July Happenings: Disney with Friends

After a week of orientation, Jacob traveled with one of the teams to their city for a few days. That week had been busy for the girls and I as well with lots of errands during the day and dinners at night. Some friends were coming to town and were planning on going to Disneyland for a couple days in the afternoon. I thought it might help the missing of daddy and we agreed to go. I forgot though on the first day that we had a morning full of errands with one of the students before she left town. After getting her off on the Airport Express Train it was 1pm. It didn't seem worth going home to nap so we just got on the train and headed to Disneyland a little early. Unfortunately I forgot that it would be the hottest time of the day! After some heat meltdowns and a ride on It's a Small World (and being pestered by some ladies in line), the girls requested ice cream and I agreed. It was so hot that keeping the melting ice cream off of them was a chore though!

Even with the melting problems, Jordan enjoyed her Mickey ice cream.

After our treats we went to watch the parade. During the summer it's the water works parade and when we watched it before the girls didn't enjoy getting wet at all! Keely informed me that kids don't like to get wet! The real downside to that time was that one of the cast members in the parade danced right up to Keely and squirted her. I'm sure other kids wouldn't have minded but mine only like to get wet in the bathtub and the swimming pool! There are some dry areas, so we watched the parade from a dry area. We had a couple more melt downs while waiting for it to start, but cast members would come over and give us some more character cards. After the parade Keely begged to go to Tarzan's tree house (one of her favorite things to do). We were just about to get on the raft that takes you there when I realized I had missed a message on my phone. It just said, "Here." I assumed it was our friends and that they were at the park. I messaged back and then we got out of line to go find them. After a few minutes I finally realized it was Jacob messaging that him and the students at arrived to their destination! Oops! I felt really bad! Then we ran into the princesses and that made life better.

I really got a glimpse of little girls with someone they admire. Aurora talked to them for a few minutes and the girls told her all kinds of things about their day!

We were just about to leave when Keely reminded me that she had wanted a picture by herself too!

With all of our meltdowns and it being hot, we decided we would go get pictures with Mickey and Minnie and then go home. I promised the girls that we would come back the next day to play with out friends. When we got to Mickey and Minnie at the front of the park we found our friends standing there in line! I hadn't heard my phone when they messaged me!

Unlike with the princesses, Jordan doesn't like it when the characters touch her even though she will talk about them up until it's our turn to get our picture taken!

After pictures we decided we could handle one ride before we left and the kids chose one of their favorites, Autopia.

After nap time the next day we all met up again and rode a few more rides together. It sure is nice to have season passes!

July Happenings: Waiting for the Ferry

On the last night we had students in town for orientation we went to The Peak and took a ferry on the way back home. We had to wait a few minutes for the next ferry. It made me laugh when I looked over at Jordan perched on a tiny ledge waiting like the others!

July Happenings: Washing Dishes

One day Keely requested to wash dishes. Jordan got up on the stool with her and come to find out was patiently waiting her turn. To her dismay, when Keely was done there were no more dishes either! I went in to the girls' bathroom, filled the sink with some soapy water and gave Jordan a sponge and a few cups. Jordan actually just wanted to fill the cup up with water a few times, and then she was all done! She just wanted her chance too!

July Happenings: Playing with Beads

Like I posted here, this summer we did activity stations a few times to give the girls some things to do while I tried to accomplish something too. Jordan has been obsessed with beads for quite some time. She would see them in the closet and would beg to play with them. One of those times that you can see here, ended up quite the clean-up. I've been leery since then, but decide to try again with cake pans hoping the beads would stay in the pans mostly. It worked for the most part. Every few minutes I would hear the tinkle of a bead on the floor and then I would hear Jordan getting down from the chair to go search for the bead. The first time the girls played with the beads they threaded them on pipe cleaners. I enjoyed the look of concentration on Jordan's face as she threaded hers.

The Princesses

On the last day of June, we took one last family trip to Disney before the busyness of orientations, debriefings and packing started. We hadn't visited the princesses before, and quite honestly the girls weren't very aware of the princesses when we first started going to Disneyland. The girls were very excited to meet the princesses. When they first came out, the Belle and Aurora were going to a different area and spoke to everyone in line. Keely was floored that they spoke unlike the other characters! It took Jordan a few minutes but she quickly warmed up to them too unlike the other characters. It was amazing how good the princesses were with the girls.

Snow White and Cinderella

The family with Snow White and Cinderella

Aurora and Belle

The family with Aurora and Belle

The girls with Aurora and Belle

Keely with Aurora and Belle

Ice Pops

To help beat the heat we made juice pops. With the heat and Jacob's sporadic schedule, the girls aren't always willing to eat. However, everyone is willing to eat a juice pop (or at least a piece of one)! Sometimes we would have them for breakfast or lunch or just an afternoon snack. In this family during stressful times I'm happy for them to eat anything!

Jordan refuses to wear her bib these days, but I wasn't excited about juice pop all over her clothes. We made a compromise and she would wear her paint smock! As you can see on this day she was enjoying a nice cup of milk with her juice pop! I think she was also staring off at their afternoon show too!

Keely enjoying her juice pop.

Juice pops and "Mommy School" (which you can see pieces of in the background) are just two ways we made it through our crazy few weeks this summer before crazy packing week arrived!

