Welcome 2017!!!

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!  We brought in the New Year in Shanghai this year with some friends.  It was a fun weekend with the kids, and of course we ate some delicious food!  New Years Eve was spent at one of our favorite restaurants and the view isn't bad either!  We enjoyed some Mexican food and delicious drinks then went to bed before midnight....the life of parents with toddlers...haha.  The next evening we made it down to the iconic Bund area in Shanghai and got our first family photo of the four of us in front of the skyline!  The kids got to go to the M&M store, and Gracie met the Green M&M she was very happy, Blake prefers the statues :)

We have a lot to look forward to and be grateful for in 2017 but for our family this will be a year of transitions.  We will be traveling to Thailand, Shanghai Disneyland and a family cruise to the carribean this year.  We will move back to the U.S.A., we will move into our new home in Arizona, the kids will start a new school, and I will hopefully start a new job.  As I think about the transition home I think it will be most interesting to watch the kids, Grace has never lived in America and Blake was so little when we left he really only knows China as familiar.  We have started to explain the move to him and some of the changes to come, he is very sad to be leaving his school and friends.  There are so many experiences that happen everyday at home that are completely different in China and I didn't even start to understand this until the first time we came home and Blake would ask questions or point certain things out.  Even something as simple as a drive-thru isn't common here and fun for the kids to stay in the car and grab food.  I am excited to see America through their eyes.  We are looking forward to seeing everyone when we return and returning back to our lives there with our new perspectives and experiences.  I can say I have grown a lot as a person through this experience and it has only made me a better wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend.

So cheers to you all and wishing you a very Happy 2017!