Author: Astrid

25 September 2015 – Ha! I'm actually posting a current family event!  I didn't think that could/would be possible considering how far behind I am in posting photos from our summer in the USA.   This morning the IST Elementary School hosted a Mid-Autumn Festival assembly celebrating this Chinese holiday.   Personally, I think this…

May 2015 – I can you – one thing I'm passionate about gardening.  Growing flowers, growing vegetables, growing plants…..and trees…and, well, just gardening. And the animals and birds that come with gardening.  I have over the past three years purchased house plants from the local flower market.  For example, orchids are an inexpensive treat.  Some…

May 2015- It seems that whenever Annika has a spare minute or two she's squirreled away in her room making these absolutely adorable oven-hardening clay figurines…which we call Mippets. Here's one lovely creation…I think I'll call her Rainbow Fairy…and I think you'll see why I call her that when you see her: The wings are…

May 2015- I bought this can of spray oil from a reputable(ish) imported goods grocery store in Beijing.  If you take a close look at these photos you'll notice that somebody (not sure who) put white tape across the word "organic".  I've noticed this repeatedly in all the imported goods grocery stores I shop.  (all…

April 2015 – Ava has been begging to make a volcano for weeks. So, let's gather scrounge up some materials to make a papier-mâché volcano!  We'll need a piece of cardboard, masking tape (or painter's tape), empty plastic water bottle, paper, flour and water. We used recycled materials or things we already owned so this…

11 April 2015 – I've lost track of the number of times we've visited this part of Beijing! However, I do think this is the first time Mark has come with us to ogle the amusing, the beautiful, the odd, the "what the heck were they thinking?", and "so, is that what they call art…

Weeeeell, perhaps I shouldn't have waited so long to post photos!  Here are a few random-ish, wonky-ish photos from this past April that I nearly forgot about.   I'm going to start with the Bad…and go from there. We'll see where it takes us! These next three photos are what I would consider to be…

16 April 2015 – The IST Elementary Choir participated in the ISCOT Choral Concert at TIS (Tianjin International School). The choir spent the day at TIS which Ava was thrilled about! Ahem.  Ava, please leave your qipao alone!  Apparently it's an itchy dress BUT STILL – stop scratching!!! 😉  

27 May 2015 – It's the Elementary Spring Show tonight!   These shows are always great fun…. especially when it comes to watching the wee little ones singing and dancing up on stage.  The Nursery and Preschool ages kids just love doing their own thing which makes them absolutely hilarious to watch.  We were cracking…

10 May 2015 – Let me show you what I woke up to on this lovely morning: A beautiful breakfast made the most special girls in my life (that would be Annika and Ava if you couldn't figure that out. wink, wink)