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My Year In Status

Lisa Chen Mellinger's 2010 Status Collage

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Thanksgiving

In this Thanksgiving and Advent season, we have been thankful for so many things (in no particular order)
-Smooth transition back into Colorado Springs
-A warm house to share with warm friends and family
-A puppy that is growing too large too fast. But loves to be loved
-A Small Group of friends that meet every week to eat food and study scripture together
-Paxton's job so that we can eat and have a warm house
-A daughter that loves the Lord and desires the best of life
-A son that loves to laugh
-Health
-Running so that we can be healthy
-The Lord Jesus who has given us everything and then some. We have been richly blessed and continue to receive the outpouring of his love in our lives. He is awesome and wonderful.
 

Another Hope Funny

Hope: Mom, can we get rabies?
Mom: Well, yes, if a dog bites you, you can get rabies.
Hope: What does the dog look like with rabies?
Mom: He starts foaming at the mouth and acts crazy
Hope: Like our old neighbor? Except, she didn't foam at the mouth!

2 years a Mellinger

Josiah, November 3, 2008

Josiah Mellinger, 11/2008

Josiah Mellinger, 9/2010

Josiah Mellinger, November 2010

Second Marathoner Mellinger

After Paxton's marathon earlier this year, Lisa thought that a Half-marathon would suffice. So, in April, she went ahead and did a Half-marathon. Unfortunately, the crowds were sparse, and the medal was really small, so Lisa said she wanted to do a real marathon with lots of crowds and a larger medal.  Plus, she really wanted to know if she could do one.

So, in May, she started training hard for the Denver Rock-n-Roll Marathon. This included 5 days a week of running/cross training/weights. It was all really good until we moved in July. Then, she got sick. But that would not defer the training. She would try to "make it up", but this caused some major pain in the left hip, so the doctor ordered an MRI for November and told Lisa to stop running. The problem was that the marathon was in October...

Lisa rested the last three weeks before the marathon and decided to go for it in spite of the lack of running. Of course, she had to get sick the week of the race, but that's just par for the course. She still had to run it even if she was the last person to cross the finish line.

October 17th: Lisa woke up at 4:30am, having woke up just about every hour full of adrenaline, but again, that's normal for a runner. The family was at a Denver hotel because Paxton didn't want to drive up the morning of with kids and dog in tow.  Everything was going good until Hei Mei (our dog) decided to get sick in the crate in the hotel. There was no fan in the bathroom, so it was REALLY stinky in the room, and Lisa was trying to get ready for the race - trying to eat a bagel and banana while Paxton was cleaning out the crate. Of course, the kids woke up.

5:30am: Lisa and some friends (Kolz family) drove to the starting line so that Paxton and kids could come later. At the starting line, people were already getting in line at the portapotties, and the adrenaline was increasing. 16,000 runners descended into downtown Denver, and the excitement was palpable as well as intimidating. Lisa just went to the back of the line when the timer started at 0655. The only time limit Lisa gave herself and her injured leg was the chance to beat the 6 hour time limit.

The majority of runners around Lisa were half-marathoners talking about their private lives. Not very nice. What ever happened to shame?  At mile 6, blisters started forming on Lisa's feet, so she had to use the medical station. At mile 10, Paxton and kids missed seeing Lisa run by which was really depressed Lisa. She was tempted to just finish the race with the half-marathoners instead of continuing on with the full marathoners. At the split off, the announcer told Lisa to pick a path. Lisa told him she was really tempted to run the half instead of the full, but a lady in the half pack told Lisa to go for the full as it was such a beautiful day to run it.  

At the last minute, Lisa chose the full marathon path and turned south, away from the large group of half-marathon runners. Just a few handful of runners were on the road now, and the spectators were thinning out. This is where it got hard - crowds, music, and cheering was getting sparse.

But Paxton and kids finally caught up with Lisa at mile 15 and 17, giving Lisa a boast of encouragement.

This was around the 14-15 mile mark.

Lisa got off the running trail to hang with the kids for a bit.

Lisa had never run more than 16 miles before this race, so it was already a feat to run more than that (she does NOT recommend this kind of training). 

What helped her run these miles? Lisa decided to dedicate each mile to a member of her family and friends. And during that entire mile, she prayed for that specific person. It helped keep her focused on this person and not her blistering feet.

