The Asia Tour Continues

The news coming out of Japan has been insane. I just can't believe that it continues to get worse and worse. Connor told us tonight that he really, really wants to go home to Tokyo. What do we even tell him? He loved it there so much. We all did. We are just filled with such immense sadness right now. We continue to hope and pray like crazy for our beloved Japan.

Things here in Hong Kong have been interesting. It's definitely a city worth seeing but wow could I never live here! I'm so shocked at how much pollution there is. Connor comes in literally filthy after playing outside each day. You can hardly see the skyline because of all the pollution! It's very hustle and bustle here, way more so than in Tokyo. Lots of people on cell phones- constantly wheeling and dealing. Our cab driver today no lie had five cell phones velcro-ed to his dash board and spoke on three of them during our drive. It's just so different from Tokyo (and not in a good way). It makes us miss Tokyo that much more. Not much of a surprise, but we haven't felt up to doing anything very touristy. Yesterday afternoon we came back to the hotel (we had gone to the IFC mall that morning) and Connor and Mason (the Kraus's son who is 2) had a BLAST playing on the "grassy knoll" behind the hotel (we laughed to keep calling it that). We're staying at a hotel close to the airport so it was a great site to watch the huge airplanes take off. They ran around chasing each other for at least two hours, then used their shoes and an empty water bottle as a ball to play catch with (guess that goes to show kids don't really need actual toys after all!) While the kids played us adults polished off many beers and tried to hash out just what the heck we were going to do next. It's funny how a good buzz (or in Andrew's case- basically hammered) can help you to think clearly. We know we don't want to stay in Hong Kong, and we especially know we can't stay here in this small hotel room for much longer before going crazy-- certainly not until we feel comfortable enough to return to Tokyo. And we feel like its just too soon to pull the trigger and go back to the US. Two reasons- 1, once we get home there's very little likelihood we're coming back. It's just too much. The flights themselves, the jetlag, the upheaval, the complete change of routines, the new living situations-- its just too much, particularly on the kids. I mean our sea shipment of stuff just arrived last week for goodness sake! And us going home then sets in motion a whole bunch of stuff we're not ready to deal with yet (what's to come of Andrew's job, how to get our stuff, realizing we're really saying goodbye to a life, home and country we were loving so much, etc). And 2 (what feels like a biggie right now), we're just totally exhausted. No one is sleeping well and I seriously wonder if I'll ever be able to sleep well again. My heart and mind feel like they weigh 1,000 lbs. Poor Connor wants to sleep with the lights on and constantly to hold my hand. It was seriously scary stuff guys, seriously scary! And we think Leyla might be teething. Or maybe she's just stressed cause she senses that we are. Who knows. But its been a really rough couple of days and nights on my usually awesome sleeping bunch. It's a 16 hour flight back to NYC from here (yes- SIXTEEN), which will be followed by a week of terrible jetlag. Then once we get home we have to go into action mode and re-buy everything- car seats, high chair, stroller, food, clothes, baby supplies, etc. And we just feel like if we were to try and tackle all that right now we really might snap. So instead we're leaving for Phuket, Thailand tomorrow morning. It's only a 3 hour flight from here. We're basically taking the vacation that we had planned for May now instead. This will allow us to rest and recharge a bit (and think!) and have some fun with the kids (they could really use it!) We'll stay on top of the news out of Tokyo and if we think after a week or two things have settled down enough for us to return then we will. Unfortunately I see the likelihood of that as being extremely slim but like I said, we're just not ready to get on that plane home yet. Today we went back to the mall and I picked up the basic vacation necessities- bathing suits and some warm weather clothes for us all, sunglasses for me, etc. Hopefully we can get anything else we'll need there. We'll have a 2 bedroom villa there with a kitchen, washer/dryer etc so we can easily set up shop there for a bit.

Oh and the Krauses have already left for Noelle's parents house in CA where they will stay until they figure out their next move. But they're pretty sure that's it for them and Tokyo. Again, so sad.

Here's a couple iphone pic from our travels over the last few days.

In the van on the way to Osaka airport.

At the Osaka airport. Like I said, the Japanese love them some white babies! We layed Leyla and Ellery (the Kraus's 3 month old daughter) down on a blanket together and they seriously caused a scene!


Connor sleeping on the flight to HK. All that morning we had been telling Connor that we were going on a big adventure that day (planes, trains, and automobiles!) As we were starting to land in HK Connor says to me "Mommy when is the big adventure going to start?" I said "Dude- you're on it- its called your life!" This kid's life has just been so nuts!

Connor checking out the scene. You can barely make out the skyline in the background because of all the pollution. Absolutely could not imagine raising kids here!

Plotting our next move in the grassy knoll.

Playing in the flowers.

Leyla modeling her new Hello Kitty bathing suit!

That's the update for now!