Our little Model

Mark was at our local import grocery store one day with Nicholas and Kyle and a woman stopped him and said he had the most beautiful boys and she would like to take their picture for modeling. He gave her one of our cards and said "Call my wife". Well after much bothering and many calls I finally decided to summit a couple of photos of all 3 of the boys to this agency. We took them all for a little group photo shoot and thought that would be the end of the business. Well they decided they really loved Ian with his light hair. His agent Sophie now calls for weekend photo shoots asking for "The lovely Ian". Here are some shots from his first gig -where he earned himself $100 in 2 hours for his college fund. Not too bad for a 4 year old! Still not sure if these clothes are high fashion in China???

Halloween Party

I love Halloween! I loved Halloween in Briarcliff! I have always loved Halloween and spent every year as a kid searching and trying to come up with the best Halloween costumes I could think of. Luckily my Mom is very crafty and my dad is an engineer. Great team when you decide you want to be a shower! OK -so it was kind of a copy cat from the movie The Karate Kid, but it was a fantastic costume! My dad built a harness to hold the shower up and my mom decked me out with a cool shower curtain and fake water - I have to say I looked really cool! I think I even sprayed my already very hairsprayed wings (feathered hair) blue to look wet. Anyway- I decided we had to throw the best Halloween party to show those not so familiar with Halloween (our Dutch, Australian, and British friends) how we do it in America. So I whipped up some of my best scary snacks - I'm looking at you dip with witches nails, Candy Corn pizza, Brains in a cup, Worms in the dirt, etc, we played our favorite scary music, and had plenty of fun games - bobbing for apples, Halloween BINGO, Scavenger Hunt, cookie decorating and more. We hosted about 50 of our wonderful friends and had a great time!! And because we were hosting the party we had to have some good costumes - so we were all Mario guys. Mark was Mario, Nicholas was Wario, Ian was Luigi, Kyle was baby Luigi and I was Peach. With the fabric market and some major help from our tailor friend Mr. shang we looked pretty darn good. I am sure you would love to see some photos of the fabulous event, however, the person in charge of photo taking ( I won't mention any names) snapped pictures all night long and was so proud of himself to announce at the end of the night that he took over 100 photos! So I turned the camera on to scroll through the fabulous photos and the message popped up "No CF card"- hhhmmm so 100 photos became no photos!!
Here is one pulled from Facebook - it is all we got.

The little guy turns 1!

Wow- I cannot believe my little man is 1 year old! I am sure I would be saying the same thing if we still lived in Briarcliff, but with everything we have been through in the last year - I really cannot believe it!! This guy has sat on The Great Wall of China before his 1st birthday! He has become a true China man over these last 9 months - he loves flirting with the Chinese girls, loves eating dumplings (he once ate 20 in one sitting) and eggy rice (fried rice) and loves watching Teletubbies in Mandarin. Many years from now I think he will have a fondness of all things China and not even know why - who knows! Anyway - we had a nice quiet night celebrating his BIG day!

On The Great Wall - 7 months

1st Birthday

UN Day

Every year Dulwich celebrates United Nations Week with International activities, a food festival, and a dress up day. Nicholas dressed up in his Yankees best and we tried to make Ian into an Uncle Sam , but he was not too thrilled with his clothing choice. Thanks Uncle Ben and Ashley - I think he looks pretty cool in his Polo duds!!

Superheros

Ian and our new neighbor and friend Reeves love to dress up as Superheros and they love to fight evil on our trampoline!!

School Camp Out

One of the main events for a Year 3 student at Dulwich College Shanghai is the Year 3 Camp Out. All Year 3 students(second graders) sleep in tents overnight on the school playground! A few days before the big event we headed over to the sporting goods store to get his supplies - sleeping bag, yoga mat, and a torch (flashlight to we North Americans). Nicholas was soooo excited for this that the night before he decided to practice by sleeping on his bedroom floor. He got to share a tent with his good buddies Matt and Dylan and had a fantastic time! They slept over on a Thursday night and got out of school early on Friday at noon. I have asked him many times what all he did, but not much information was divulged. I just know he was taking a nap by 2 so I think it was a late night!

Sports Saturdays

Living with 4 boys means that our Saturdays are spent doing sports. I think I have a long life of weekend sports ahead of me! No ballet classes - no manicure and pedicure parties - no shopping - sorry enough dreaming! Anyway - here are a few photos from Ian's sports class (they teach them how to play different sports each week - football, hockey, crickett, etc
0. And Nicholas decided to do baseball this fall. After lots of playing with Papa Jo over the summer he has gotten pretty good and Mark decided to actually commit to being one of the coaches!! They are all having a great time!!

Nicholas at baseball - on the White Sox team!



