Bye Bye DaDa and Uncle Christian

We had a good visit with Christian, he left today. David is going with him, traveling a bit and will be back tomorrow. Sophia saw them off with sweet 'bye byeees' (that is literally how she says it). We took Christian to see the big square which was all fields last time he was here. When we left for the states they had only tilled up the fields to build these 'olympic' facilities. We really have no idea what their plans are for these new, quite spectacular facilities (for this area of the boondocks anyway)...but check it out, this town is really on the up and up. Supposedly our airport is going international as well....we will wait and see it to believe it!


Nice new Tennis courts.


courtyards, gardens, exercise equipment, children's play area, fountains, Correct english signs...amazing. Yes, a storm was rolling in.


a real grass soccer field, this is the practice field, maybe Sophia will play on it one day. David is at least hopeful he will get to try it out!


we couldn't go inside and I had to get the pic. you can see me in it, kinda cool actually. this is the soccer stadium. A real stadium, nice seats, a real track. If only you knew how truly incredible this is. If you build it, they will come....
There is also a huge Aquatic center with indoor Olympic size pools (two I think?). And quite a large Basketball Arena. We are still shocked by it all.

GeGe's Birthday

Here is Caleb, Sophia's GeGe (big brother). He turned three yesterday, and we had a great time celebrating with him. He is hilarious, and so sweet to Sophia. His mom told me the other day that he will 'play' and appoint roles: his favorite stuffed animal is Sophia, Caleb is 'uncle shu shu' (David), and his mom is 'aunt LoLo' (me), too funny. Sophia is equally mesmerized by Caleb, she recognizes him in an instant when we go downstairs and babbles a mile a minute when she watches him play. She did the exact same thing when I showed her a picture of Caleb kissing her when she was just a few months old.


we got out the kiddie pool we brought from the states and Caleb and Sophia enjoyed that until the rains came in. She is lookin' too cool in this pic.


Getting used to the splashes of GeGe


I treasure these-sweet hugs. He is thanking me for the gift we got him.


Here is the gift. It took David's mechanical engineering skills (and about forty five minutes), to put this 'transformer' together. It is not a 'real' tranformer, it was quite complicated. And actually after three people (David doing most of the work) with 6 1/2 college and advanced degrees between us worked on this thing, we finally got it into a Mack Truck, don't tell Caleb it can transform!
Incidentally, I love this pic, Caleb's smile is awesome, this is because David told him right before hand: "Caleb, whatever you do don't smile," Caleb promptly donned the huge grin and said "cheese."
Ignore the fact that his shirt says 'Carlsberg,' for all you real futbol fans out there, this is a liverpool jersey. Uncle Russell would appreciate it dearly. I love to ask Caleb what jersey he is wearing. His answer: 'liverpoonevewalalone' which translates too " liverpool, never walk alone" the teams motto. Absolutely adorable. Happy Birthday GeGe!

Jiaozi and other random things

Sophia has eaten Jiaozi (dumplings with pork and veg inside) twice now and loves them, she eats about six, with me breaking them up, of course. I am getting more relaxed with what I give her (still no sweets, the fruit is sweet enough), so she tries to eat what we eat quite a bit. I still do the bulk freezing of things like spaghetti sauce and fruit (using silicone muffin 'pans' to freeze in, then transfer to a ziploc, perfect). This method is so easy, just take out a serving at a time and microwave, thanks 'Super Baby Food' (a book) for all the ideas. I do this if we are going out to a place where she may not be able to eat the food.


will you play with me, all the students are gone? Sophia asks two boys playing ping pong amid a very empty campus


Our 'child gate,' using our washing machine box, it works great, Sophia knows this is off limits, instead of the million 'no touches' in the kitchen area.


Being taught how to drive by our helper.


Sophia seems so long in this picture, she is taller than 95% of girls her age, where that height comes from we do not know.

Walking and Talking

Here is another Sophia flick.

Mother of Bright Snow

Not much going on here. A friend is visiting from the states, he used to live here when there were cobblestone roads and yogurt in glass bottles. That was actually just three years ago. This place is developing so fast!

The neighborhood is talking about Sophia and how fat she is, 'plump' being my preferred word. And 'cute to death' is the literal translation of the locals description of her.

Sophia has a few local names. One of which means 'bright snow' attributed to her very white skin, of course. Now when I go buy pineapple (daily) I am referred to as 'mother of bright snow,' that is how they refer to themselves too after they have children.

To see a reenactment of Sophia 'helping' me do push-ups go here.

Super cool chicks

When looking for 'Anna' pics I came across these pictures of our going away party. These are some awesome girls there with me. But Heather, where are you????

Apparently, we first had to tell Micah to get out of the way....


Then we were all smiles...

Anna Lucia, Happy 2nd Birthday!

This post will be all about sweet Anna Lucia Williams, Sophia's only girl cousin (so far). We first met Anna at the airport (she was already almost 18 months old) last New Year's Eve. She thought Sophia was a little doll (literally), and started calling her 'Baby fia' which over the months morphed into Bia and other things. Anna even switched to a big girl bed and let Sophia use her crib for those months. I will show you her cuteness with pictures (I couldn't decide so I posted a bunch), and have to reiterate for the hundredth time that she really is 'little Julie.' Happy Birthday girl, we love you and miss you and all the Williams!

This hamburger was almost as big as she was.


Anna showing Sophia where her nose is



So much fun with Uncle Herschel


Easter in overalls at the beach


Here Aunt Lorraine is helping Anna put rings on bunny ears, all the while constantly repeating: "Easter has absolutely nothing to do with bunny rabbits and eggs, okay Anna?"