We had a great time in North Carolina in December. Sorry we took so long to get a post up, but we were so busy spending time with family and friends. One of the fun things we did was take Callie and Zane to a small playground near Jeremy's parents' house to ride on the swings. It dawned on us that in Asia we've never seen swings at a playground. Needless to say, they absolutely loved it. There were a couple of catches though, as the playground was almost completely mud, and it was really cold outside. Anyway, here a couple pics of the children having a blast swinging on the swings.
Here is a fun pic of us on the Sunday before Christmas in front of Jeremy's parents' house.
This is a classic pic of Callie & Zane opening presents on Christmas morning. Callie discovered for the first time the fun in ripping the wrapping off presents. Zane loved chewing on the ribbons, or anything strand-y, really.
Christmas was a busy day for us, as it is also Callie's birthday. Here is a fun pic of her with her birthday cupcakes.A few days after Christmas, Jeremy's cousin and his wife and kids came to visit. Here is a picture of Callie, Zane, and a bunch of their cousins.
This last picture is of Callie playing with her first cousin Quinn, who is Jeremy's sister's adopted Chinese girl. We really think Quinn had a great time getting to play with one of her relatives who looks a little bit more like her than everyone else.
All in all, our time in NC went really well. Just last Tuesday we flew up to Edmonton to visit Anita's family. Hopefully we'll be able to get some pics up in the coming weeks of our time here in cold, white Edmonton.
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.
This is just a simple blog to help family and friends far away stay connected to us, especially with the kiddos. We have good intentions to keep this blog updated regularly, and we'll try hard to do that, but please be patient with us! Please do leave comments and feedback - we'd love to hear from you, too! Hope you enjoy.
Here is a fun pic of us on the Sunday before Christmas in front of Jeremy's parents' house.
This is a classic pic of Callie & Zane opening presents on Christmas morning. Callie discovered for the first time the fun in ripping the wrapping off presents. Zane loved chewing on the ribbons, or anything strand-y, really.
Christmas was a busy day for us, as it is also Callie's birthday. Here is a fun pic of her with her birthday cupcakes.
A few days after Christmas, Jeremy's cousin and his wife and kids came to visit. Here is a picture of Callie, Zane, and a bunch of their cousins.
This last picture is of Callie playing with her first cousin Quinn, who is Jeremy's sister's adopted Chinese girl. We really think Quinn had a great time getting to play with one of her relatives who looks a little bit more like her than everyone else.
All in all, our time in NC went really well. Just last Tuesday we flew up to Edmonton to visit Anita's family. Hopefully we'll be able to get some pics up in the coming weeks of our time here in cold, white Edmonton.