At 21 miles, Lisa's legs started to do weird things - cramp up, scream out in pain. At 23 miles, the path went UP and Down, the UP and down (they chose a BRIDGE AT THIS POINT IN THE RACE????).  Lisa's thoughts at this point:

-What crazy person would want to do this stupid race? 

-Why do these people around me want to kill themselves, too? 

-Why can't I be faster than this? 

-Why can't I be at the 26th mile mark and not at the 24th mile mark?

-It's only less than a 5K? 

-Why is this the worst pain I've felt in my life?
-Why do I feel like puking?

-If I ever finish this stupid thing, I'm never doing it again!!!!!

And then Lisa drew on the strength of her son, Josiah, who has been a survivor from the very beginning of his life. He lost his biological mom, almost lost his life from sicknesses, lost his first set of foster parents, lost his second set of foster parents, left everything he was familiar with to live with a crazy family and crazy sister, has been diagnosed with lots of delays. Yet, he remains happy and optimistic with his life.  So, this helped Lisa run from the 24th mile to the 26th mile.  Then, the announcer said there was just 200 more yards to go and Lisa had better run it, but her legs told her if she ran any faster, they'd probably fall off. Still, she did what she could to run over the finish line.

And then she was done!!!!

Running to the finish line!!!

Enough strength to raise those hands!

Sitting with the family. Lisa's feet are in a bath of ice. The runner's medal was perfectly large enough! Should she run another one? Nahhhh

Summer highlights

Here we are, catching up with all the summer pics that were taken as we transitioned from DC life back to Colorado. It has been a fast and furious summer, but we are now able to take a look back and remember some of the good times in between packing and journeying to our new home in Colorado.

 

May: Josiah celebrated his 4th birthday with cousin, Nathan. We headed up to Pennsylvania to enjoy time with family.

 

Josiah got a second cake at home for his 4th bday. He really wanted a Pooh cake, so he got a Pooh cake. 

 

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June: Hope's ballet recital, Thumbelina was a culmination of months of hard work. We were so proud of her as she got in front of the audience and danced so well.

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July: we headed to Sesame Place in Pennsylvania. All rides were for kids 7 and under, I think, so parents just sat around while kids did all the jumping and crying. Loads of fun!

Afternoon at Sesame Place, we got to dip into the pool. Very fun for little kids. We were glad to let Josiah meet all the Sesame Street characters.

After seeing Elmo, we visited the Liberty Bell and where the Constitution was signed. Hope was disappointed that we could not ring the bell and that the bell was so small. Ah, life's little disappointments.

At the Liberty Bell Museum. A lady from the "past" showed the kids what kind of toys kids played with 200+ years ago. No batteries needed.

While in PA, we visited the oldest neighborhood in America. Very nice for being so old.

Where our US constitution was signed.

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PA: The "Please Touch" Museum, a children's museum where everything is for kids. Hope became enthralled with Alice in Wonderland after this visit.

Another part of the "Please Touch" museum, where the kids learned about physics.

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July 2010: We headed to Gettysburg to learn all about this very famous fight.

Mom is teaching the kids about Pickett's charge, a mile charge where the majority of Confederate soldiers were slaughtered.

The famous site where a group of Union soldiers fended off the ever charging Confederate armies.
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The reason why we moved to DC in the first place. Paxton receives his second Masters. We were too proud of him.

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July: This was our road trip from DC to CO. On the way, we visit Lisa's old high school neighborhood in Pittsburgh. This was the house she lived in when she suffered through high school. It felt odd to see old places again.

Lisa's High School sign. Very strange to be standing there 20 years after she graduated, with kids and husband in tow. Lisa felt very old.

Pittsburgh's famous "O", where hot dogs and fries clog the arteries. Lisa wanted the family to get some good ole' fat.

Lisa met up with Marianne, her great friend from high school days. Amazing how 20 years go by like a blink. It was good to see her again and chat about the journeys we traversed.

Lisa's family and Marianne's family in downtown Pittsburgh

Aug: On our road trip, we stopped in Indiana to visit Paxton's groomsman and his family. We think the last time we saw each other was close to 10 years ago and a handful of kids less.

Then, we were on to Chicago where we met up with college friends, Lori and Sharon. What a fun time to chat about life and the Lord.