The Cheering Section:

Boys will be Boys

"Nicholas had a little accident" is what the teacher said when I finally reached her. "How bad is it - does he need stitches - what was he doing?" I asked franticly. "It looks bad - no stitches - he was skipping rope, but he is fine now see you at 3:30?" So all day I was wondering what the details were - well - here he is - and school pictures tomorrow! Who would have thought skipping rope was so dangerous?

New Neighbors!

I was definitely nervous and hopeful about meeting the new neighbors, but once again we have gotten lucky. Our new neighbors are Texas Longhorns - born and bread Texas(Mark and I have a special place in our hearts for Texas since it is where we met), but have been in China for a few years now. First in Shanghai - most recently in Hong Kong and are now back in Shanghai. So no strangers to the China lifestyle. They have 2 boys who are 5 and 3 so Nicholas and Ian are loving having new buddies across the street. As much as they enjoyed playing "Mums and Dads" with Sophia they were ready for some Mario and Batman play time with their new friends. Just a few weeks after moving in Trevor turned 6 and we all celebrated Spongebob style!

What Ian learned on his first day of school.

Here is Ian again singing in Mandarin. We loves to learn these new songs and our Ayi says he is pretty good!

New Trampoline!

As you know by now we are VERY sad that our neighbors across the street have left us to go back to Glasgow, Scotland, but they left us with a whole lot of loot!! Here is Ian and Kyle enjoying our largest hand-me-down gift. Thanks Wallaces!!

First Day of School!

Well - we were suppose to start school on August 25th, but because of the H1N1 scare over here Dulwich decided we needed to quarantine ourselves for a week in our homes before starting school. So the boys and I enjoyed a few more days at the Vizcaya pool before we headed back to school on August 27th. This year Ian jumped up from the waiting list and got excepted into Reception (Pre-Kindergarten for us in the states) at Dulwich. So now he attends the lower school (Toddler, Nursey, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2) where Nicholas was last year and Nicholas moved up the the Junior School (across the street). A more challenging pick up and drop off, but great for them to both be at Dulwich (same holiday breaks).

Here are the studs dressed and ready for school and for play (there is a not hat no play policy).

Coming Home....or Leaving Home??

It was definitely a weird feeling coming back to the PRC this time. After 5 weeks in the US, enjoying how easy life is in a free country where you speak the language and eat normal food, it was difficult to be excited to get on the plane back to this life so foreign from our own. Living here in China, I have gotten use to ignoring the background sounds and kind of living in my own world. When you cannot understand the language and you don't care to hear the sounds of spitting and urination - you learn to block it out. In fact I see many Western people in the shopping areas with their iPods on. I think they have the same feeling as me. Our first full day back in the US at my sister's in Chicago, we took the kids to the zoo. All day I felt like I had been a deaf person who suddenly was able to hear again. I was eavesdropping on every one's conversations and I felt like striking up conversations with every stranger around. Most of you who know me know I am a talker - well when you are riding in a car with a man who speaks no English and you have a woman in your house all day that speaks no English - it is that constant feeling of uncomfortable silence. But yet there is nothing you can do about it. I simply miss talking to people.  I think it is the little things like this that I miss the most. Things that make you feel comfortable in your own skin. I kind of feel like I am wearing someone else's skin temporarily and it is not quite as comfortable as mine? 

So- flight #1 was to the unknown - nervous, anxious, scared, unsure of what to expect, hoping for the best.

Flight #2 was in sadness - missing my friends and family already, knowing my good neighbors in China were gone, mourning the loss of the good food (I needed this one since I gained 10 pounds in the five weeks home) and finally knowing that my next visit back is a whole year away.

I once again enjoyed my extra large Dunkin Donuts coffee and then we boarded the flight back to the other side of the world.

New York, New York....

So after a nice long visit in the Mid-West we headed out East for our 3rd stop on the Lisi US Summer Tour 2009. It is interesting how things in the Mid-West move so calm and slow and the minute you step onto New York soil we were off and running. We landed in Westchester on Tuesday night and had one week to enjoy all things NY. Wednesday was a crazy day of going from doctor to dentist to doctor to catch up on our annual check-ups. After all the business was taken care of we headed to the Briarcliff town pool! Boy was it great to be back to a place that feels so comfortable to all of us. I had sent out a late notice e-mail to many of our friends that we would be at the pool that afternoon and we were so touched that so many people were able to come and join us for a little swim (well play - it was a little cool and rainy)and some pizza. The kids were so excited to see their old pals and it was so nice to catch up a little on life at home. We wished we could have stayed longer, but I am afraid I just might have decided to hide in Elizabeth's basement instead of getting on the flight back to China. Maybe it was too early to come home?? It was so hard to see our house with someone else living in it(our course it looked great - in fact I think the yard is better now than when we were there)! We saw Daphne (our cat) walking in the neighbor's yard and I tried to call her over to pet her and she ran from me like a stranger. We needed to make the visit short for everyone's sake - so we cherished the one day spent with our wonderful friends and look forward to next year! Thanks to all!

