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Permalink I had the opportunity to meet with Elle’s teachers today to get a “school reportâ€. Her teacher, Ms. Hannah, is just lovely. She is exactly what you would want for your young child. She is fun, bubbly and full of energy. She gets down to the children’s level to talk to them. She had a glowing report…not sure what child she was talking about!! What do you mean she is ALWAYS polite with no nasty voice; she ALWAYS shares and gets along with all the children. I guess the little red school bus must be the “magic school busâ€. She leaves all her bad behavior at home before boarding the bus. I also meet with her Mandarin teacher, Ms Alin. Her report was not as glowing. She teaches for an hour speaking only mandarin. She informed me that Eleri loses interest and focus on what she is saying. REALLY, I would too. I thought she was doing great since she knows more than me (I guess that is not saying much)!! Just the other day, I was moving her new stickers from Grandma out of the way so I could brush her teeth. She told me “`bu yao, bu yaoâ€. I think she gets it!!
 Ms Hannah and Elle during show & tell
Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 based on 274 user reviews.
Permalink At Elle’s school, the reception class (preschoolers-age 4) are studying space. The classes have been busy building rockets. The common area space outside of the classrooms has been turned into space stations with rockets and planets. The children have built four different kinds of rockets to play “space”.
 The Space Station
 Rocket to Space
 Eleri’s class made Venus for their classroom planet
Average Rating: 4.6 out of 5 based on 154 user reviews.
Permalink It has been book week all week in both of the girls’ schools. I had fun reading in both classes on Wednesday. On Friday, the girls had a book character parade…at the same time, of course. It was decided Jim would go to Elle’s school and I would go to Emmy’s. Elle’s reception class is study space. They have built these amazing rockets I wanted Jim to see before they were gone.
Emersyn was Fancy Nancy. It was a fun and easy costume to put together…just a bit of a dig in the dress-up bin.
After Eleri dug through the dress-up bin, she decided on Snow White.
Fancy Nancy and Snow White ready for a day at school.
On a cold and rainy day in Shanghai, Elle’s parade was cancelled. Jim took a few pictures in the classroom of the children.
Emmy’s school moved her parade in-doors to the motor skill room (gym). Not the same effect of a parade, but not cancelled!! Concordia set up the stage in the gym for the students to walk across. Emersyn was all smiles when her class walked the stage.
The teachers did little performances that were fun and entertaining. The entire teaching staff dressed in a theme by grade level. The 3rd and 4th grade teachers went as Alice in Wonderland.
 Alice is Mr. Murphey!!
 Emmy’s teacher, Mr. Gerlach, was the mad hatter.
Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 288 user reviews.
Permalink 
The Daddy Daughter Dance sponsored by Girl Scouts. This year the theme was extra fun…Masquerade Ball. Living in China makes it easy to get a costume. We decided this was the year to really have fun with the dress. We went to the fabric market with the Humes Family. We had researched the internet for masquerade dress. The three girls (Emmy, Kelly & Erin) all selected different dress off the Internet. Each girl picked her own fabric. Jim and John had similar, but different costumes made. After everyone was measured, we round up the gang of girls to leave. Elle only had one comment, “but, I didn’t get measured’.
Elle is not old enough to be in Daisy/Brownies/Girl Scouts. She will be next year. Currently, this year, she is our “mascot†that comes to the meetings after dance class. Mary and I are troop leaders for Emmy & Kelly’s troop. We are having fun with it. I had said “no, no and no” to being a leader. However, this year at sign up, there were no 3rd grade leader volunteers. No leaders equals no troop, therefore a “yes” this year.
Friday after school, we went to the Dragonfly to get the girls’ nails dance ready. The Dragonfly is the spa that caters to the Western expats. It is still cheap, but more expensive from China standards. The cost of nails for the girls is 50rmb ($8). Children are half price.
Saturday afternoon, I took Emmy to the salon behind our complex. They were having a special…30rmb ($4) for a wash, blow dry and curl. The normal cost is 60rmb ($9). They said it would take an hour, but I didn’t have Emmy with me when I made the appointment for them to see she has more hair than an average adult!! Therefore, I gave us plenty of time with 3:00pm appointment. The wash includes a full head rub. At 4:00pm, they finally began to curl the hair. Needles to say, at 5:00pm we finally left the salon. We were to meet the Humes at their home, but a change in plans due to too much hair.
 Silly Girl
Photo time at home before heading to the dance as these are dressed for a Princess Ball.
 Twirl factor
The dance, which includes dinner, was from 6pm to 9pm at the Radisson Hotel. The cost of the Daddy Daughter Dance is 250rmb/$36 per person. Jim had just as much fun as Emmy getting all dressed up.
 Jim & Emmy with John, Kelly & Erin
 Jim & John
Average Rating: 4.6 out of 5 based on 157 user reviews.
Permalink We had a surprise dinner guest last night…Mac. He was in Shanghai for one night on his way back to Texas. It was fun to see him. Jim and I see more of him (and Pat) in China than we do in the USA. The girls really warmed up to him. Even Elle was sitting in his lap and we all know how long it takes Elle to warm up!! (Sorry, no picture to prove it).
Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 247 user reviews.
