Reunited

From left to right: Paul, Jackson, Marsha and Rebekah Heath, Lucy Breakwell, Emily Heath, Abaigeal, Christa and Barry Breakwell, Mara, Kevin and David

We spent the weekend in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hell area and could not have had a better time or better weather. It was hot and sunny, just the way I like it. We flew out Thursday night and headed out Friday morning for a very delicious brunch with my friend and former Duke roommate Erin. David was a little shy at first, but once he realized she would laugh at him if he acted cute, he put on a show.

After brunch, we went back to our hotel and were joined shortly thereafter by special guests Grandmama and Granddaddy, who David is now calling Nah-nee. We'll see if that name sticks. The five of us spent the afternoon visiting Duke. We hit the highlights, including the gardens, the chapel, the bookstore (new Duke shirts for me and David) and Cameron.

David with me (and without me) in the Duke Gardens. Us in front of the chapel.

David learning the reason my parents paid all that money for me to go to college. Education schmeducation. Duke basketball is the best.

Went spent a good portion of our Saturday having a mini-reunion with two of the four families we travelled to China with. (Dangling participle.) We met the Heaths in the morning at Marbles, Raleigh's children's museum. We were impressed we the number and variety of activities. There were four kids ranging in age from 2 to 11, and they all had a good time. After the museum, the Breakwells joined us for lunch. It was such a treat to get to see these families who shared such a special time with us, to see how the kids picked up like we had just left each other yesterday and had so much fun together. It will be a year next week that we all walked in to the civil affairs office in Chongqing together and met our children together, and a year later, I am happy to report they are all thriving.

Fireman David and his buddy Emily. The Heaths (Marsha, Paul, Jackson, Rebekah and Emily) and the Maases. David hearts hockey.

David and Jackson had a blast together waiting for lunch to arrive--so cute! Two pictures of the kids, one with David screaming his head of and one without--Rebekah, Jackson, Lucy, Emily and Abaigeal.

This morning after we checked out of our hotel, we had some time to kill so we wandered around Duke again before we met my friend Susan (also from my college days), her husband Peter and their son Jack (who is crazy cute) for lunch.

Back on campus

After lunch, we wanted David to burn off some energy before our flight, so we went...that's right...back to Duke. Yes, it's that awesome. David fell asleep for a while in the car, so we drove around a little bit to see such sights as my old apartment and Ben and Jerry's. Once he was awake, we went back to the gardens and let him run around until it was time to go to the airport. It was another beautiful day, and David enjoyed seeing all the ducks (including a bunch of ducklings), geese, swans, a blue heron, some turtles and (his personal favorite) lots at lots of pup-pups out for their walks.

Peter, Jack (much more interested in the water than the camera), Susan, me and David.

Back at the Duke gardens

David slept most of the flight back. Coming in to Midway, things got a little choppy, and we made a very hard turn pretty low to the ground. We came it really fast and hit the runway pretty hard. Nothing super dramatic but enough to make me a little nervous and to make the pilot say "whew!" over the intercom once we were taxiing off the runway. David woke up as we hit the ground, and when we turned to see if it had bothered him at all, he said "fast!" and gave us a big grin. He then sprinted from our seat on the plane all the way to the baggage claim. I am amazed I ever got him back to sleep tonight.