Back into routine (and a few pics from summer I'd forgotten)

Well, hello again.
So, I've been a bit quiet for a while but life has been nicely busy (is that a real term?) getting back into the routines of living in Shanghai and the kids starting school again.

Before I get into the whole school bit and what the last few weeks have been like, I found some pics from the summer that I just loved and really wanted to include here.

One day we headed out to Lake Michigan for a few hours and Cooper was just in heaven! We get so much engagement out of him when he's playing in the water. Here he's playing chase with Ben, then Ben would let him catch him and he'd throw him in the air and repeat. SO much laughter from that boy while they were doing this!

A few more pics from the Color Run. Seriously was so much fun. Any and everyone can do one of these bc you're not even timed- just get a group of people together and have fun!
Another before shot- my sis, Jenn, me, bro-in-law, Pete, and my dad.

After shot, front side...

After shot, back side (thanks to my sis for getting dad and my buns... :)

Family shot- Ben didn't even want to get this close to me. :) I was very dirty....

They may have been playing a song I was enjoying a bit....

Every 15 minutes they would gather a crowd and throw more color. Very dirty, very dusty, but very colorful!

My niece, Megan, didn't run the race, but she may as well have....  :)

 

This was me trying to be artsy. We were walking back to the car after the race and I saw an empty color packet on the ground and I thought it'd make a cool picture. So, here you go... :)

After showering off my parents and our family headed up north to the VP cottage for a week of relaxation. On the way there we stopped by the annual Rottschafer gathering at Emerson Lake. This picture represents the first time my dad and all of his siblings were in the same place for years! My dad is in the middle and he's with his 2 older brothers and 3 younger sisters.

Most of the Rottschafer cousins and their spouses.

While we were up north, Cooper and Ben were swimming one day when Ben noticed Coop was shivering. They got out of the water and Ben buried him in the warm sand. It was so cute bc he stayed here for almost 10 minutes. He's never that still for that long... :)

We were very lucky to get to spend a few days with Ben's little brother, Danny, and his wife, Jodi. They live in Arizona right now and we only get to see them once or twice a year. They came up to the cottage and on this particular day we had gone to Glen Arbor for a little shopping. Danny, Ben, the kids and I found a park and I think Danny had just as much fun there as the kids did...

There was this one seesaw thing that Ben and Danny decided to have a go on. Danny loved it...

Ben was just worried they would break it... :)

The day before we left to go back to Shanghai, several of my very good friends and I went to a park and lake to hang out for the morning. A final hangout for the kids and moms for us until next summer. :( It was so hot and so fun! Here's Soph with her BFFs- Gerrit, Ava, Alanna and Keira. Until next summer... :)

On Aug 17 we were supposed to fly back to Shanghai. Yup, supposed to. We had 7 people come to see us off and help with our 12 checked bags, 7 carry ons, stroller, kids...you get it. We got everything checked in and said our goodbyes. We boarded the plane and within a few minutes were taxiiing out. And then we stopped. And then we were told we were delayed for at least an hour bc of weather in Chicago. So, out came the IPad and Dora. Seriously, what did we do before that thing???

After the hour we were told we were going back to the gate. Another 90 minute delay. At this point we were on the fence about missing our flight to Shanghai and could possibly get stuck in Chicago's airport over night. We made the decision to reschedule everything for the next day. It sounds like that was all so easy and stress-free. Ha! I was a wreck. I had mentally and physically prepared for our 20 hour journey and to have to halt it and go back home. Ugh.

So, we went out to lunch, Sophie and I went and saw Brave, and then we went out to dinner with Ben's parents. It actually was a really nice bonus day after all.
Oh, something else that happened that day that was really cool and a total gift from God straight to me. I think He knew how devestated I was by the whole day delay thing and chose to remind me that He cares. All summer I had been wanting to see these deer in Ben's parents backyard. Ben's brother, Joel, sees them all the time and was constantly sending me pics of them. But I hadn't seen them all summer. That day, as we walked back into their house, knowing we'd have to get up even earlier the next day and recheck all our bags and say our goodbyes again, I looked out the back window and their stood the doe and her 2 bambis. We watched them for about 10 minutes until they finally went on their way. It was so cool and such a gift!

