Settling in

Well, I guess we are starting to really settle in, we haven't done a whole lot this week. It has been rainy but no water in the basement (yet!). They have the tile in but have not completely finished everything in the basement and it is still pretty dusty.
Yesterday, I met Todd at the office and we went to the "Birds nest" for the Athletics games. It was so fun, we had lunch together at a neat restaurant called "The Tree" and then took the subway to the Olympic Green. The lines were so long to get in around the Olympic Green, we must have waited at least 30 minutes in one line and then switched to another for about 15 more minutes. While we were walking around, we saw where they were filming "The Today Show" and stopped for a few minutes but we were not anywhere near the front. We did see that they were ready to interview the Women's water polo and soccer teams and one was showing her gold medal to the crowd.
The games were neat, it is huge inside the stadium and it was interesting watching all of the events going on all at once. There was about 5-6 medal ceremonies and during each one, they would stop all of the events and have everyone stand. We saw The US guy (Clay) win the decathlon. Only a few other US athletes were competing at the time. The kids stayed with Miss Geri and things were fine. They ordered pizza and later had popcorn while they watched a movie. We had alot of trouble finding a taxi after the event, especially one that wanted to take us 30 minutes away, but we eventually did, after alot of walking.
Today, we woke up and went to a mall to sign the kids up for some sports. It is similar to the Peoria Park District and most of the practices are held at the international schools in our area. Marshall is signed up for tennis and soccer and Lauren is for gymnastics and tennis. They start the 2nd week of Sept on Sat and Sundays. After that we had lunch at a Pita place and then went to the international hospital for rabies vaccinations. It is a series of 3 shots which would allow us more time to receive treatment after a bite. After seeing the amount of strays here and hearing about the lack of treatment after a bite, we decided we better do it. They say that there is no guarantee treatment would be available in this area after a bite and if is was, it may not be the correct strength. Marshall was really good but Lauren FREAKED OUT, yelling and crying. She kept saying "Wait" and the nurse would just stop and say "Let me know when you are ready". After a few minutes, I said to just give it to here because it is only going to get worse the more we wait. I didn't tell the kids we have to go back next Sunday, it will be a surprise.
Lauren and Marshall found out who their teacher are. I heard that Marshall's is great, he will love her, but I don't know much about Lauren's, only that she has been here for a little while and no one has ever heard anything bad about her. I think that is good, because I have heard complaints about some of the teachers. They start on Thur morning, Todd and I go in also and meet with the teachers and have an informational meeting and then there is a picnic at lunch for everyone, students and parents. After that, the kids go for the rest of the day. They can't wait.
Not much else going on, after dinner tonight, we went to Cold Stone Creamery and the kids were so excited to see that they have Cotton Candy ice cream (no gummy bears, but Lauren got marshmallows instead). We also bought mosquito netting, originally for the kids, but we may steal Marshall's for ourselves and find something better for his bunk beds. They are still so bad, I have bites on my eyelid and bottom lips- gross.
Hope all is well in the US. We miss all of you!