September 15, 2013-
Is it possible that we've been home (meaning China) for over a month and I've only managed to write one blog post during that time? How can that be???!?
Soooo…you might be thinking to yourself that perhaps I haven't posted anything because nothing has been happening and that we're bored, bored, bored.
Huh.
Rest assured – life here is crazier and busier than it's ever been. And sure as heck more fun too!
(You didn't really think that we're bored, did you???)
I'm not even sure where to get started with all the comings, goings and milestones we've hit over the last few months. My head is spinning just keeping everything straight….
Okay…to get started – we spent June and July in the USA. The girls had a BLAST playing with their cousins. I mean, how awesome is Zombie Tag in your grandpa's cornfield???? Some day I'll have someone explain to me the rules of that game. For now, I just keep giggling at the name …."Zombie Tag". >giggle<
A common site in Cousin Lily's Room:
Another common sight at Grandma and Grandpa's house:
Aunt Beth & Uncle Ray's refreshing pool:
Talk about having a lucky summer: Aunt Margaret and Uncle Jon (along with cousins Miles, Grant and their latest addition, Bonnie) drove all the way over from Idaho to spend several weeks on the Farm. Hooray for us!!!
Extended clan, including Aunt Margaret and Uncle Jon + cousins:
Bountiful sweetness:
Little Grant's Third Birthday:
The girls were fortunate enough that Gregory's piano teacher, Brenda, was willing to accept short-term students. Thanks, Brenda!!!
One of the finest reason to be in Michigan during the summer months is the variety of tasty fruits you can pick at local orchards. One of my favorite summer activities!
A beautiful view….Beth & Grandpa's *ginormous* veggie garden:
Annika is attempting to end up in the emergency room. Thankfully it didn't work. 😉
Little Bonnie is such a happy & content sweetie pie. Aunt Beth is getting loads of giggles out of her:
We also had a lightening fast trip to see Oma, Tante Kirstin, Onkel Kris & we finally got to meet Uncle Patrick in Tacoma. The girls also got to spend quality time with our family cat, Mittens. Oma is very kindly putting up with Mitten's mischievious and devious behavior for us while we're in China. Thank you Oma!!! And yes, cats can, in fact, knock down hummingbirds. Don't ask how I know this. {waaaaaaah!!!!! Mittens, you're not allowed to hurt the hummingbirds!!! Are you listening to me, Mittens????}
Oma & Ava in the kitchen:
Downtown Seattle with Uncle Patrick, Tante Kirstin and Onkel Kris:
Okay…now this definitely proves that the folks living in Seattle are….well…ummm…a little different then the rest of the world (for which I'm grateful for!). Now why the heck would I say that????? This wall is covered in – wait for it – gum. Yep. You read that right. This unique piece of artwork covering several walls in an alley way close to Pike's Market is entirely comprised of used (ewwww!) chewing gum. Onkel Kris decided to add to this -ahem- fine piece of artwork by sticking his gum on the wall too. Way to go Kris!!!
Here it is: The Gum Wall
The girls got to play with Mittens as much as they wanted. It's hard to tell whether or not he actually enjoyed the sudden burst of extreme attention (especially the kind of attention that only little girls can give a pet) but the girls loved it!
We visited the Glass Museum in Tacoma with Tante Kirstin & Uncle Patrick:
I think Tante Kirstin has put a spell on these girls…she's showing them her gem collection. The girls are in a trance!
Time to head out to the beach!!! Which beach? Westport Beach!!! (I like to call this one Sand Dollar beach as there are usually tons of sand dollars to be found…and today was no different!).
Check out this crazy sculpture carved out of a piece of driftwood:
Grabbing lunch in Westport:
side note which isn't related to the photos: Kris took me jogging on some of the trails in Tacoma. It felt so nice jogging on trails for a change. Kris, sorry I'm such a slow-poke! 😉
Time to say good bye to Oma (we've got a red-eye flight back to Grand Rapids):
And here's a side effect of taking a red-eye flight:
*waving hello to our Tacoma family*
We also zipped over to Dubuque to visit friends and take care of those pesky dental and medical appointments. It was a whirlwind few days – and we're so very, very grateful to all our friends that were able to make time and see us. I'm very sorry to all the friends we didn't get to see – we missed you!!!! I also had a surreal experience as we were overnight guests at our house. Such a weird feeling being back in that house. However, I'm more than grateful to our Kiwi friends that are currently living there. Man, oh man! Talk about the tasty homebrewed beers they've got on tap in the basement! I guess it's a good thing we stayed there for only one night!!!!! 😉
Visiting old friends while playing in a water park = happy, content kids:
Making it a fun day with the Staders:
I can't explain it but this view just cracks me up:
On Friday several friends met us at the Dubuque Aquarium and Mississippi (boy, do I love typing that word) River Museum for a play date of sorts:
A giant….catfish???? Alrighty then. Why the heck not???
Group of friends at Tony Roma's for dinner:
Hey! We got lucky! It's free movie night at the Potosi Library… saw lots of friends also enjoying the flick:
Saturday – Thank you Valorie for cutting and highlighting my hair!
