Goodbye Family

I'm going to the States tomorrow. I'm excited to see my friends, but it's very hard to leave my little ones. I love you guys!!

Giving kisses

Can't get enough of these!

Stud

International Day

Annual event at Lizzy's school. They were supposed to dress up in a specific country's costume, eat international food and watch a show. Lizzy dressed as an Aussie, hence the Australian flag bandana. I don't think she knows one thing about Australia, could barely pronounce the word, but hey, her mother's citizenship is Australia so she's got to respect her heritage!


Watching the show with some of her classmates

Out for ice cream

There's a new ice cream store that opened in our neighborhood so we took the kids out. After a week of rain, the sky was beautiful and we could actually see the TV tower in the background (it's not blocked by pollution!!).

Here we are enjoying some yummy ice cream

on the way back, we discovered another new store:

this is to Jason like an ice cream store is to the kids...

Lizzy singing Chinese song

For non Chinese viewers of this blog, the words to the song goes,

"clay baby, clay baby, one clay baby
she has eyebrows, and eyes
but her eyes do not blink.

clay baby, clay baby, one clay baby
she has a nose, and a mouth
but her mouth does not speak.

She is a fake baby
not a real baby
she does not have a mother or a father

clay baby, clay baby, one clay baby
I will be her mother, I will be her father
and love her forever."

Ya, it's not the cheeriest song, but it teaches body parts and promotes a nurturing character.

Couch Potatoe(s)

Part of the kids' daily routine is a half an hour show after their afternoon siestas. Lizzy loves powerpuff girls, and Hayden likes the Shape of the Bear. Lizzy has a longer attention span than Hayden, but they will pretty much stay glued to the TV for at least 5 minutes. Here they are in their mesmerized state:

Profile shot

Lunch with Lizzy

I know these are bad pictures, I'm sorry I'm not a photographer. We went to Lizzy's school to have lunch with her one day. She was happy to see us, and we enjoyed seeing her in school with her teacher and classmates. Such cute kids.

Different Chinese

A large percentage of expats in Tianjin are Koreans. Thus, Lizzy's "international" school consists of more than 60% Koreans. On her school bus, she is the ONLY non Korean who rides in it. After a week of vacation, Lizzy's going back to school tomorrow. She's so excited, she says, "I like to ride on the school bus and listen to the children speak the different Chinese."

Military Training

We went to the park last week. They have this fort structure, it's just wood and stairs with a big sandpit in the middle (which was flooded). It's great fun for little boys. Doesn't Hayden look like he's doing military training with his camo outfit? He had a blast.


Fortunately, there was another spot in the park with sand. His first sand play experience - loved it!

Happy Ten One Day

October 1st is China's National Holiday. In Chinese, the months are named by numbers, so January is 1st month, February is 2nd month and so on. So, October first is 10th month, thus, Happy Ten One Day! Daddy and Lizzy both have school off this week but we are not taking a vacation anywhere. Fortunately we didn't make plans because it has been raining. Anyway, here's Lizzy in front of a plant designed to say Happy National Day!

Sophie and Matthew

Our friends who used to live in Tianjin. Sophie is 3 and Matthew is 1. Lizzy and Sophie are old enough to remember being good friends so it was fun to see them together after the summer. Matthew and Hayden are too young to remember each other. Besides, they are boys, so they are not into the hugging business.