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September: Here we are settling into our new home in Colorado Springs. The kids are loving the new home. This pic was taken right before the two riders fell off and gonked their heads. What a hoot!

Today I say Goodbye:

To the little boy that would crawl into my lap

And look longingly into my eyes with love.

He who would run to me and listen and obey

He who would be the first to learn all that boys would learn,

He who would run faster than the wind because his legs were strong,

He who would climb higher than an eagle simply because he could,

He who would throw the ball farther than the east is to the west,

He who would sit with me and read a cozy book and recite poems with me

He who would drink milk and sing in my arms,

He who would write me a love poem because he wanted to,

He who would be perfect as our Lord is perfect.

And I said Hello to:

The little boy who would leave my lap because he wanted to play elsewhere,

He who would turn away from my eyes because he couldn't look longer,

He who didn't want to listen because sin is more fun,

He who couldn't be first because he was second,

He who couldn't run fast because he was never given the chance to run,

He who couldn't climb because no one showed him a jungle gym,

He who didn't even know what a ball was,

He who had never seen a book and didn't want to sit by my side,

He who had never been nursed and didn't want this mom to give him milk and sing to him,

He who couldn't hold a pen,

He who is being made perfect because the Lord and his mom love him.

August 24th, Hope's First Day of "outside" school

My little girl is growing up, and going to an outside school. The Classical Academy is a Charter school that has a Cottage Program for those who are homeschooled. Hope will continue to be homeschooled and will attend TCA twice a week to get supplemental education: PE, music, Art, Spanish. She is excited beyond words.

Both kids prepping for school. Josiah will attend a morning preschool. They still love their stuffed animals. Tigger will always be Hope's first...

Hope's classroom.

Preparing to Move AGAIN

As we prepare to move again, we spend some time reflecting on the time we had and things we'll miss

 -We came July of 2009. It was hot and humid, and it was great for evening dips in the pool. In Colorado, when the sun went down, the temps dropped so we couldn't swim after sundown. Here, we could swim even after the sun went to sleep, but the mosquitoes that came out would start chomping at us, so we couldn't swim too late into the night. Hope learned to hold her breath under water. Josiah is learning to blow bubbles.

-Traffic. When the GPS machine can't get you there, you know that you are in DC. No one knows traffic unless they've lived on the east coast. Having lived on the west coast and in the central states, we know that there is no worse traffic in the USA than in DC. A 5 mile trip can take 20 minutes or 2 hours depending on traffic. Our ears were constantly glued to WTOP with traffic every 10 minutes.

-Smithsonian. There are 19 museums under the "Smithsonian" name. Each museum can take one day or one year to explore. We enjoyed the Air and Space Museum, Natural History Museum, and the Art Museum. They offered dozens of classes for FREE for our kiddos. Every one of these museums are free and filled to so much info. It makes you smarter just thinking about all the stuff!

-non-Smithsonian Museums: Hope liked the National Building Museum, where they offered homeschooling classes about patterns, building structures, finding shapes. The big people enjoyed the Holocaust Museum. It was so well laid out and reminded us that sinful people really can wreak destruction beyond our wildest imagination.

-Food: There is so much international fare in this area that we haven't even begun to enjoy what is out there. We've had Korean, Brazilian, Chinese, Middle Eastern, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Italian, Mexican. Crabs = they take butcher paper, put it on your table, pile it high with crabs, give you a hammer, and you whack away to your heart's delight.

-Languages. Walking down the street, various languages are heard all over. It's truly metropolitan and wonderful. The culture here is so thick and rich. We loved it. In the ER, we had Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Nepali, Bahamian, British, Mexican RN's. It made for fun talks about culture.

-The deciduous trees: The greenery here is lush. It's so lush that we would often miss our street or store because they were hidden behind the green. Driving down the street, it's just walls of trees, but behind them could be houses or stores, but you'd never know if it weren't for GPS!

-The bugs: Because of the humidity and trees, bugs thrive in this environment. Lisa and Hope were buffet tables for the mosquitoes. NOT fun.  But we  did enjoy catching handfuls of caterpillars and watching them turn into moths and butterflies. Hope and Josiah were not too excited about a 2 inch diameter spider that took up residence near our front door. Yesterday, we dug up a bug the size of Hope's hand. We still couldn't figure out what it was, but it sure was big! The most wonderful bug was the Lightning bug. One night, Paxton and Hope were running through a meadow of lightning bugs. It was like they were running into fairyland. 

