The Adjustment Bureau Strikes Again!

The Adjustment Bureau first struck while we were in Thailand. Today it struck again. M'Lynn tells the story:

This weekend we had big plans. Jeremy and Kanyon both need to get their passports renewed. That equals a family trip to the Consulate General in Shenyang (both parents must appear with the child in person to renew his passport!) Since we all had to go, we decided to make a long weekend of it. We started on Monday and barely finished on Friday evening getting things in order for the trip: I made hotel reservations on-line, purchased round-trip train tickets (yay! all by myself. all in Chinese!), made appointments with the Consulate (yes, you must have an appointment), filled out renewal forms, printed new passport photos and family photos documenting Kanyon from infancy to 4 year old (required to prove he is actually our child and we can actually renew his passport), researched some good places to eat and entertaining things to do with kids in Shenyang, arranged for Taxi Joe to pick us up at 7:30 am on Saturday morning, washed all the boys' blue jeans, packed all the clothes, bought special train snacks, prepared enough entertainment for the 4 hour train ride, and set the alarm clock for 6:15 am.

At about 9 pm as we were scurrying around trying to make sure we had all the documents (birth certificate, etc.) and cash together, Jeremy started acting strange. He was really, really tired and mumbled he was going to bed. I just figured he was beat from waking up early for knee time, then planning in the office, then teaching and teaching some more. Friday is a long day for him. So, after laying out every stitch of clothing I would pile on the boys in the morning, I finally went to bed. I woke up at 5 am to the sound of Jeremy tossing and turning. I found out he had been up sick multiple times throughout the night. That "Ugh...what in the world do we do now?" feeling hit me and I was wide awake in an instant. "Should we try and go tomorrow or just call it off 'til next week?" We decided to reschedule the trip for next weekend (also thinking of Kanyon who is just coming down with a cold) and remembering all the kid barf from our recent trip to SE Asia.

Rescheduling is not so simple. I quickly got dressed, grabbed cash and the passports and train tickets, hailed a cab and headed to the train station to see if I could get a refund for the tickets. I was hoping the process wouldn't be too difficult for me and my choppy Chinese speaking ability! Luckily, the lines at the train station were short. After shuffling through a few lines, I finally found the right one for a ticket refund and happily got cash back for my unused tickets (they kept 8 RMB per ticket but gave me back the rest.) I was pleased with the deal.

I was not so pleased when I arrived back home at 6:25 am to the sight of my two children in the kitchen helping themselves to a previously unopened chocolate bar I was hiding in the fridge. What in the world?!?! When the cat is away, the mice will play!