Summer Fun

Here's a look at our summer in the States so far!
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Heading back to the States

Well, we've been in the states now some 6 weeks (more on that later), but I wanted to share some pictures of our journey home. We had a wonderful few days in Singapore to rest and play -- all things very much needed before we landed in the land of "do, do do!" :)

Enjoy!

Once we hit the airport in Singapore, it began to feel more real that we were, indeed, headed to the States; it really is a crazy feeling. You literally feel like you're leaving some planet world and you land in an entirely different planet when you step out of that plane into a US airport. At the airport, the girls enjoyed all the fun advertising for the still then six weeks away World's Cup.

And then when you see your hometown out of the window of the airplane, it's truly a strange feeling. Arkansas, here we come :)

Anna's last day of school

Ok, so this day just about made me cry. My little Anna-banana just thrived this past year in pre-school. Here's just a few of the things I saw Anna learn how to do this past year (and I know it's a big shout out to how good her preschool is and how much Anna loved school):
Anna learned how to:
* Count in English, Indonesian, and Mandarin!
* Play with local kids and not be afraid of them!
* Write easy Mandarn characters
* READ!
* Interact with local kids and adults WHILE using the local language (yeah, this one scored her big points with all the locals) :)
    - Local lady talking to me: "Can she speak Indonesian?"
    - Me: "Why, ye--
    - Anna (in Indonesian): "BIIIIIISA!" (meaning, "I can!")
    - Local lady: Oh wow! Look, she's already fluent :)
    - Me: smiling :)

So, anyway, Anna grew by leaps and bounds this year, not just physically, but developmentally, culturally and spiritually. It's been a beautiful year to watch her grow!

Here's a few pictures of Anna's last day of school before we flew out the next day. We even brought little mini donuts with USA, Indonesia, and Australia flags to give out to her classmates.

Adventures in River City

Well, we are back in the States for a while, but I have so many pictures of some of our last few crazy days before traveling!

Joseph and his ping-pong buddy a few days before leaving.

Emily taking about the cutest nap ever in the midst of packing

Exciting! A carnival visited our city so we took the girls to a hopefully very safe amusent park with equally safe and child-friendly rides! :) Check out the handy-dandy 'bird cage' for the farris wheel and the kinda freaky-scary merry-go round thing :) I didn't get a single picture of my kids smiling -- and even my friend Poppy's face seems to say "Scary! Run away!" But I think they had fun :)

Return of the Fish Spa!

After visiting a new fish spa (which I thoroughly enjoyed this time around . . . much more than this time!), so my little oh-so-brave-Anna-Banana (who is actually the world's largest scaredy cat, although she doesn't think so) begged me to take her there too. I had my doubts, but her fierce enthusiasm and continual asking wore me down; so, we invited a couple of Anna's friends and went to the Fish Spa! :) Anna "I'm really oh-so-scared" promptly re-emerged and we watched as her young friends screamed, giggled and laughed as the fish tickled and softened their little feet!

Funny sign

Check out the 3rd from the top! Hilarious :)

We found this at the hotel we stayed at.

Recent Vacationing

We recently had a great time visiting a city in Malaysia; it was a much needed break. There was green grass, sidewalks, great food, air conditioning, and the ease of living/getting around that comes from a more modern environment -- seriously, forget the theme parks and cotton candy; we just want the basics! :)