Dear Annika, Happy *9th* Birthday!!!!!

Oh. My. Goodness!!!!

Today Annika TURNS NINE YEARS OLD!!!!!!!!!!! 

She's almost in the double digits!  How can that be?????

It seems like only yesterday that you were this tiny little peanut eyeing the world in amazement!!! (p.s. This is still one of my most favorite photos- ever!)

Fast Forward nine years………

And here you are with the bag of tiny fish – four of 'em- to go with the little aquarium you wanted as your birthday gift.  And you're wearing the amulet you made out of white air-drying clay and then painted.  You got a few people asking you about it.

Annika requested smoked ribs for her birthday dinner.  And as everyone knows, smoked ribs taste better when you share them with friends….so we've invited a few old and new friends to join us for an informal BBQ this evening.  Naturally lemon meringue pie will make an appearance as it's been Annika's birthday "cake" for the past three (?) years.  We're also making a big batch of Penzey's chocolate ice cream.  Mmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!  (That also means that I did a bunch of cooking and baking yesterday- which I'm still amazed that I could manage to do as we started out the morning without power!!!!!)

Annika is so excited as she gets to see her some of friends again!  :-) 

Today is also the last week-day before school starts!!!  Yippeee!!!!!  So today we're heading over to the school to find out all the changes they've made to the elementary school (a lot of work was apparently done on the building and the classrooms) and we'll also,  hopefully, meet the girls' new teachers!

The cute, petite little aquarium we bought for Annika's birthday. We bought it two weeks ago with the help of my Chinese language teacher, Lisha. We decided to change up our lessons a bit and hold class at the plant and aquarium market. That way I could learn how to properly talk to the shop keepers and ask the questions I need to ask. I got the aquarium-plants, tank, lamp, four fish, gravel- for 340 RMB. I loved the style of this one….it seems like a far more natural setting for the fish.

About the aquarium: Annika has been begging for a pet of some sort.  Well, with as much traveling as we've been doing owning a pet just spells trouble.  However, while our South African friends were back home this summer we took care of their fish.  Or, I should say, Annika took care of their fish.  We told her if she could demonstrate that she could take care of it we'd get her a small aquarium for her birthday.  

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This weekend we're heading to Beijing.  We're going to fulfill another birthday promise.  Annika has been BEGGING to go to one of the big markets for many, many months.  We heard from Linda that the Grand Hyatt in Beijing has an amazing swimming pool so we're overnighting there on Saturday.  Here's hoping, hoping, hoping that everyone stays calm and relaxed while we are out and about in the markets!!!! (wish Mark and me lots of luck!!!!!)

Okay…time to get off.  Time to make blueberry waffles.  Time to get the meringue baking on the pies.  Time to get myself pysched up for Chinese language lesson- which I always struggle with.  Bye for now!!!