Jack's 8th Birthday

I can't believe my first born is 8 years old. We celebrated in Virginia with his friends before we moved and again in St. Louis with friends and family. For his actual birthday we started the day with presents and ended it at McDonalds and then back home for cake.

McDonalds is about a half hour away from our house so we had to take a taxi to get there. Tom went to the clubhouse to ask where it is and then we called a taxi. Tom sat up front and talked with the driver, telling him the general area we'd been told we could find McDonalds. After a while, he phoned a colleague and found out exactly where it was so we arrived without much difficulty. As is the case with many taxi drivers here, our driver gave us his card so we can call him in the future. He said he could take us to the Great Wall or any other place we'd like to go.

Since it was easier to get to the restaraunt than we'd anticipated, we arrived a bit early for dinner. So, we decided to take a little walk around the area. It seems we were in a home improvement area. There were shops along the street and then when we turned down an alley, it was paint stores for as far as we could see. I'd been told that stores carrying single items are all gathered together and this proved true. If we ever need paint, we know where to go. As this particular area doesn't see many tourists, we were definitely a rare sight. Store keepers called their family and friends to the doors of the shops to see us as we walked by. They called out asking if all three children were ours and wanted to know if they were boys or girls. They were astounded to learn we had three sons. It's the blonde hair that gets them, really.

I was surprised to see we were the only Westerners in McDonalds as well. People stared and touched Huck on the cheek. I've been told that there is a very high incidence of TB here, so I will try to stop that in the future. I carry hand sanitizer here all the time. All the expats do the same.

The food cost very little and the boys ate everything in front of them. They had happy meals but the layout was a bit different as you can see in the picture. There was a small play area so the boys enjoyed that. I felt a little like they were on display at a zoo as the other parents all watched our kids rather than their own. After the boys all played, they had ice cream cones and then we went home for birthday cake.