Another Reason We Live in a Fabulous Place

 A 'Make-your-own-pizza' restaurant!

This Malay Man moved here awhile ago and opened a restaurant.
It used to be right near our house but he moved and we lost touch.

Then a local friend started raving about his pizza...so we found his new place.
He has a 'brick oven' to cook it fast.
The first time we went he was out, so he texted the next week and told us to come let our kids make their own! And they did. He even gave G some dough for fun.

 The sauce had its own little kick, not your standard Italian flavor, but it was good!

 He even let them take it to and from the oven.
Our girls were delighted!

 And Tobin too, got in on the action and made us a chocolate pizza!

 He had so much fun!

Our kids' favorite thing about this restaurant is actually not the pizza or the amazing peppery french fries. Nope they talk most about the owner's two dogs that wander through and play with them. Cute and friendly, the dogs loved the attention the Coker crew offered.

Mommy Goes Away---A-gain!

I know, I know, I just left last month for a women's retreat. 

This month afforded me the chance to go to a first ever Home School conference within the country. 

A friend of mine planned the entire thing and did a bang-up job! 

Almost 70 ladies participated from all over and with varied backgrounds.

Actually the wonderful folks of Westside in Btown helped my teammate and me get to attend and soak up teaching from a lady who is quite well-known in home school circles in the States. 

She waived her speaking fees to come and continued to remind us to seek truth, beauty, and goodness in all of our homeschooling endeavors (following Charlotte Mason, of course). 

I loved the diversity of experiences and people represented. One mom was the husband of a chemical engineer at Proctor and Gamble in Beijing, another was a Russian lady navigating the nuances of national school just like me. 

K and I stayed with some friends, a couple we had not met until we showed up at their apartment. Other friends had arranged it and assured us we were in good hands, and we were. The S fam was incredible, married 34 years, overseas for almost that long and with some tales to tell, they were such an encouragement to us (and even convinced us to do a triathlon). They both, at 60+ years old, had completed a half triathlon in their city. I was inspired.

On the flight into the conference I read an entire book! 

We were delighted by this sight:

(on the way back I bought cookies for the Coker crew)

We ate at a BBQ place, crazy! It was pretty good.

And on the way back in the airport I did something I haven't done in an airport in 9 years:

I put my feet up and drank a cup of coffee.

I may post more about some things I learned, but for now, a HUGE thank you to DAVID who encouraged me to go is excellent at holding down the fort!

Mother's Day Weekend, River Play and Boat rides

For Mother's day we took a trip to the River again, this time taking Sophia's best friend, YY. Because the rainy season had not yet arrived, the river was disgusting. Lots of trash, unclear water, etc. But because we had packed our snacks and promised a walloping good time, David and I cringed as we let our kids pursue their interests in river play and rock climbing. 

Tobin soaked up to his neck: 'look mommy I am taking a bath', (you need a bath now, son, I thought). 

There used to be a little 'rule' or guideline for health reasons: 'don't swim in still water in China', I kept looking at the water's meager flow and told myself it was moving, moving, moving!

We did end up having a great time, got home, scrubbed well, dressed up and went to our new foreign-owned guest house for dinner. This was a treat because it is a bit pricey, but it has an amazing atmosphere, and we are friends with the owners!

The next afternoon, the celebration of mom continued with a boat ride at our new amusement park. The kids have been wanting to do this for forever. We chose to rent an electric boat instead of a paddle-one, and it did not disappoint. 

The life-vests were 'one size fits all' but certainly not 'one size saves all'. 

In fact I am quite sure this was more life endangering than life-saving.

 We had a blast.

 Tobin the thinker realized that our boat was battery driven, like my electric motorbike, and at first when he thought it was slowing he got a bit scared. "Let's go back, so it doesn't die in the middle of the lake."

 The best part was letting each child drive (steer) the boat. The three olders did it solo, and loved it.
We even tried to teach Sophia the technique for reverse on a boat and steering, she did get the hang of it a bit, not before I got a little dizzy.

We spent about thirty minutes on the water and enjoyed every second.
It was a memorable Mother's Day!

Happy Hat Fun

April Round Up: Life, Sickness, School, Potty Training

 Finally a Saturday where Mommy had no agenda or planning or home project (I did have lots but opted OUT). David had to work all day, so I promised kiddos, crafts and play!

Sophia was sick with fever 3 days last week. She got better and then succumbed again on Friday all through this weekend, upwards of 102. Many kids in her class are sick as well.

Since 'Fine Arts' and many other projects fell by the wayside many weeks ago, this was a great free- for-all craft day. I even let G get into things, window markers and the like.

 We have four more weeks of CC and history.
We will keep on keepin' on in Math and Language Arts, finishing books and levels, taking short breaks and then starting again. The others will wait until fall!

Chinese school continues to be a topsy turvey ride for us, but the girls like it most of the time and are doing really well. The homework continues to be a beast, how else do the Chinese learn to write their language? Lots of lots of drill and practice!

Gabrielle has proven to be quite the big girl with potty training and a real 'big girl' trundle bed.
This is her first night in the trundle, which could be disastrous since it puts her a bit closer to Tobin. And these two.

They can get into some trouble. Often Tobin nods off to sleep and G is still talking away.
We actually rolled the trundle down to the other side of the room so they are not this close, but still a lot closer than before.

She did great with potty training #1. She really got it fast. The #2 was a bit troublesome for some days, I won't go into details. But I remember being in the bathroom with her for the 20th time in 30 minutes and thinking: 'This is why the Bible says to have children in your youth....I am way too old for this'.  The past four days have been superb so maybe she has really gotten it, we may have promised her a car or the like...whatever it took.

We do put a pull-up on her at nap and night, but so far, in two weeks she has been wet one time and has even called us at 9 p.m. to go potty. Way to go, girl!!!

Some quotes:

Tobin: "a long, long time ago, when I was three...."

Gabrielle: "Bella, what did you do at school today?" (how proper for a 2 yo)

Gabrielle: "MEANIEPANTS!" to whoever is making her mad at the time.