Here's a bit of deja vu for me….back at the old house. It's party time! Shell and Clint put on an amazing spread and smoked up some tasty ribs:
Here's a little guy I've been dying to meet:
Sunday breakfast with Anuschka, Ulz and Rafiq in Platteville. I just can't resist yummy waffles with whipped cream and berries. Yummy!
oh yeah…here's something I saw on my morning jog along the Mississippi River (right outside the Grand Harbor)…may flies. By the millions. EWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*waving hello to our Dubuque friends!!!!*
Of course we spent most of our time in Michigan with Aunt Beth, Uncle Ray, cousins Lily, Gregory & Henry, Grandpa and Grandma. Oh my…do the cousins know how to play, play,play! The imagination and creativity that is spawned from those five minds is incredible. It just always amazes me what this group of kids will come up with if left to their own devices. Like a village made up of cleverly & artfully built "debris" huts. Debris as in forest debris…you know – sticks, twigs, rocks, moss, vines. That sort of debris.
The kids kept adding more and more "debris" to the huts. Check out the end product:
A peek at the Debris Village:
Oh, and how could I forget our day trips in Michigan??? The girls are *still* talking about Michigan's Adventure (and humming the tune waaaaaay too often). MA is a roller coaster/amusement park/water slides kind of place. Even I tried some of the roller coasters. Eeep. I can say I did it but I'm pretty sure I'll live a full and happy life if I don't ever have to ride on another roller coaster again. BUT the girls had fun so that's what matters most!!!!!
(okay…so I'm missing photos from Michigan's Adventure….but just picture lots of roller coasters …and me not on them. ;-)
One stormy day we aborted our mission to head to MA and headed for the Grand Rapids Public Museum.
Can't forget the trips to the beach. Did you know that pirates have Scottish accents???? I did not know that! Yep, it's fact! (ummm…no. No, it's not a fact. I just made that up just because I could.) The kids spent HOURS pretending to be pirates on a giant piece of driftwood (well, it was actually an entire tree log) that they managed to push out into the lake (PS that lake would be Lake Michigan for those of you that don't know). Arg, matey! Shiver me timbers! Or whatever else it is those Scottish pirates say. Huh???
Daddy *finally* got to join us for the last two weeks of our summer vacation! YAY!!!! He pretty much hit the ground running (as he's accustomed to doing these days) as the Michigander family was hosting a big ol' family reunion on the Farm. We got to visit with lots of family. Lots of awesome food, great beer and fantastic company! Seriously, I'm grateful we got to see so many members of Mark's extended family. Thanks for coming out and partying with us!
Ava taking her cousin, Henry, out for a drag. That sure looks like fun. Sort of.
The Next Generation:
Let's go fishing!
Last trip to the beach….
Enjoying a Five Guys burger meal with Jason, Christina and Claire before they head back home to St. Louis.
The four of us did yet another fast trip – this time to see a former expat family that had moved back to the USA – in Pittsburgh. Can you guess who we saw???? Annika's best friend, Clair! (& her family) I never realized how beautiful that part of Pennsylvania was until this visit. Or how much fun a real, live baseball game could be! I <3 Pittsburgh! What an awesome city! And it goes without saying that we enjoyed the company. Thank you Angela for inviting us over to your part of the world and sharing a bit of Pittsburgh with us!!!!
In Pittsburgh….getting ready to watch our first-ever baseball game!
At the game!!!!
We got to celebrate a few milestones along the way this summer too….
Ava lost her first tooth (and quickly followed by her second tooth). Oh my – I can't even imagine getting as excited as she was about having a lose tooth! Eeep!!!! I hate it when the teeth are barely attached by a thread. Just yank it out already! (help! I can't look!) She's now up to three missing teeth and she's definitely now Gappy Ava.
The girls also got their ears pierced- Daddy and Aunt Beth were in charge of that little expedition. Thankfully the experience seems to have gone (mostly) well. Apparently Annika was a little shell-shocked after the initial piercing but immediately perked up when she was given a mirror to look at her newly pierced ears. Hooray!!!!
(missing a few photos here. Not that this post is lacking in photos!)
The last milestone we hit before stepping back on the plane was Annika's TENTH birthday!!!! On 10 August our Bug finally hit the big 1-0!!!!! A decade! Where the heck has time gone??? Seriously!?! How is it that she's a whole decade old now????? Naturally a lemon meringue pie, family and friends got to join us for this low-key but fun celebration.
Daddy lighting ALL the candles. And yes, Annika….you do need to blow them all out!
Time to board that plane! Time to get us pointed back to China…which means it's also time to head back to school!
This year Annika is in Grade 5 and Ava is in Grade 2. It's shaping up to be a busy school year for the girls – both are in the Primary School Choir. Ava is a class representative for the Elementary Student Council and Annika is a House Leader (we're in the Yellow House). I think you've already seen one of Ava's after school activities – horse riding lessons.
And me??? Well, let's see…..I'm helping out with the PFO (Parent Faculty Organization), I've started violin lessons after *ahem* a VERY long break, I've also started back up with Chinese language lessons, I've been working on getting certified for Open Water Scuba Diving with Annika (we just completed the online classwork and we're getting ready to head down to Shanghai next weekend for the Confined Water Dives at a pool.), I'm volunteering in the library and I'm hoping to start volunteer work at a local orphanage. So, yeah….I'm not bored.
A few remaining cute photos from our summer:
And here's the newest addition to the Aunt Beth and Uncle Ray family:
Whew!!!! Soooo….that post ended up being about a mile-and-a-half long. Whoops. So much carefully selecting "just a few" photos. I'm pretty sure I haven't got a clue what "just a few" actually means.