Library Visit

On a very busy week of running around to government offices and doctor's appointments we decided to finally go to Central Library's Toy Library. The toy library is a playroom where you "check out" different toys to play with during your session. There is also a playhouse and play kitchen and a few other things to play with as well. The sessions get booked quickly, so you have to reserve a spot ahead of time. On this day our "reservation" wasn't until noon so the we read books, ate lunch, and checked out books until our time. It was a pretty good day except for the fact that everyone was getting pretty tired by the time we left.

Jacob enjoying the library's free WiFi while the girls ran circles around us waiting for the library to open.

The girls insisted on carrying their own books home. We got out my grocery bags so they could carry their books home. (We are waiting for the bus in these two pictures).

Keely waiting on the bus carrying her library books.

Last Day of School

We are back to catching up with out activities in June!

On Keely's last day of school, Jacob went in with her and took a few pictures and then went early to take some pictures to help us remember this time in our lives.

Ms. Lola taking Keely's temperature and looking at her throat while Keely gives her the note cards we made for her.

Chantal, Keely, Kushi and Heather

The kids getting their backpacks, packing them up and putting them on.

My over dramatic Keely.

Keely and Miss Jasmine

Keely receiving hugs from her classmates. Every child gave Keely a good-bye hug.

More group hugs.

Keely with Mr. El

Keely with Ms. Shirley

Heather, Anthony, Chantal, Keely, Kushi and Pearla

What a great year that we will all remember for a very long time! Keely still talks about her friends and at many meals sings the prayer they would sing at snack time. Each teacher and child has a very special place in each of our hearts.

Excuse Me Cleaning Lady...

...could you help me get my hanger out of the door?

Last week after a long morning of errands and two cranky children ready for naptime, we found a lady sitting on the couch in our guest apartment watching TV. Don't worry, she introduced herself as Jenny the cleaning lady. However, we weren't expecting her! I had a load of laundry in the dryer -- that I forgot to dry and clothes hanging all over the apartment. Luckily I had picked up toys when I got up that morning! Since we were putting the girls down for naps, she left and came back when the towels were done in the dryer to fold and put up. She put some of her stuff in one of the bedrooms that we aren't using (the door stays locked.) The next day as I was folding clothes I went to the door that had some little girl dresses hanging on it to fold them and put them away.

This is what the door looked like plus a couple more dresses.

When I got to Jordan's green dress, I realized the hanger was stuck in the door. I wriggled it around but it wasn't coming out. Then I wriggled for awhile and finally got the dress off the hanger -- little dress and big hanger equaled a bit of wriggling.

And this is what I see every time I walk by this door.

(Little things humor me)

Our First Week

We arrived here in Taiwan late Saturday afternoon (a week ago). Monday morning was full with getting things together and pictures made to apply for our ARC (Alien Resident Certificate). We waited 30-40 minutes and had to rearrange some paperwork and make a few copies, but overall it went very well. Tuesday morning we bought some fans and light bulbs and ruled out a refrigerator and A/C. Later that afternoon Jacob did buy a refrigerator and A/C for our living room. We also found out that the public school we thought Keely could go to who had 10 openings a couple months ago is now full. We started talking to Father hard about Keely getting in at the school we have been considering Jordan going to a couple days a week while I take language. Wednesday morning we met one of Keely's teachers from Hong Kong and her daughters and went to the zoo for a few hours. That afternoon Jacob waited a couple hours for the refrigerator and A/C to be delivered. Once it was, they measured the opening for the A/C and discovered the A/C was too large even though it appears to be the exact same one our next door neighbor has. We had a late dinner and lots of melt downs that night. Thursday we visited the school in which we would like to enroll the girls. Jacob went back that afternoon to visit with the correct people and we have an appointment to go back to visit on Tuesday. They need to translate the forms for us, would like for us to see how a portion of the morning goes and meet the girls. We aren't sure if Jordan will be going yet or not-- they are a little concerned with her age. They seem to focus on 3-6-year-olds even though they accept 2-year-olds. We will just talk to Father and see, I'm not worried about it. We will work out something for while I go to language if that option doesn't work out, because she is young. However, she has been begging to go and Keely really wants them to go together. Friday we visited with the painter and chose paint for our apartment and measured windows for our curtains. Saturday we looked for a long phone cord and a transformer, and in the afternoon Jacob put the phone cord in place and took down some hooks to prepare for the painter. Sunday was a day of rest! Our container arrived last Tuesday and we are told it takes 5-10 working days for it to get out of customs so we are still waiting to hear when it will be out. The apartment will be painted Monday and Tuesday and things will be installed on Wednesday. We'll see when our things get out of customs so we can move in! We had a really productive week so that is exciting and we'll see if things go as planned this week!

Learning to Type

On one of Jacob's trips to the States, Keely asked me if she could type her name. Then she would ask me how to spell some other things too. She came up with a few on her own too!

I thought it was hilarious as she "searched" for the letters!

I saved a document full of words she typed that day!

Makes Me Smile

Best of Disney: From Three of Our Last Trips

These pictures are from a trip in April and 2 in June. More trips to update on to come!

An April Trip

On several of our trips Keely has wanted to visit some of the characters and take pictures with them even though we have done it before. Mickey got really into it this time and so did Keely!

Jordan was still afraid.

Then Mickey walked out of the pavilion area with Keely. Was he going to come home with us?

Of course we all love the carousel!

And bubbles!

A June Trip

We can't remember what Jordan was excited about, but she was excited about something.

The girls love corn on the cob!

Another June Trip

On this trip we got to go with some friends. They have a daughter Jordan's age. Jordan and Jacob went first thing and Keely and I came later after school.

Makes Me Smile

Happy Birthday Daddy!