Author: Astrid

What to do on a Sunday when Dad is away on a business trip? Bake cookies?  Check. Watch a movie?  Check. How about….create a miniature fairy garden terrarium??? YES!!!! I found all the materials I needed at our local plant market: the glass jar containers, the colorful activated charcoal (or at least, I *think* that's…

Easter 2015 – When somebody says "Easter Sunday" what images do you conjure up?  Sitting in a church listening to a sermon?  Coloring Easter eggs?  Searching for chocolate bunnies and colorful Easter baskets that darn clever Easter Bunny has hidden?  Or maybe getting together with family for a fine feast of cold cut ham, hard…

5 April 2015 –   It's been raining allllllll night long.   I mean, I do love listening to the rain and thunder BUT in this one instance I'd appreciate if it would STOP!  Today is our last day in ZJJ and then it's back to the Big City for us.   Looks like we're…

April 4, 2015 – Good morning!  Mark and I just had our cup of Starbucks coffee.  Like I've said before, thank goodness for those VIA packets!  They're really life savers! Before we head to breakfast and figure out where and what we'll be doing today I wanted to show you something in our room: That…

April 3, 2015 – Wakey, wakey! Time for breakfast (they don't start serving breakfast at the hotel until 8am…doesn't that seem late to you?  It seems late to me.) Chris is coming at 8:30am to pick us up…. Our room is on the third floor.  This hotel reminds me of the one we stayed at…

April 2, 2015 – Zhangjiajie Have you heard of this place? I wouldn't be surprised if you've never heard of it.  Have you ever watched the movie "Avatar"?  It was, in my brutally honest opinion, a barely tolerable sci-fi movie.  Ava and Annika claim it's now their "favorite" movie.  (Did you just see my eyes rolling?) The…

16 March 2015- Waiting for Freedom: Annika B. Trapped Annika is currently enrolled in the most awesome after-school activity: singer/song-writer class (with…Ava's teacher!).   Please listen to this song.  Annika wrote the lyrics and sang the song while her teacher, Mr. K played the guitar.   I hope you enjoy it as much as we…

16 March 2015  What's been happening in our house?  Here are some random thoughts on life right now…in no particular order. My sweet little Ava at TJMex (Mexican restaurant in AoCheng, Tianjin).  Ava *always* gets guacamole and chips.  It's her favorite! Well, I'm in the middle of my first online course in the Master's in…

13 February 2015- Welcome to the Year of the Lamb….or Goat….or Sheep!!!!! The girls' school held a Temple Fair on the Friday before the Chinese New Year (CNY) one-week holiday began.  It's an entire day filled with lots of Chinese related activities and every year it's fun to attend.  Sadly, the secondary kids don't get…

Oh… Can we please go back to the lazzzzzzzy days on this tiny island?   Strolling. Beach combing. Swimming. Snorkeling. Swimming. Splashing. Digging. Kayaking. Reading. Dreaming. Looking. Observing. Climbing. Listening. Tasting. And sleeping on rock hard beds. Oh, and getting stung by jellyfish.  And getting bitten by mosquitoes. (Darn! Can't win them all, can we?)…