June 11, 2015 - Swimming

Summer is upon us and the girls went swimming with their school classes!  Fun.

I am still so busy with work that I am not seeing the girls so much these days.  I am traveling to China quite a bit for factory visits... back in the grind of this again.  Luckily it is short term.

Sophia is collecting stickers again - if she gets 25 nights with no accidents (and no diapers) she will get a rainbow cake!  She has about 8 so far... though the first night was a disaster we trudged through and have had 8 good nights since (although she does not get a sticker if she ends up in one of our rooms).

Charlotte wanted a parallel sticker challenge so hers is not playing with the iPad in the morning.  We adamantly believe that watching too much youtube makes our kids bonker monsters.  They just have this anger whiny thing that comes out after a marathon youtube session.  Ugh.

Anyway - here are some swimming pics!

Char's class:

Venita:

Corentin:

Sophia's class:

When did she get so big?

I asked her if Lucas was her friend - she said it was a 'secret':

Matt is very sweet to Sophia:

Lucas and Max:

June 2, 2015 - Volunteer Tea and Capoeira and China

A bit of a rainy, humid, hodge podgy week.

I am working like mad and our air con is not working the best at night.  I know - woe is me.

So working a lot means a creative release for moi.  So these days - it is dusting off my camera (already in good use).

But first -there was a volunteer tea at TIS.  So cute to be served by the students and to be sung to by Charlotte and her classmates again this year.  Hopefully one year Sophia can sing there too.

Back to the camera - I took pictures at Capoeira on Saturday - to test out my big lens again (The Tokina beast) and to try to sort out off camera flash shooting.  Trying to take pictures of the kids doing their capoeira moves with little shaking and decent face lighting.   I think I have sorted it out - but flash photography is really a beast in itself.

Matt played hockey in Dongguan on Saturday and the girls and I went over to Zhuhai on Sunday - it was SO great to see Janice!  She was a consummate host - thanks for showing us around!  Yay!

We scooted around Nam San - sort of a testament to the lack of green space here.  We tried Alibaba Express and it was great!  Very filling.  Some pics are below...

Last week Sophia went to the Science Centre with her school class- Claudia kindly shared some photos!

Capoeira shots:

Charlotte does a cartwheel!

Charlottes sings!

Urban scooting and biking in Nam San:

Volunteer Tea!

Janice and the girls in an awesome Zhuhai bathroom!

And getting ice cream:

Heading back to Macau - our first time to China via the Lotus Bridge!

Here is a video of Sophia singing Let It Go:

Volunteer Tea videos:

My friend Jessie organized this cool event to raise money for the Nepal Earthquake victims - a great event in an amazing 'hidden gem' space - the Macau Design Centre!  Awesome job Jessie!