Tuesday, August 31, 2010

SNOW DAY!

sort of.

A typhoon is on its way to Shanghai, so school is cancelled today. Desi greeted the news with a mixture of disbelief and joy. Emmett, though, must have been excited for school lunch. When he heard, he crossed his arms, frowned and hissed "No fish sticks."

So Skype us, call us. We will be here, hanging out!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

bzzzzzz...

while i am at it, here's what our cicadas sound like:

boys room tour

i am on a roll. 2 vlogs in a row. yes, i used the word vlog

here is D hard at work, tracing a bunny. (not the best shot of him in the youtube still photo. really shows off his mosquito bites. damn things drive me crazy. i spend 30 minutes a night hunting those buggers, and for what?)

then a brief room tour.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

untitled

hey y'all. week 2 of school is smoother than last week, i am happy to report. kids liking their teachers and classmates, and Sarah and I right back in the busy swing of things. I am assistant JV baseball coach, and the crew's first practice today gave me a good feeling. we are already way better than last year. no games lined up yet, but will let you know how we do when they happen.

over the weekend, i shot a video of our "strip," such as it is. you'll need to turn your head. (think of it as office yoga)



here's a couple pics. one from Portland, as we wrapped up our summer of vegetating. Can you guess what these 3 are looking at? Hint: not a fishtank. (though we are in the market for one here)



and here is Mr. School Guy showing off his kneewarmer socks



more video later after the camera battery finishes charging. sleepy time 4 me!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

1st week of school: High highs and oh, the lows

Much excitement around here this week. After months of hearing about it, Emmett got to join SAS for real on Tuesday. Half-hour before the bus came by, he had his shoes on Velcro'd tight. Socks pulled up all the way. Further, actually. All was well until lunch, when he looked around and saw that he was the only one with home lunch. All the other kids had school lunch. Now, first, let me say what a compliment that is to our cafeteria. (I miss their food when we're gone, I swear.) So his teacher saw the tears and handled it quite well, got him a school lunch. He ate a lot of school fish sticks and (I hope) felt like he fit in. Problem is, it happened again today. Sarah and I don't want to shell out the rather high price for it, but we might lose this battle. Updates soon.

The big kid also had some snafus. Nothing big, just went to the wrong place once and missed 5 minutes of recess as a result. He is very psyched to have his old buddy/neighbor Benjamin in his class.

In other news, typhoons are a real pain in the butt. Don't know if Tuesday's storm qualified as a typhoon, but if not, I don't ever want to be in real one. Flooding and general craziness. Another loud storm today but nothing like Tuesday. Prolly 3 or 4 inches in 80 minutes. Ridiculous. Forecast says sun for the foreseeable future. Including baseball tryouts for the next 3 days. woo hoo!

No choice pics, sorry. Here's one of D in class.



Bed now. Pics of apartment (which is quite set up, just gotta hang pictures) soon.

stay cool, world

Monday, August 9, 2010

1st day of work. how do all you people DO this year round?

you amaze me. even you retired blog readers out there, you used to work. how y'all do/did it 12 months out of the year is beyond me. i mean, 1 day and i am tiiiii--yerd. 'course, that could be the jet lag. still not quite right on the sleep. seems to be something special about 4 am. 3 days running--up at 4.

a shower and dinner call me, but first, here are details on Desi's camp this week. he is gonna love it, i bet. and for what I'm paying, he better.

life is grand here, cicadas humming and bats flying low at night to gobble the many mosquitoes. TEEMing with life, this place is.

Lyn says the chicken is ready. ain't gotta tell me 2ce

out!!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

birthday edition

So the boys woke me at 4 am to show me some Duplo creations they made me. a giant walkie-talkie and a pirate boat. they had been up since 2. so i was gracious in my confused haze. they are asleep now after swimming a lot today in one of the 5 or 6 pools here in the compound.

had a surprise champagne brunch thrown for me this AM (thanks Bear--planning began in June). then a 3 hour nap after swimming. made grilled cheese sandwiches and walked to Coldstone for ice cream tonight. Cardinals won for me too, yay-er!

bed now. pics tomorrow. beautiful here. warm but not nasty hot. blue skies. saw stars tonight, even. apartment is sweet, painter did a fab job.

thanks for all the birthday wishes. it is nice to know the distance means nothing sometimes.

Friday, August 6, 2010

can i post to the blog at my new apartmnt?

let's see.

landed safely. tired but all is well.

here goes nothin'...

Thursday, August 5, 2010

parting shots, last 1 this time I mean it

we'll also miss grandparents...



and places like the Children's Museum, where one can glue junk...



and take good care of stuffed animals:

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

summer babes, plus more

among the things we will begin to miss when the taxi comes in an hour...

porch wine with sisters:



long walks with pretty views and friends from near and far:



and getting pumped to go see Weird Al (Shanghai is, as you might guess, not on his tour list):

a few last US posts

Here's a pic that's long overdue. Waiting for a table at sushi place. Beyond that, no context for this shot.




Yesterday, walking home from the park, E proved his love for the greatest indie band ever from Stockton, CA: Pavement.