Permalink Elle had accidentally open our family website the other day while playing a computer game. Hum, the last entry was December 2006. Where did all that time go? Wow, look how little Elle WAS!! My friend, Susan, moved to Switzerland three years ago with her husband and two young children. She has the most amazing blog of her families’ adventures of living in Switzerland. When the China Internet allows me to take a peak, I enjoy reading about her adventures and daily life. It is an amazing story of their time they spent living abroad. After reading a few of her blogs last night, I decided our blog needs some serious updating. I am going to blog forward and backwards. We have had some amazing travel adventures these last few years.
Average Rating: 4.6 out of 5 based on 250 user reviews.
Permalink A quick blog moment. I started my Mandarin lessons, again. After a year break, I needed to put forth some sort of effort. I gave up on my Mandarin because I was doing so poorly. I have come to realize I am completely tone death, which would explain my lack of singing skills. Currently, I can count and ask, “Dou shao qian†= “How muchâ€â€¦very important market skills. Last night at dinner, I realize my four year old and I are on the same learning curve. She was naming the body parts in Mandarin…just what I had leaned at lesson.
I would like to comment on the language barrier that makes me laugh. When I can’t understand someone verbally, many Chinese will get a pen and paper…an interesting thought since speaking is not working. However, writing down the Chinese character isn’t going to get me any closer to understanding.
Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 based on 181 user reviews.
Permalink Valentine’s Day with a card from Emersyn. I think we will need to pull these cards out when she is a teenage to reminder that her Dad is ALWAYS funny…
and that I have a good fashion “sence”…
The girls dressed in red for school looking adorable.
Mimi sent the girls some cute Valentine’s jackets they had fun modeling for the photos.
Dad came home from work with a red rose for each of his girls!
Average Rating: 4.4 out of 5 based on 196 user reviews.
Permalink Eleri got her first passport 2 weeks after she was born…very confusing to the immigration officers around the world because she hardly resembles that photo. To take the photo, we had to lie her on a cloth (after trying to hold her).
That original passport expires in the end of August of this year, as it is only good for 5 years. We need to get our new residence permits in March and she will not have 6 months remaining…and if she did the Chinese government would only issue the residence permit to the expiration date. Then with a new passport, she would have to return as a tourist – you get the picture – it’s complicated.
 The fresh from Bali look for the passport photo
So, new passport time at the US embassy today – with Eleri, both parents present, everyone passports and residence permits, marriage certificate, birth certificate, blood and DNA samples (just kidding on the last two). Lots of paperwork, money paid and presto! – new passport in a week.
Average Rating: 4.6 out of 5 based on 212 user reviews.
Permalink Chinese New Year Celebration is a big celebration here. Most of the Chinese schools have three weeks off. Our children have one week off as they just had a Christmas break. Chinese New Year is based on the lunar calendar, which is why the dates change from year to year. This year we decided to leave the cold, grey skies and the fireworks behind. We have spent the last two Chinese New Year’s break here in Shanghai. Our adventure trip was to Bali with our good friends, The Humes. As I blog forward and backward, you will read about the Humes family. Mary and John are “older†parents, as are we. They have two girls, Kelly – age 8 and Erin – age 6. Kelly and Emersyn are in the 3rd grade, but not the same class.
We enjoyed 5 nights at the Grand Hyatt resort in Nusa Dua. A nice surprise at the pool was a slide. Mary and I looked at the website very carefully for the pools offered to the kids…no slide was mentioned. It was a good one…a long one with a turn in it. The area around the slide was shallow. The various pools of the resort connected by canals, but we spent most of our pool time in front of the slide. We bought tubes for the girls, which made the slide “much gooder†as Elle would say. We enjoy the beach activities of digging in the sand and shell searching. Elle is still not to keen on the salt water. I am not complaining, as she is safer on the beach.
We spent a day at a water slide park called, Waterbom. It was fabulous. Elle could go on all the slides but three. The park was well designed which resulted in no lines for the slides. Most of the slides were large tubes you go through on inner tubes. Going down in double inner tubes was the most fun for everyone. There were four slides that you went down on mats, face first. Elle loved these also.
After our beach/pool fun at Nusa Dua, we drove up to Ubud. Ubud is more of an art/cultural/shopping center. Ideal for Mary and I…not so ideal for four girls. We stayed at Alam Indah, the same place we stayed at six years ago when Emmy was 2-1/2. We walk through the Monkey Forest to get to town. The girls enjoyed the monkeys, but not on them. Emmy had this one on her head. She was fine, I was more the Mom…what if she gets lice from that monkey, what if he scratches her, what if…what if…good he jumped off!!
 Emersyn & a baby monkey during our 2003 visit
One morning, the boys took the girls hiking through the rice patties. Mary and I “ran†into town to go shopping – Kid free. We managed to “power shop†in our limited time. We came home with silver jewelry, a bronze Buddha head and small bronze horse (one can pack anything) and other smaller treasures.
 Eleri, Emersyn, Kelly & Erin
 Kelly, Emersyn & Eleri
The boys in return spent the next morning at a cooking class. We all came to enjoy the tasty Thai lunch the boys made for us.
The hotel staff is very friendly. Aiyu was still working at the hotel. The girls had fun playing with the staff and the very large black ants. No photo of the ants. The first day, Elle was screaming as this giant ant was climbing up her leg. (Elle has that loud little girl scream) By day two, the girls had made the ants pets.
 Emmy, Aiyu and Elle
 Emmy and Aiyu – 2003
No one was ready to leave Bali, as the people are very kind and gentle. We only had two nights in Ubud…I guess we will have to come back, again.
Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 233 user reviews.
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