Starfall

The house was very quiet when I got home from work tonight. Tina had classical music playing and Kai and Shen were both using a different laptop to play on Starfall.com. It's a great website for young children learning to read.

The Pumpkin Farm

When we told the boys yesterday we'd be going to get pumpkins today Kai quickly protested that we couldn't because they have Chinese language school. We were pleased to hear that this has become a priority for him, but assured him we could get to the pumpkin farm early enough to do both. The farm we have always enjoyed going to in the past isn't open on Sundays, they have also started charging 3 bucks a head just to get in, so I wasn't too disappointed in having to choose a different farm. We originally thought we'd go to one we found down in Skagit county, but Google Maps said it was almost an hour drive. We wouldn't make it to Chinese school if we did that, so we settled on a farm we like for berry picking in the summer. I wasn't really happy with this plan as they don't have a lot of activities there, but the boys really wanted to get pumkins so off we went.

It turned out to be a beautiful outing! There was a brisk wind blowing down from the north, but it was sunny and clear. The boys are big enough to pull each other around in the wagons this year, which they thoroughly enjoyed. The farm had a tractor-pulled train ride which was free (something you have to pay extra for at the $3 place), and they were letting people cut dahlias for free as it's supposed to freeze tonight out there. They also have a great little playground where the boys enjoyed digging in the sand for quite a while, and the pumpkin prices were pretty much the same as at the grocery store. All in all it was a great time, and we made it back in time for Chinese school!

Zuanich Park ...again. (And a good Darth Vader/Luke Skywalker story.)

I think I've got more pictures of the boys at this park than at any other. It's just so pretty down there with the water and all the boats, and the view of Mt. Baker. It's got great paved paths for the boys to ride their bikes on, a nice little climbing structure, and while it's a fairly small park, it feels big and open. And it's never crowded, especially on a week day during the school year.

We got another gorgeous sunny weekend, and I extended mine an extra day because I have to work next Saturday. I took Kai and Shen down to the park to play and ride bikes, and to give Tina a "break" (she did housework and baked while we were gone, but at least she didn't have any of us boys under foot for a bit.) I brought a kite with us, but there was no wind to speak of, just plenty of sunshine!

Shen was done riding bikes before Kai was, but since the park is so open I could keep an eye on Kai while I stayed with Shen at the play structure. He had the whole place to himself for a bit, but eventually a few other kids came along. After a bit I heard Shen say to a little boy who looked about the same age, "I'll play with you!" The boy looked at him for a minute then said, "Let's play Star Wars, I'll be Darth Vader!"

"Oh boy," I thought, "I know where this is going!" Star Wars (episodes IV, V, VI, the first 3 movies) is about the only media of this genre that Kai and Shen have experienced and they are very into it. And of course, the single biggest moment of all three films to them is when Darth Vader cuts off Luke's hand at the end of The Empire Strikes Back. Guess who always plays Luke?

I was really wondering how this little boy was going to react, when Shen promptly answered, "I'll be Luke, and Darth Vader cuts off Luke's hand." then started waving his handless arm in the boy's face. Cracked me up, the little guy was really not interested in limb differences though, he just wanted to get on with the game, and began wielding his invisible light sabre. Before long, Kai was back and the three of them proceeded to race around and argue about who was dead and who killed who.

More Moon Festival

We spent the afternoon at the Village Green in Fairhaven celebrating Moon Festival with the Mei Hua Chinese School and had a great time! The weather was absolutely fantastic, a little windy maybe, but hey after a week of heavy rain it was so great to have warm sunny weather! We've been working with the boys all week on two songs in Chinese that they were supposed to sing. When it was time for them to go up with all the other kids and sing they went right up there and belted it out! The program did get a little long, but we were outdoors so the kids were free to run around and get their ya-ya's out.

I've got a slideshow of my favorite pictures below, but here are a couple of my favorites that I have to caption...

Shen and Lana

We met Lana in Xi'an when we were there to adopt Shen. Shen and Lana lived together on the same floor in the orphanage. Her family was still waiting to travel when we were there, so we took pictures of her for them and gave her presents that they sent with us. She is eight now and has grown eight inches in the two years she's been home. We haven't seen her family in a while, but she and Shen have a special connection and it's really fun seeing the two of them together.

The Conspirators

I know it's obvious, but yes, the boy with the big stick is the leader, and they are up to no good.

Singing!

The boys look like they almost know all the words!

Mmmm... Red Bean Paste!

Kai didn't enjoy the mooncakes we had last night, but they gave all the kids little mooncakes that had a really great, soft red bean paste filling and he devoured it!

And the rest of the photos, click for slideshow...

Moon Festival

We had a nice little Moon Festival dinner last night. We're getting better at making a couple traditional Chinese dishes, but are still a bit overwhelmed when it comes to putting a whole meal together. There is a lot more prep work than we're used to as neither Tina or I are big into cooking, quick and easy is our regular style. The other problem for us is the quantities we end up with if we prepare a lot of different dishes. So last night we settled on rice, egg flower soup (of course), asian style fresh green beans, and dumplings (pot stickers). We used frozen store-bought pot stickers too, we just didn't have a whole day to prepare these. But Tina has mastered cooking these now, so we're thinking that we are going to try setting a day aside to make up a ton of them ourselves then freezing them for future use.

For desert we had a few little mooncakes that we shared with hot tea. I was a bit surprised that Kai didn't really like them this year, last year he couldn't get enough. I have come to really enjoy them though and look forward to eating them on Moon Festival. I think it's probably a good thing for me that they are so expensive, as they are very, very rich!

I really love the way they look too, so I took a few minutes to get the picture above. The plate they are on came with a box of mooncakes we bought at a little grocery store in Beijing four years ago on the day we met Kai. I wanted a nice background for them so I used a shirt I got in Xi'an when we adopted Shen.

It was a beautiful clear evening so after dinner we went outside and got to enjoy looking at the big full moon! This evening we'll be celebrating with the Mei Hua Chinese School at the Village Green in Fairhaven, the boys are very excited about getting to dress up in their "China Clothes". Hopefully I'll get some good pictures of them.