nashville Shores today with his best friend, Daniel, but the weather has turned out bad. Well, bad for water parks, great for everything else because we desperately need the rain.

The building project is on hold until Monday. We have to get a lot of stuff out of the basement this weekend. Doesn't sound too fun, but at least we are making some progress.

More China facts: The People's Republic of China has a total land mass of 3.7 million square miles. At it's maximum, it measures approx. 3,100 miles north-south, and 3,230 miles east-west. Its land border is 14,168 miles long. Apart from the mainland, there are more than 5,400 islands.

It encompasses 5 time zones, east to west. Despite the great distance, the central Asian region of Xinjiang is on the same time as Beijing, which means that in practice it is still pitch dark at 10 o'clock in the morning. So people in Xinjiang go to bed at about 2:00 a.m. and get up around 10:00 a.m.

And on another note, that whole plane incident that occurred over water yesterday has not done anything to make me more excited about traveling to China. I have not even mentioned it to the boys and hope they don't see anything about it. I may be right along with Ashton and his 50 Benadryl to help him fly. (Not 50mg, 50 total!)