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great friends

O grandma and her great grandchildren (Happy 95th)



Daddy sleeping on the beach.


Check out that single scoop of ice cream


We arrived home on Father's day and we have been going ever since. Isaac said to me the other day that we were going to need to go on a vacation from our vacation. We are so blessed to have the amazing families and friends we have. It has been such a great time. Where do you start?? the people, the food, the adventures, the laughs and tears. WOW. It went by so fast. We were on the go most of the time but it was worth every minute. Enjoy the pictures.

Dragon Boat Festival

On Wednesday the Chinese celebrated the Dragon Boat Festival. We were invited to our taxi driver's (Jack) house for dinner. There were 4 other couples/families invited as well. We felt honored to be included. Jack picked us up and we went to his apartment. It was a great night. We ate seafood, chicken wings (Isaac and Matthew's favorite) and other yummy dishes. It was great to meet his family and extended family and to be in a Chinese home. Jack has a son that is in 5th grade so that was fun to see him and talk to him. The boys liked kicking the soccer ball with him. We all had a great time and wow the food was yummy. It was such a pleasure and privilege to be invited.

Where has the time gone??

We can hardly believe that school is almost out for us. It feels like yesterday that we said goodbye to our families and friends to come to China. Now is just 1 week we will be back with them for a month. We are so excited we can hardly stand it.

Living in an ex-pat community has been amazing. We have learned so much from so many people. The sad part is families leave to go back home at different times. As the school year ends we say good bye to an amazing year of teaching and learning and also some great friends we have met along the journey. We know that we are here for a reason and they have been placed in our lives. They all hold a special place in our hearts. It is hard to say good bye but we know it will not be forever.

We look forward to more adventures..... (pictures to come)

New things and Old things

Moving to China has been quite the adventure. We have met some amazing friends here. I have accomplished some personal goals that I did not even know I wanted to accomplish. :) I am now running several times a week and I am up to 5 miles on my long runs. Doug and I have made that a part of our daily schedule. We support each other and motivate each other to keep going. It is a beautiful thing.

Then several months ago I had a friend ask me to play soccer. I declined several time. I played when I was 4 until I was 17, so it has been a long time since I have played. Well thankfully she kept asking and Doug kept asking me to play. So I did it. Now that soccer bug that I thought was so buried inside of me has been released.
There is a group of mom's that play against the girl's high school team. The kids call us the Bananas, because we wear yellow jerseys. It has been so much fun getting out and playing again. Then on Saturday's there are some adults who get together and play. I have to say that my body hurts when we are done, I don't remember that from when I was younger. :)

I knew thought I would be running, playing soccer and loving it. Crazy!!!

We are all getting the "I can't wait to go HOME bug!". It is coming up quickly and there is still so much to do. So we are taking each day as they come and doing what we need to do. We will be home for a month and then back to China we come.

This weekend we say goodbye to a dear family that is heading back to the states. It is a sad time but we know that we will be in touch again. We feel so blessed to be here meeting so many amazing people. Friends that we will have for a lifetime.

Pizza Hut

Look at that great looking pizza we made

Yes, Easter hats in May.


Yesterday we took the boys and their friend, Trejan, shopping. We headed into town to get a few things. After shopping we wanted to treat the boys to Pizza Hut. We had no idea what was in store for us. We ordered sprite for the boys and when it came the boys thought it was gross. The sprite did not have the flavoring in it so it was just the carbonated water. We TRIED to tell the waitress about it. She took the pitcher over to her boss who lifted the pitcher and drank right out of it. The boys were in aw. They could not believe someone would do that in a restaurant. We laughed so hard. Then our waitress came back and said they would give us free cola. The boys were thrilled to have cola. Yipppee for us :)

When we ordered our pizza the waitress said something to us that we THOUGHT was would you like to have the pizzas at the same time. Well when she brought the dough and the toppings out for us to assemble our pizza's we figured we did not get that one right. We were the only ones in the restaurant who were assembling their pizza's.

Then to top it all off she brought these Easter bunny hats for the boys to make. She stayed with us to help them tape the faces on the hats. The restaurant was packed but she stayed with us. We were laughing about the Easter stuff first of all Easter in China and it was May 1st. It was a meal we will never forget and had to share with you. Only in China ;)

Poem by Matthew

Isaac

Shares a lot
Great at writing
Smiley
Great at Blockus
Spreads joy
Great brother


by Matthew


A poem Matthew wrote for Isaac. Matthew read it at Community time at school. It was a surprise. Too sweet

Spirit Week

What a week. Spirit week was a lot of fun for the boys. Monday was twin's day and Matthew and his buddy Trejan were twins and Isaac and about six other Kindergartners dressed up the same. The boys loved it. Then on Tuesday was class color day 1st graders dressed in orange and kindergartners in pink. Thankfully we had a pinkish dress shirt for Isaac. Wednesday was Sports day and that was easy. It was amazing to see all the different jerseys from around the world. Back home it is just the Seattle favorites. Here it was everything. Thursday was crazy hair day. The kids wore their hair all spiked up. It was funny. I had tons of pig tails and Doug combed his hair forward. Friday was school colors day Blue and Yellow. The crazy thing about the day was at 12:30 we had our first ever pep assembly. Then we watched the boys soccer team play a local Chinese team. The whole school was out cheering for the boys. Never have I had class canceled to watch a soccer game. It was fun. Then after the boys team the girls team played the Mom's and some teachers. I played and had a blast. It has been since high school since I have played and that is a long time ago. It put the soccer bug back into me. OH NO!!! I will let you know how I feel in the morning :)

It was a great week. We are still figuring out our flights home and will keep you posted when we do. We have a very NEEDED three day weekend.