Change of plans

So, this was going to be a fun blog about our super fun long weekend in Hangzhou.
It's a place that the Chinese refer to as "Heaven on Earth". It has a beautiful lake with pagodas and temples, tea fields that go for miles.
It's the May Day holiday right now. I swear, the Chinese take any opportunity to take a holiday. :) Ben had to work Saturday to get Monday off. Tuesday is the actual holiday. The kids had both Monday and Tuesday off of school so we thought it'd be a great chance to see something "close" to town (it's about an hour away).
We were all set to go with our friends the Lawlers and the Winklers until Ben and I discovered something at 4pm Saturday. The website of our hotel had placed it one block from the lake. That's why we had chosen it. However, we discovered that it was actually had 25-30 miles outside of town in the opposite direction. All the other hotels in the area were booked and then they wouldn't refund our money bc we were canceling too late and bc we had booked through Expedia, etc etc etc.
Everyone had an excuse why it wasn't their fault and why they wouldn't refund our money for the first night. So frustrating!!! We were also out the money for our train tickets as well...
Ben worked on the phone from 430pm until 11pm trying to get our money back and is still getting the cold shoulder. People keep telling him there's a chance, though, so he's still working on it.
So, we're staying home.

Today we went out to Decathalon (think MC Sports or Dick's) and Sophie picked out some rollerblades for her birthday. We also got her some pads and she loves it! Still very hesitant but getting the hang of it pretty quickly.

I thought I'd also put in some pics of our new ride! Because we don't have any car here I've been having to lug all our groceries by bike, which can be difficult at times, especially in the rain. Think of all the milk, laundry detergent, toilet paper, eggs, etc etc. It was getting old. :) Also, we wanted a way to get around town with the whole family when it's raining.
So, we got ourselves a tuk tuk! Think ricshaw but electric. We charge it every few days and it gets us pretty much everywhere we need to go in town here. And now I only have to drag the groceries from the tuk tuk to the elevator!
There's my little seat in the front- why the basket? Who knows. I put the lock in it when driving around... :)

Inside is the little bench. We can fit me and the kids when Ben's driving, but it's a tight fit. Ben even retrofitted it with Coop's old highchair straps so now we have a 5-point restraint to keep him safe while driving around! So nice having an engineer for a husband... :)

Lights, a horn, mirrors, brakes...what else does a girl need?

Here she is. Now I just need to come up with a name for her. I'm open to suggestions!

We had a nice day last week and were enjoying the terrace. Sophie decided she found a good place for her artwork- the wall seperating our balcony from the neighbor's.

Other than that, things have been pretty quiet here. It's starting to get warm- in the high 60's to low 70's every day. It rains about half the time then is sunny. On the sunny days we play at the park after school and  dip our feet into the outdoor pools. Those aren't heated so I may be waiting until August to really partake in that. By then it'll be in the 100's and a non-heated pool will be fantastic.

Sophie's still enjoying ballet and loves school. Cooper is making good progress at school- still not talking but is usually very social with us, great eye contact, and is even initiating play with some other kids at times. He has quiet days and days with more vocalization. He's stimming less, which is great. He's moving more and exploring more and getting into trouble more, which is good and bad. He's obsessed with water still so it's been hard bc we can't lock the bathrooms. Mealtimes are hard bc he won't sit still so it's hard to get him to eat. The more restrained he is, the more he fights the restraint. However, when he gets really hungry he sits and eats so I think it's balancing out ok.

As for me, I've been playing tennis about once a week (not serious, just for fun bc I'm pretty sad), I have my Bible Study which is ok- nothing like my awesome group back at Brookside. I'm still reading at the school with the kids once a week. My ayi, Tai Ping, is now only coming twice a week. It's weird. When you don't work and don't clean your house all the time, it's not as nice as you think. It sounds like a great life but it's hard to feel worthy. It's hard to feel like you have much worth, when you're not doing the things you're used to doing.

Anyway, tomorrow we are going to a water town not far from here with our friends. Hopefully I'll have some good stories from our day of fun!

Prayer Requests:
-Some good friends of ours back home had a real scare last Sunday- their daughter, Alanna, fell and required 14 stitches in her forehead and upper lip. Thankfully she was not injured worse but I can only imagine how frightening it must have been for her and her parents! If you could please pray for complete healing of Alanna's face.
-We have been feeling very seperated from the church here lately. We have not been feeling fulfilled there at all and it's really sad! I've always been the kind of person that can take something out of a service that uplifts me and fills me- but here we haven't had that. It's not good, but we're not sure what to do about it right now. So, we need prayer for direction. For a way to get closer to Him again.
-Our family can use your prayers to help us communicate more and be patient with each other better. Life is weird here. You would think it's very carefree and easy but it's really not. It's hard to describe unless you're in it. But I know we could use better communication and more patience!

Thanks again for reading and keeping up with us.
Hopefully I'll have another update after our outing tomorow!