Pia's 4!!!

 

It was all about pink, chocolate and butterflies this year for Pia's birthday.  Sophia had her first official birthday party with friends, games, crafts, and 2 exhausted parents.  Even though the kids declared my butterfly sandwiches "disgusting", I would declare it a success.  The smiles make it all worthwhile.  

 Happy Birthday Pretty Lady!

Yunnan

Another Chinese holiday, another adventure.  This time we decided to stay in China and venture to the southwest corner of the country to the Yunnan province.  The Yunnan province boarders Tibet, so the more west you go, the more you experience the Tibetan culture.  Given how difficult it is to get to Tibet and how far it is, we decided this would have to do for now.  And wow...what a great trip.  So different than anything we have experienced thus far in China.  

Yunnan is made up of many minority populations and their different religions.  As a result, the culture is much different than what we have experienced in the big cities.  Shangri-la (or Zhongdian prior to the government renaming it Shangri-la 10 years ago), had a population of only 50,000!  A big difference from Shanghai's 30 million!  Both Lijiang and Shangri-la (and the 5 hour drive in between) were mostly farming communities, still using mostly animals and manual labor vs. tractors and heavy farm equipment.  It was like stepping back in time 50 years.  And the landscape is so different, being in the middle of some magnificent and tall mountains.  It was beautiful and fascinating.  Even the kids thought so (or maybe that was just the lack of oxygen due to the altitude!)

Enjoy the pictures!

Click to view more pictures

   

Happy Halloween from China!

All Dressed Up

 This pretty much sums up our night....

Hopefully one day soon happy Sophia will be back to join us.

Our City

And our crazy kids...We wouldn't change a thing.

Daddy's Little Girl

We have Lift OFF!!

They just grow up too fast!!!  Once again, Eric was right.  He has been telling us for a month that he was ready to take his training wheels off his bike.  So, today was the day and he was riding solo within 5 minutes.  Amazing what a little confidence can do.  

Congratulations Eric!!

Getting Ready

A quick lesson...

And we're off!  Did you let go??

A Natural

Quickly it became a game of chase.

Eric's Cheerleaders

No Fear

For the record, Sophia was the first to take the plunge. ;O)

Summertime

Future Red Sox - With the pink glove Pedro-style!

Yep, they still exist. And I have realized that they were outlawed everywhere else in the world for a very good reason!

Growing up

Our favorite smile

BFFs (for the moment)

We ain't seen nothing yet!

The summer is here. I was just thinking this morning, somehow we missed Spring with the cool mornings and nice warm afternoons. Either way, it is HOT and humid. So far we have hit 97 F as a high, but according to our ayi, we still have at least another 10 degrees to go. If anyone ever feared we may not come back from the US, rest assured. There are only so many summers here that Doug and the kids will be able to tolerate.

Here they come to save the day!!

Introducing Ms. Cat Woman and Mr. Batman!
(click on the picture to see more pictures of the Superhero birthday party)

Visit with the Blakes

We had a great visit with the Blakes last week. The kids loved playing together, even though the weather didn't cooperate. And you can see Pia and Will hit it off great. So many boyfriends, so little time. ;O)

True Happiness

Summer Rain

There is nothing more fun than running in the rain....

and then taking a break with dad. ;o)

Look at those legs!

Professional Photos

I found this AWESOME photographer and had her take some pictures of all of us a few weeks ago. I don't have the real files yet, but here are some snapshots of our favorites to give everyone a sneak peak.

What do you think??