Anyway, the next day we had no problems and had good flights. The kids slept well, ate some, watched some movies. Yay, right? Huh. With about 3 1/2 hours left in the flight we decided Coop needed to sleep some more. He had only slept about 3 hours total since our journey had begun and so we gave him some Clonidine which we'd done twice before with no problems. 15 minutes later, instead of having a sleeping little man, we had a drugged out 3 year old that was petrified and screaming. What followed was 3 of the worst hours of my life. My poor child was exhausted, scared and tripping on this awful...stuff and couldn't stop screaming, crying, shaking... it was my worst nightmare. Ben and I did everything we could to try and sooth his ravaged mind, but to no avail. I cried out to God to sooth my child and for the first time, heard silence. It was devestating. I've never been so angry with Him. He finally fell asleep just as we were landing and then woke up and was in a coma-like state for the hour ride home. Once we got to the apartment he started screaming again and we couldn't get him to calm down again. 2 hours later he finally just passed out so we put him to bed. He slept for the next 14 hours.

I don't think there are any lasting effects from those hours of terror for him, but there has been for me. I have really struggled with the fact that I felt God there, that he was watching me call to him for help, and that he chose to be silent. As I write this a month later, I am still hurt by what happened to Cooper but the sting has softened a bit. I don't know why God was silent but I'll know some day. I choose to trust in His promises of good for my life and that'll have to be good enough for now.

So, we got back on a Saturday night and Coop was supposed to start school on Monday. After his trauma I was debating sending him, but it ended up being a good thing. Getting back into the routine he was familiar with was just what he needed. He was happy to return to his school, as evidenced by this picture taken by his teacher in that first week back...

Sophia's first day of Year 1 (kindergarten for you US folk) was on Aug 27 and she went from really excited to go to really nervous to excited again. All normal things, I'm sure. :)
Here's her first day of school picture...

At the bus stop. My friend, Liz, is shown here very excited that both of her kids are in school fulltime this year! That is, until that little baby comes around the second week of October... ;)

In line to get on the bus. Getting nervous... I went with her on this first day bc I wasn't sure she'd know the routine of lining up by her class yet.

She wanted to hold my hand as we rode the 5 minutes to school. Will she always want me there when she's feeling unsure? :)

Once we got to school things brightened significantly at the arrival of her best bud here, Rachael. They were very happy to see each other!

Waving bye as she heads inside to start another year. I'm glad she likes school but I miss her when she's gone all day. Too fast they grow up...

Ok, of course so much more has happened since the first day of school. I will post again soon and what else we've been up to.
I pray you are all healthy and back into the routines of school and life as well. Enjoy these last few weeks of warmth- all too soon it will be winter again!

The Rest of Summer Break

So, the end of summer is here. It has been an amazing summer for all of us, Sophie especially, I think. We packed every single day we were home full of friends and family and fun.
There are so so many pictures of all the fun things we did this summer in Michigan- I'll do my best to not make this one too long as we are now back in Shanghai and ready to start another school year.

This was on a weekend that we spent at my parent's place on Lincoln Lake. We had been swimming all day and on the pontoon ride back from an ajoining lake, Coop fell asleep in my arms. I thought he'd wake up for sure when we arrived back at the house but he didn't, so we bundled him up and let him get a few extra winks.

We spent many a day at local playgrounds. Coop wanted to swing all the time and would have seriously spent the whole day in this swing if I'd let him...

Another favorite? Splash pads! No bathing suit? Who cares! It's why we carry extra clothes... :)

Sophia took tennis lessons this summer with her best buds, Ava and Gerrit. The only downside being that each and every lesson was outside in 95+ degree heat and when you add that to 15 5 yr-olds, not much gets accomplished!

Ava and Sophie "practicing". So cute...

On the weekend of July 20 we were able to go camping with our small group again. We're hoping this becomes an annual tradition forever bc we all enjoy the time spent together so much! We squeezed 6 families onto 3 ajoining sites with 3 campers and 3 tents. A total of 11 adults (Ben was still in China) and 13 kids, all aged 8 and under.

Many meals eatten together

 One of the days was spent at Lake Michigan. Gorgeous sun and warm water and great friends. What else do you need?

Oh, you need a cute sunhat? Check....