Nicholas got to spend the night with his best friend in the whole world Patrick and is still talking about how much fun he had!! Thanks Patrick - for the great memories!

Once again Thursday morning we were off and running out to East Hampton to enjoy some great time with Mark's family at the beach. We had a great time just relaxing with Uncle Ben, Ashley, Uncle Andrew and Grandma and Pop. The weather was great, the sand was beautiful, and the sea was fun for all. This was Kyle's first trip to the beach and he seemed pretty comfortable playing, crawling and eating the sand.

 

Nicholas and Ian had a great time using the new boogie boards that Aunt Margaret restocked the house with!

We spent our mornings feeding ducks bread and feeding ourselves Dreesen's donuts. Afternoons at the beach or playing Putt-Putt golf (where Mark got a hole in one on the last hole and earned himself a free round for next summer) and nights toasting marshmallows and doing sparklers. It was a great way to spend our last few days in the US and we had a very tearful drive back to Westchester counting down the hours until we boarded that plane back to our new life. Thank you to Grandma and Pop, Uncle Ben and Ashley, and Uncle Andrew who made our last few days on American soil so special! Good Bye Summer - Good Bye East Hampton until we meet again next summer!

Home for the Summer

Well - our first stop on the Lisi US summer tour was Chicago for 4 days with Aunt Kim, Uncle Zach and Cousin Henry. Let me tell you Kim has said many times now she will NEVER take the 1st stop again! Four very jet-lagged travelers were not her idea of fun! And the littlest traveler caused us all the most pain! Fourteen hours in an airplane in Coach seats surrounded by Chinese people is difficult for anyone, but we managed to survive pretty well. No serious break downs by anyone. Nicholas and Ian had a pretty easy adjustment to the 13 hour time difference, but Kyle was just not willing to believe that night was day and day was night. So needless to say Kim and I were also up many nights enjoying the beautiful sights and sounds of the Baby Einstein DVDs (black market Chinese copies anyway- good to know they work in the DVD players in the US). 

We did have great fun at the Brookfield Zoo checking out the dinosaur exhibit. Uncle Zach was nice enough to get up on Saturday morning and get us 2 dozen Dunkin Donuts and my favorite coffee!! YEA! We each ate 3 donuts a piece! Boy have we missed donuts.....and this was just the beginning of the US feeding frenzy!

Anyway - I got a fabulous haircut and color by Kim's very cool stylist Jenny - Kim and I did some quick shopping (thanks Zach and Rachel for the babysitting) and the kids had a great time hanging out with cousin Henry. By Sunday, however, Henry was ready to kick us out and get his Mommy and his stuff back to himself - so we hopped a quick one hour flight to Indiana for the second leg of our summer tour.
Now -first of all we need to say a big "THANKS" to Nana and Papa Jo for allowing us to stay with them for 3 full weeks in their normally quiet, peaceful, clean home. The 3 boys and I came and destroyed (Kyle's new nickname is "The Destroyer") the quiet, peaceful, clean home in the woods, but we had a great time doing it! Kyle was notorious for removing every door stop in the house and finding all outlets and toilet paper rolls!

Papa Jo spoiled the boys with fishing trips, putt-putt golf, and swims at the Country club pool with a slide!! The best part was when Papa Jo would go down the slide! He might be a 60 something, but he sure can keep up with these crazy boys! Almost every night was spent playing baseball on the front drive ......Papa Jo throws a mean screw ball!

Nana and I took the boys on many shopping trips(not their favorite activity, but much needed) to restock all the items we cannot find in China, a fun morning at the Children's Museum, and visits to many of the big playgrounds around Newburg.

Nicholas and Ian spent 2 weeks taking daily swimming and lessons and got quite good. Both passed their current levels and moved up to the advanced levels for their age groups. Nick also spent a week at golf camp perfecting his swings and putts.

We had nice visits with Nana's side of the family and shared some Chinese cheer with all!

And then our final HOORAH in Indiana was our 4th annual trip to Holiday World. Now we have been talking about this trip since last Spring after the announcement of the the newest ride "Pilgrim's Plunge"---the world's tallest water ride. Nicholas, Papa Jo, Mark and I experienced the "plunge" and lived to talk about it  - so I guess it was worth all the build-up! It was a great way to end our Mid-West leg of the tour with a fun day of rides and slides in Santa Claus, Indiana. Thanks for all the great memories!