Choo-choos and Cheerios

There is a small train station behind our house that used to be an old line that went all the way from our city to the border of the country, but now the line is closed and they just use the train to go back and forth through the city like a bus, and it costs about 20 cents and takes an hour to ride it from right behind our complex to the end of the line and back to our place. You can actually see the station from the kids' bedroom window in our 11th floor apt. Before, Callie was never very interested in it (other than the loud whistling about 6-7 times a day, disturbing her naps), but last week she and a few of her friends got to take that one hour ride on the train, and since then every time she hears the train blow its horn, she yells "Choo-choo!" and runs to her bay window to look out at the train. Here are a couple pictures taken from that day. They had a fun game of "peekaboo" during the ride.

Our most recent discovery about Callie's personality is something she gets from her daddy, and that is the need for neatness. Every time she gets food on her hands or clothes, or gets them dirty from something she has to get it off. Immediately. She still has not learned to communicate this with words yet though, so right now she just kind of shows us the dirty spot and whines about it.

As for Zane, he's still as cute as ever with his big, chubby cheeks and irresistible smile, though lately he has gotten needier and wanting to be held more. He still hasn't started crawling yet, though he has figured out how to scoot backwards. He is also becoming more adept at picking up Cheerios from his high chair tray and getting them to his mouth. Where there's a will there's a way, right? Here's a video of him scooting backwards.



As for life in general here, this past week it has gotten quite cold, in the 30's F / single digits C. We've had to start pulling out the winter clothes, finally. Though it is nothing like Edmonton's winter, it is still quite brutal here because most places don't have heat, like classrooms, restaurants and stores we go to, though our home has good heat, so no worries there. Whatever the weather here decides to do for the rest of the season, it won't matter to us because we're heading back for 2 months in North America, starting next Friday night, a week from tonight. We'll be flying through Korea and then DC, and then finally to Raleigh. Pray for our flights, that they will be smooth, and especially for the children as they endure long hours of staying in one place and not being able to run around freely. Next week will be full of packing and temporary good-byes, but we sure do look forward to seeing family for the Christmas season.