Sophie, Ava and Kiera planning who knows what :)

Nothing like some smores to end the day

This is the problem with Michigan summers and camping. The sun doesn't go down until 10 and tents don't block out light! So, we fill the children with sugar and hope they crash...  :)

On the last day of our camping trip, everyone high-tailed it out of there so quickly that the Oostings and I still wanted to play for the day. So we headed to Grand Haven and would have had a perfect day, if not for the ridiculous amounts of algae that filled the lake.

Soph, Ava and Gerrit digging holes

After Ben arrived to join us we had a Rottschafer family gathering at my parents for a long weekend. Days of games and fun and food caught up with Coop. He just wanted a little downtime with Dora...

My sis-in-law, Michelle, and my super handsome nephew, Luca. Seriously could eat this kid for breakfast, he's so cute. And he knows where his elbow is. :)

My parents have a big tree swing on their property and Coop took full advantage. He LOVES to swing!!

Sophie, Andrew and Jaden playing in the hammock. Great friends and not just cousins!

Let the games begin! Our games were themed around the gameshow, Minute to Win It. We also took some leway and made up a few of our own. Here the goal was to have the most cheesy puffs on the shaving cream head. :) Jaden demonstrates the shower cap with shaving cream ready to have puffs thrown onto it.



 

My brother, Ben, and my dad prepping...



And the tossing commences...

 The girls' turn. Mom seems a bit close...

Sophie's new do thanks to Mommy. :)

The cousins on a paddleboat ride.

There was fierce cornhole competition. Pete won the overall prize

A gorgeous day at mom and dad's beach

Sophie and Jaden in the new floaty tube

This is how Coop spent most of the summer. Floating in water whilst drinking it... ;) He's so happy!

While at my parent's, we celebrated my nephew, Andrew's, birthday. The big 6! My sister made this cake. It's a giant bacugon ball (yes, I know I killed the spelling of that).

Fishing off the dock at night

Soph being cute on the swing

On July 31, Cooper had a repeat MRI of his brain. We were expecting this as his neurologist told us 18 months ago that bc he had an abnormal one then that they'd want to repeat it after he had turned 3 to look for changes. Thankfully, this time it meant only propofol and not the full general anesthesia.

Here we are in the prep room. Cooper had been without food or drink for 13 hours in this picture and was oddly calm. I think he could tell something was up bc he just wanted his blankie, his pacey and Dora. We were happy to oblige. :)

He did amazingly well through his IV start, barely fighting it at all and not fussing with it afterwards. I was able to carry him to the MRI room and hold him as he fell asleep with the meds.
While they were getting a peak at his brain, Sophia, Ben and I headed upstairs for some pizza and then outside to play in the children's garden. Brilliant place!

Daddy was far away in the other shell and yet they could talk to each other with just whispers.

We were paged down to recovery after only 35 minutes- way shorter than anticipated, but he had been very still so they had gotten all the pictures they needed in record time.
In recovery, Sophie wanted to help her brother wake up with kisses. :)

After sissy's onslaught of kisses, Coop awoke and wanted to just chill for a bit. He always wakes up from anesthesia like this- both hands behind his head. It's cute bc he never sleeps like this...

A few days later, we did our summer tradition of getting Yesterdog hotdogs and bringing them to the park in East Grand Rapids to eat for dinner. Beforehand, Sophia and I went to get pedicures- Sophie's first. She LOVED the pampering and the sparkly polish!

There was a band at the park that night and it was warm and there was a breeze- even Cooper thought it was a great night to just relax and take in Reed's Lake

However, he soon discovered there was water in that there lake and he wanted in. After several thwarted attempts, he was getting very frustrated with me blocking his way. You can't ever say this kid can't communicate some things.... :)

Sophie and Ben were oblivious to Cooper's lake attempts as they were enjoying some kite flying

Cooper was a bit happier with me holding him, but he still wanted in that lake!

Aug 5 proved to be a super duper fun day! Dad, Pete, Jenn and I all ran together in Grand Rapids' first Color Run. We were team Agents Orange and I made us some little outfits to wear while running. On the backs were our nicknames- Dad, Rocky, Little Sis and Sweet Pete. Like the socks??

After running our 5K and getting pummeled with purple, orange, yellow and green, we emerged together at the finish in a colorful display. What fun it was!!