-The Bird songs: Every morning  in Spring, the cardinals would sing us awake. They made the most beautiful songs. When Lisa or Paxton went for their morning jogs, they just needed to listen to the jays flying and singing with them. Absolutely stunning music.

-The Mall: This is where our nation's capitol sits. It's the powerhouse that runs the government. We enjoyed seeing all of the political action that runs behind the scenes, never to be heard of in the news or seen on TV. Yes, there are non-corrupt Politicians sitting there, doing their job as best of they can without the world seeing. And there are people of integrity trying to fight for the best. We just never hear about them. But they are there. They are just not snazzy enough to be on  CNN.

-The Cherry Blossoms. It was white and pink. We biked "the Mall" and saw all the trees at their peak blossom. So did a gazillion other people, so it was like Disneyworld on its peak day and then some. Plus Cars.   But they were beautiful.

-Mount  Vernon: George Washington's house. How fun was that to see where our first President lived and where he ate and went to the bathroom and died. He died of epiglottitis which would have been easily treat these days. He died just a few months after he retired. Hope had a camel almost swallow her hand at Mount Vernon. It just liked her so much that it wanted to eat her up. We still laugh about Aladdin, the camel.

-Family: we were close to Lisa's brother and family, so it made for fun trips for cousins to get together. We made the trip about every month, so the kids got to know each other well. We will miss our family the most.


-Weather: We experienced DC's coldest winter and hottest summer. 3 feet of snow for weeks. More than 40 days of 90+ F heat. What's up with that?  Lisa's run in 30 F temps and 90 F temps. 


-Marathons: Paxton ran his first marathon through the DC. Lisa ran her first half-marathon in Virginia. 


-Chesapeake Bay: Just an hour away from DC, we could swim at the beach and find shark teeth fossils in the water. Such an adventure for the kids.

New York City

Before leaving the east coast, we wanted to visit New York City and visit all the great things about the town. Lisa and the kids did a unit study on the city, so the kids were well prepared to meet Lady Liberty, Times Square, Chinatown, Little Italy, the subway, the taxis, the crowds, the buildings. It was a great study, learning as much as we could about this town. Here is a snapshot of the things we did:

May 23, 2010, Sunday. Staten Island. After a great visit with Lisa's brother and family in Lancaster, PA, we left them around 2pm and got to Staten Island around 5:30pm. Then, we couldn’t figure where to pick up with key to our place for another hour. Finally, with the help of a retired Marine Corps officer, Paxton and he figured it out. We got into our 3 bedroom townhouse, unpacked our goodies, and headed out to eat. The townhouse is the guest quarters for the Coast Guard. There are only two guest houses, and we took the larger 3 bedroom. Each kid got his and her own room with two beds per room. We just put Josiah's’s bed mattress onto the floor in case he fell off, but he never did. There was one bathroom that we shared at the end of the hall. No bath downstairs. Just a kitchen, dining, and living room. Pretty large for a vacation home. Sure beats a small hotel room. And the price was a military discount for sure!

We went to a nice Italian bakery/café (Pasticceria Bruno) on Staten Island. We ate a snapper appetizer and a shellfish entrée. For dessert, we had mango mouse cake, triple chocolate cake, and a mango gelato ( Lisa was in Heaven after this mango gelato!). It was perfect for our tired bodies.

We got back close to 9pm, unpacked the rest of our suitcases, and the kids went off to sleep. Hope slept quickly. .

Monday, May 24, 2010

We left around 8:30am, driving to “Bada Bing” deli. Paxton ordered a pastrami, pickles on a hero. Lisa ordered honey maple turkey and muenster on an onion bagel. We got chips and took this with us for lunch to Liberty island. While ordering, a grungy middle aged woman walked in, opened the door in the refrigerated section and started shouting quite loudly, "Eh! Whuh's the french vahnilla? I can't buhlieve you duhn't have da french vahnilla!" Paxton looked at the owner who proceeded to shout back "Hey! We dawn't have french vahnilla today!". Then he turned to Paxton and answered Paxton's puzzled face with, "she comes in here everyday and complains about somethin'. She a Regulah." We headed towards the Staten Island Ferry, parked for $7, took the shuttle, and got onto the ferry. In a few minutes, we were so close to the Statue of Liberty we could have just jumped in and swam over to the island, but instead, we had to go to Manhattan and take a smaller ferry to the island. 

