Our last day in Hong Kong was tense to say the least. Our flight back home to Haining had been cancelled, and after a lot of deliberation about where to spend our couple of weeks of time away from home we bought tickets to Miami to visit my Dad and Stepmom. We discussed Thailand, but the thought of a hotel room for a month while we tried to get work done was not the greatest.
Our first flight to Miami got cancelled, so we tried another flight, and spent several hours on the phone with American Airlines customer service trying to find a flight out. In the end we got on the last Cathay Pacific Flight leaving for San Franscisco, we wore our masks the whole flight and when we got to San Fran- no one checked our temperatures or asked where we were coming from or anything.
We had a couple of hours layover in San Fran, only then realizing that we were flying into Miami from San Fran on the eve of the Superbowl taking place in Miami between the 49s and Kansas City Chiefs. Our flight to Miami was full of superbowl fans heading to the game and we were too tired to be excited for them.
It was weird to be on the plane with everyone with no masks on, it had only been a week of wearing them at that point, but it already seemed normal. My dad picked us up at the airport and it was like we had just come for a normal visit, we talked about things we could do while we were visiting- all with the idea that this was a short term arrangement.
My dad had this super fun idea to get a do-it-yourself rootbeer kit. Alex (and I) love root beer and it’s not something we can get in China -well we can get it but only at ridiculous prices.
The science guys working through the steps of root beer.
Four full bottles of root beer and a good time spent with grandpa!
Two happy guys!
We also went down for a trip to the Keys, along the way is the dive museum and Dad was really excited to take Alex. Here he’s explaining something about a thing in the parking lot (I can’t remember what it was though)
I loved this stained glass window, a friend of mine (Brooke!) and I once thought about taking a stained glass window making class and looking at this I regret not taking it. I’d love to be able to make something like this.
Alex in an old school diving helmet in the lobby of the museum.
His clipboard has a scavenger hunt for things to find in the musuem. Along with things like certain gear, there were playmobile divers hidden in some exhibits to find.
Sitting inside Halley’s diving bell
It was hard to pull him away from this submarine section, he would have stayed all day.
A look out in a fish tank, I don’t know who had the most fun with this, but the grandparents got in on this too.
Mark by the diving suit that looks like Robbie the Robot from Lost in Space
Dad by the Bioshock Big Daddy looking dive suit
After the dive museum, we went to one of the Key’s must do spots- Mr C’s ice cream. I have this same picture from 4 years ago with my Dad in Mark’s spot.. it was funny to see how much Alex had grown between the two pictures.
We stopped at a diner on the way back to Miami for lunch, and took a family picture to send to our other parents who were all in cold snowy areas.
It was weird to be back under the circumstances, but we were happy, and safe. Alex was thrilled to be back with Riley (their dog) and this time her brother Clancy has joined the family. He had two dog buddies and couldn’t have been happier.
Traveling Expat Family 