 

 

All the runners at the Calder Plaza post color-throwing. Oh, it was such a mess.... :)

My sis and fam- Megan, Jaden, Andrew, and Pete. The kids got caughtin the crossfire... :)

That day we headed up to my in-laws cottage for a week of sun, fun and relaxation. My parents were able to come up for a few days as well! Donna and my mom took Coop swimming one afternoon (keeping him out of them shallows due to swimmers itch). He was apparently too tired to swim this day as he laid down on the backrest and fell asleep...

While we were up north Ben and I were able to get away for an overnight at a winery to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. We stayed at Black Star Farms and strolled the grounds, ate dinner slowly, had some great wine and enjoyed walking around Suttons Bay.
Here is the entrance to the winery-

The Big Red House- also known as the Black Star Farms B&B and winery. They also had horse stables so we got to visit with several of them while roaming around. Still hoping to own one some day....

A last sunset on Crystal Lake before heading back to GR. It really is so peaceful and beautiful there.

 

 

After a last few days of hurrying around seeing everyone and buying our loot to bring back to China and packing and packing, we were all set to fly out on Thursday Aug 16. We had a small village of helpers again as we had our 12 bags, 6 carry-ons, 2 kids and a stroller to keep track of.

Everything was checked in and we were headed to security when I noticed on one of the tvs in the airport that there seemed to be a storm heading to Chicago. Hmmm, never a good sign.

We said our goodbyes again, although this time it wasn't so heartwrenching. Knowing what we are going back to helps so much. Having already lived in Shanghai and not having that fear of the unknown- oh, it makes such a difference! We were actually looking forward to going back and seeing friends and getting back into routine.

We were settled on our plane and taxiing onto to the runway when suddenly we did a 180. Hmmm. Then the pilot got on the loudspeaker and said we would be delayed in the plane for an hour bc of a storm in Chicago. Ugh!!! Then, after that hour they told us we were going back to the terminal bc it was going to be at least another 90 minutes. Then, another 90 minutes. At this point we were quite sure we would miss our flight to Shanghai from Chicago so we decided to scrap the day and try again the next day. Needless to say, I was not super happy. Having prepped for this day for weeks, I was ready to get this 20+hour travel day over with!

Instead, we called Ben's parents, we were shocked and came back to get us. We got all 12 of our bags back (to recheck the next day), and headed back to the VPs.

That day actually ended up to be a blessing. We went out to lunch, Soph and I went to see Brave with her cousins and Donna while Coop slept, and then we had a fun dinner out. Who would've thought?

 

The next day was long, but we made it. Soph watched about 4 movies then fell asleep for almost 7 hours. Coop slept a bit on his own but then with 3 1/2 hours left in the flight we decided he really needed some more sleep as he was getting restless and tired but couldn't fall asleep. We gave him his meds like we've done on both previous flights. Oh man.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, he had a really really bad reaction to his meds this time and just lost it. He was scared and tired and out of control. He screamed and thrashed around for the next 2 1/2 hours, trying to fall asleep but then another onslaught of whatever it was would come on. We tried every trick in the bag without success. He finally passed out with 20 minutes left in the flight. The ride home was uneventful but then when we got inside the apartment, Cooper started up again and didn't stop for another 2 hours. He wouldn't eat or calm down. Finally he just fell asleep and we put him to bed for the night. He then proceeded to sleep 13 hours, the poor thing.

 

Anyway, we have now been back for a bit over a week and are fully settled in and back into routine. We've caught up with friends and gone swimming and out to eat- it's oddly good to be back. Although I'm still glad we'll be coming home next summer. :)

 

Prayer Requests:

-Sophie started school today. Pray that it is a good year for her and that she finds it fun (right now

  there are many days she'd rather stay home with mom :).

-Cooper has also started school- he's been going for a week now. Pray for his safety traveling to and

  from school as the highways of Shanghai are not kind. Also pray that he is blessed by the teachers

  there and that he may learn to communicate with us better this year.

-My grandmother, Hannah Garrison (aka, Gram) is celebrating her 95th birthday on Aug 31st. We are

  praising God for her long life and dedicated service to Him.

 

Thanks again for reading and I'll try and post again soon!