By the time we got off the ferry, walked over to Battery Island, picked up the will call tickets, it was 11am. We just strolled around the island, played on the wooden “piano” thing on the ground, saw all the vendors (nuts, hot dogs, pretzels, pictures), enjoyed the view. The bushes and trees and grass were all green, and in the distance stood the Statue of Liberty. It was such a nice site. A moment in time we wouldn't forget.

At 11:30am we  ferried over to Liberty Island by 12pm, picked up a Junior Ranger kit, and ate our lunch on a bench. Then, it started drizzling all over while we sat underneath a large tree. By around 1pm, we started up the Statue, grateful for reserving tickets as all the tickets were sold out that day. We were sad we couldn’t walk to the crown, but we made it to the pedestal and enjoyed the views from there.

By 3pm, we were headed towards Ellis Island, but since we figured that none of our ancestors made it to the US via this island, we headed out and were at Battery park around 4-ish.

Since there was still time, we decided to walk towards the World Trade Center site. We made it in time to see a museum that talks about the memorial that will be built in its place. Hope was deeply impressed with this whole situation. She kept saying those that didn’t know Jesus did a very bad thing. Yes, they did, and we pray that those people will someday know Jesus and be delivered from evil.

Then, we walked towards Chinatown, which was a longer walk than expected. We  found a corner restaurant called Shanghai Luck (?) and ordered dumplings, hot and sour soup, 8 jeweled rice, onion cakes, turnip cakes. It was all right, but it was enough. We bought 4 mangoes off the street which made a perfect breakfast fruit. YUM! Then, we took the subway all the way to the end, where we picked up the ferry back to Staten Island. We were home by 9pm. We were all asleep by 9:30pm.

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010: Lisa woke up at 6:30am and decided to run around Fort Wadsworth. It was so worth it, running for a good 30 minutes towards the battery (forts), along the river (seeing the lovely bridge in the sun with a steamship blowing its horn), along a beach (dirty but still lovely waves), and just a quiet time of running and enjoying New York. Paxton took a turn as  well. We didn’t leave the house until 9am. We got onto the Ferry, getting to Manhattan and taking the subway straight to Times Square. There, we saw the big city, bright lights, loads of advertisements, and people EVERYWHERE. One thing we couldn't get tired of seeing was so many people walking everywhere! 

We walked over to Sanrio where Lisa had fun combing through the clearance rack and buying some stationery and a small set of chopsticks for Josiah. 

Then we headed to Toy R Us but decided we needed to eat as it was 12:30pm already, so it was off to John’s Pizza. It was famous for the New York flat pizza. We ordered a pizza with mozzarella, tomato sauce, basil, sausage, and mushrooms. It costed a good $24 but I think it was because it was located right across from where the Phantom of the Opera performs every night.

Then, back to Toys R Us. We didn’t even buy a thing after perusing the whole 3 floors of toys. It was fun, though. Then we headed to Rockefeller Center. On the way, we were a tad lost so we took a break at Bryant park, not knowing that it was a famous hang out joint. We've never seen so many people hang out in one park before, not even in China. Every foot of space had people sitting, playing, chatting. Paxton took the kids to an outside kid's book nook where they could peruse through books and sit outside with the big people. Hope was most impressed with that park area for the day. After about an hour, we headed out and got a Starbucks iced coffee to perk us up on the way to the Rockefeller building. Paxton wanted to go up to the top, and we did. Up to 67th floor to look at the city, the Empire State Building, Central park. It was a lovely site. We were glad that we made it up there, but Josiah was starting to annoy everyone tremendously (he  must have been tired), so we headed downstairs where Paxton sat and did some research while Lisa tried to find some shopping. 

At 4:30pm, we decided to go find Grand Central Station, but Paxton got it mixed up with Union Square, so we ended up at Union Square around 5pm ish and we were all getting tired so we went to the Republic, an Asian Eclectic restaurant. We had Duck curry noodles, Green papaya salad, mini dumplings in oyster sauce, and Seared Salmon over raisin and rice. It was pretty good. Josiah ate three huge helpings, and Hope only had two. It was good stuff, and we felt much better after some food in our bellies.

