We made it...

...luckily. 
The birthday party they put on for the kids was great but we had to leave mid-show to head to the airport and just made it by the skin of our teeth (traffic was particularly bad).  Unfortunately, when we went through the security gate, the staff gave our boarding passes to another passenger and we were left trying to figure that out and none of them spoke any English.  After horrendous traffic and then this my stress level was through the roof.  At one point Eric said "Mummy, I think you need to relax - this stress is no good for you".  Ah, out of the mouths of babes - he wasn't worried, knew it would all work out, and so it did.  I have to remember to be more like a kid!

The flight was great.  The boys behaved like angels (guess they didn't want to see their mothers head spin around backwards and have a total melt down) and Elena hardly made a peep.  Now of course, we're all awake and can't sleep, but little by little we can get turned around.

Grace was so excited to see us home and completely wired that she didn't fall asleep until midnight.  James has a fever (remember this if they're ever looking for patient X of some new virus from China - just joking -  I hope), and he's getting some much needed rest.  I don't think he slept much on the plane, at least not well. 

All and all, I can already foresee my parents 50th anniversary dinner tonight and it's not looking pretty.  On the other hand, the boys and Grace will probably be asleep on the chairs, and we'll only have to worry Elena who is easy as pie. 

Sadly we have a funeral to attend before we can head out of the city.  My parents and sisters are also attending, so the dinner will be quite late.   We were very sad to hear when in China of the passing of a great man, Dr. Jack Gardiner who has been a close family friend since before I was born.  He was a brilliant man in his 90's and lived a most interesting life.  He shared a birthday with Stefanie and they were always quite taken with each other.  Stefanie had a real soft spot in her heart for him, and in some ways, I'm glad they'll be together.  Hopefully they're kicking up their heals together.

Off to finish the laundry and re-pack for the weekend! (That's one good thing about being up all night -  nothing else to do.)