3 little pigs, haircuts and more, August scenes

August 18, 2012

We were able to go an outdoor playhouse where they were showing a version of 'The Three Little Pigs'. This was so fun, the girls enjoyed it so much, and we did too actually.

Even though it was August, the temps were not that hot!

I love this pic, and how our Soph loves on Tobin and loves to take care of him.

The trail that leads to the actual stage. Beautiful.

The slide afterwards was super fast and super fun.

More out door fun at Poppy and CC's. Bean bag toss. And let me tell you, Tobin got it down. He just didn't get that you were actually supposed to stand back and toss it in.

CC gets in the action.

Tobin's sweaty hair-do.

Speaking of hair. August at JC Penney was free haircuts for kids. We took advantage and the girls loved it.

Bella, our most anxious child was ready and sat still. The lady said she did better than a lot of older kids.

Poppy's birthday Aug 16

We are usually not in town for birthdays so this one for Poppy was extra-special. The girls made cards and we went to eat great Mexican food (we did not tire of it).

 The kids found this larger than life teddy bears and everyone joined in the hug.

Happy Birthday Poppy, so glad we were able to enjoy it with you this year!

Off to Raleigh

August 13, 2012

On our way to Raleigh I was able to go to a baby shower for Laura, and then we got to introduce Tobin to some amazing ladies who love us so well. This particular lady played the piano at our wedding. It was great to see her! 

 Sophia, Bella, and Tobin all had such great fun playing with Isaiah, Micah, Anna, and Sammy (and often J'marree who is like their cousin too). Micah and Anna were in school during the day so we hung out with the others. We always learn a lot from watching my sis and her family do life. They are great parents.

Tobin loved the air vent from the floor.

When Anna and Micah got home there was more fun to be had! They all get along great.

Uncle Travis surrounded by folks sporting gator gear! 

 We always love staying at Heather's house! She is a great hostess.

One night Sophia stayed on her first sleepover with Cousin Anna at her house. I had forgotten about her 'first sleepover' until, once back here, I heard Sophia telling Caleb S all about it.

Aug 11, early days

 The Williams cousins  and Aunt Julie came to see us the first weekend we were back. This was a full house of fun.

 They played hide and go seek and enjoyed getting reconnected.

 Coker/Craft family pic!

 Laura and Ryan. Not sure how she does it, but she is a beautiful pregnant lady.

 A tired little princess.

 Not a good idea to send the girls off without momma within few days of arrival. CC was going to sit in the class with her but Bella still wasn't having it. Cried the whole time. CC brought her home and Sophia enjoyed time meeting new friends.

 Two handsome little boys. Four months apart. Ryan was there when Tobin was born (yes, in Bangkok, his mom is crazy for taking him so far, but we sure did appreciate it :)!)

 Kisses for daddy on the swing.

 Kids in the bath, I love Tobin and Ryan's faces here.

Soph's quote and first days' pics

August 8-11, 2012

Soph is a funny girl. When kids are learning to read and get pretty proficient at it I think it takes time for them to realize they can actually read signs and things in the 'real world'. I finally started telling Soph to 'read it yourself' when she asked what something said. This had been going on for awhile when we embarked on our journey across the ocean to America. While on one of our Asian airlines I overheard Sophia and Bella talking. I knew Sophia had been reading the various warnings and instructions. She then started reading the sign on the back of her seat and turned to Bella and said: 'Bella, now this one is important in case mommy is already floating in the water: life vest under your seat!' (she was being dead serious too). Speaking of life vest, almost as soon as we touched down in the U.S. we tried to get the kids in the pool. It happened to be a more mild August so the water was a little cool. Our goal was to get Sophia out of these water wings by the end of our time. She succeeded (more on that later).

 Tobin enjoyed the pool too, this was about day 1 or 2.

 Bella really wanted nothing to do with the water. She would sometimes play on the side of the pool with toys. Our goal for her was to get her liking water. She succeeded here too!

 Enjoying the outdoors and catch up chats with fam. It took AWHILE to get over jet lag. This was the worst time ever for us. I am not sure if it was because we hadn't dealt with jet lag with three kids or what. But it took well over a week and even then our kids did not sleep through the night. We tried to count the total number of good nights sleep we got the entire time, maybe ten. But that is life with three kids 5 and under.

 We immediately started enjoying the area parks. Kids had a blast. Aunt Laura and cousin Ryan came down our first few days. He is a-dor-a-ble! His word skills are amazing for his age. He instantly started saying 'sophia' and this is how it came out: "SoWee Uh", too cute. He loves him some soweeuh, and she adores him too.

 Precious moments always. Poppy with his four grandkids.

The Coker/Craft cousins. We were so glad for the times with Lee and Laura and Ryan, thanks for traveling to see us so much!

A few takes

Some thoughts on America v Asia and other tidbits

• American Fast food is so fast. Unbelievable. We think in two years the quality of service and speed has really improved. And we just got fatter and fatter. 
• speaking of food. We ate at an incredible mexican restaurant in Btown very often. Nothing can beat its' salsa and chimichangas. 

•  Driving: I would get so scared with the speed, how someone would speed up to a stop sign. But they would always stop. Where we live in Asia this would never happen. I had to adjust to not honking in these scenarios, and trust that most people driving in America really will follow the traffic laws. When we arrived back here I had to drive home from the airport and was quite timid. It is amazing how my propensity to drive just like everyone else (LOL)came right back, ie, becoming a law breaker again(for survival!). 
•  As noted before for Americans and the 'look' of an 'American' there is great diversity. When coming from a place where everyone has the same color skin, hair, and eyes, and we are constantly told how white we are, how tall, fat, etc. it was interesting to hear our kids take on Americans. Fun-ny, but not repeatable. Now we are back to sticking out like sore thumbs, something that in the airports on the way back caused some angst as the paparazzi would surround, and all our crankiness came out.
•  Talking in terms of 'two years'. I would tear up towards the end of our stay when Sophia would say: 'I will see you when I am seven'. She kept talking in these terms, and it seemed so odd to me, and sad. So much goes on in a kids' life in two years. One day she asked: 'momma, will I not see my cousins again while I am five?' When I replied 'no', she was sad but okay, shrugged her shoulders and with a hopeful grin said: 'well, maybe I will.'
• We are really enjoying getting settled back in, getting back into routine, and preparing for the school year, which for everyone else is already 6 weeks in. The girls both start Chinese school tomorrow!!!

There and back again...

 

We just returned home from the U.S. less than a week ago. Last night everyone finally slept through. I hope to start some documentation of our time there.

And yes, I am sure I have used this title for a post before. Yes it is stolen from LOTR (Lord of the Rings) Hobbit tales that we love. 

We had a great time seeing friends and family, but we are SO glad to be back. That was the quote when we got off the airplane in our town, from Bella: "momma! momma! I am so glad to be here!"