We decided it was time to head home, and we subwayed it back to the ferry in time to see it drift away. So, we sat around for another 30 minutes before the next ferry came. I know that made Paxton mad, but it was also some good down time for all of us.

We've really enjoyed New York. I don’t know if we’ll ever come back around this town again, but I’m so glad that we made the time to see all these things. What a life to live in such crowds and to do everything on foot. Hardly any greenery and soooo many people everywhere. I wonder where these people are from and where they are going. It’s so crazy, but it’s so neat in so many ways.

One more full day.

Wednesday, May 26th

We left our townhouse around 10am, taking the bus to the ferry to save a few dollars and to get the local experience. From the ferry, we took the subway to Central Park, getting there around 11:30am. We stopped to get a pretzel from a vendor. Nice! Then, into Central park, visiting a small play ground with a water spout. Hope had a grand ole time. The other kids were there with their nannies. I don’t think I saw another mom there. Just a bunch on nannies chasing their over spoiled rotten kids. Sad, very sad.

Then, we strolled to a nearby area and had hot dogs and crackers. A street performing band with a trumpet, bass, dancer, singer were there. Then, another group of break dancers showed up and took the money and audience away. Then, wedding pictures were everywhere. Suddenly, Lisa asked Paxton to look out for pick pockets. He couldn’t find his wallet, and the world was quiet and scary for a minute. He searched and searched and got more and more panicky realizing that he was probably pick pocketed. But then, he found his wallet (placed in a very secret area in his pant pocket that even he couldn't find it) and the world came into color again. It was a scary moment, but we were so glad that we were no pick pocketed.

Then, off to Alice in Wonderland’s statue, but the heat was so intense that no one could play on the toadstools. 

We headed to the Museum of Art walking around the entire place before finding the doors. We had chocolate dipped ice cream cones to celebrate walking so much and rewarding the kids for being very well behaved for walking so much on a hot day.

Then, into the museum to see the Egyptian mummies, famous musical instruments, and Picasso collections. We were worn out before heading off to eat around 4pm.

We got back on the subway and headed to Little Italy to find a good last restaurant. It was Grotta Azzurra, a corner restaurant where we had Gnocchi with pesto and tomato sauce, Lasagna, penne and chicken parmagiana. All very good.

We headed home around 7pm but missed the ferry and ended up having to wait 40 minutes because of another delayed ferry. Then, we realized that the bus would only take us to a closed gate so we had to walk from the main gate, another mile to our quarters. So, Paxton ran to get our car while we slowly strolled home. It was 9pm by the time we got back, so the kids fell asleep really fast. The parents did too.

Today, we packed up and will head home in a few hours. We’ll tour Staten Island, eat lunch, and head home.

It was a fun time indeed.

May 27th, Thursday: we checked out of our townhouse at 10am and headed north to the pier where they were having Fleet Week. We saw the ships docked and decided to go up and get our “quick” tour. We got into the wrong line; it was the USS James Williams initially. We waited 1.5 hours before we got on. We almost decided to ditch, but we were so close, and the kids were doing so well, and we met a guy behind us who just graduated from college and was about to be an officer on a Naval ship, so it was neat to see another part of the military (so very different from Paxton’s). When we got up there, they asked it we wanted to see the ship docked next to the James Williams, and we said why not. It was the USS De Wert, which was a smaller and older frigate, but it was interesting. They gave us a tour like we were the only ones to ever see the ship. I think it took another hour, and they even showed us where they slept, with a guy still sleeping in his lower bunk. Hope thought that was pretty funny. Lisa had to use the toilet, and sure enough, it really was just a toilet and a small sink. Hope saw how dirty it was, and Lisa did mention that it was a ship. But her comeback was, “but the Carnival was a ship too.” Too smart.

It was about 1:30 pm before we left the boat: hungry and worn, but it was such a great experience nonetheless. We drove to the Royal Crown bakery and had two huge sandwiches. Paxton got a grilled chicken with mozzarella and roasted red pepper. Lisa got a meatball parmigiana. For dessert we had tiramisu, a raspberry mousse cake, and a chocolate covered canola with chocolate and vanilla cream. Yum! We had leftovers enough for supper.

We left New York around 4pm, so we expected to not get home until 10pm, but we somehow made it a little bit after 8pm.

We unpacked and finished our day off. we were glad to be home