The Rest of the Story....

by Amy

After we got all of our medical details worked out, we had a blast in the big city! The most memorable thing we did was eat! Our city (several hours south of this big city) has a Pizza Hut, McDs, KFC and Baskin' Robins. So if we want to eat western food, it's homemade or one of these fine eating establishments! The big city, on the other hand, has a TON of options! These are the ones we hit: Outback, Subway, Starbucks (several times), Peter's Tex-Mex Grill (not true Tex-Mex, but not bad), TGI Fridays, Grandma's Kitchen (where we ate a fantastic breakfast -- even better than Steak 'n Shake!) and Hard Rock. Oh, it was delightful!! And, Brad and I even got to go out for a quick dinner while Sue and her friends watched our kids! I'm sure I returned home a few pounds heavier than when I left, but it was worth it!

It was so great to see Sue, Brad's mom. Our kids had a great time with her and her two friends. Each night Peter thanked God for "the three Grandmas." And, they came bearing many gifts! Sue made each of her friends pack in one suitcase so she could use the second suitcase they were allotted to bring us stuff! So, now our pantry and medicine cabinets are stocked with all kids of goodies! I'm also using a new cell phone she brought and my kids are enjoying lots of special gifts and clothes they brought to us!

On Tuesday evening (10-30), Sue and her friends started a 10 day tour of our country, that originated in the big city. Therefore, before the tour, we didn't do any of the "touristy" stuff ~ I'm sure my kids were not disappointed! So, besides eating, we shopped! There's a huge 9+story building that is full of JUNK! All the vendors are divided based on what they're selling. There are two or three floors full of people selling clothes ~ for men, women, and children. There's an entire floor devoted to selling knock' off purses; another floor where you can buy and/or design your own jewelry with pearls being the most common jewel. So, since Sue and her friends all had an empty suitcase to take back to America with them after delivering us so much stuff, they decided they needed to shop! It was so much fun! I was told that we should bargain with the people and end up paying about 20% of their original asking price. So, even though most of the vendors could speak a little English, I did most of the bargaining for them in the local language. It was so funny! First of all, they were all surprised when I didn't speak to them in English, so right there, that qualified us for a "special local's price." Then, since I had Savannah with me for part of the time-- and since she's so cute-- we got even a better price! It was so funny to hear the reasons they came up with to give us a "special price!" One chica even told Sue she could have a special price since her daughter (me!) was so cute! Ha Ha!! We had so much fun shopping there two afternoons in a row that Sue and her friends headed back for one more round the afternoon before the tour began. (We were on the train heading home!) Then, they had soooo much stuff, they had to leave some of it with the hotel concierge. Since they'll be flying out of this big city back to America in a week, they'll swing by that hotel and get their loot!

So, that about sums up the rest of our time out of town. It's been good to get back home and back on a routine again. We all are looking forward to this weekend when Sue and her friends will come to our city and visit our home.