Another Graduation

My wonderful niece Sarah graduated from high school this morning. Her plans are to go to school to become a pastry chef. How exciting! That's exactly what I'd like to do when I get older.

A proud Grandpa.

Two Years Ago . . .

Two years ago, I went out for lunch to a local Chinese restaurant with my colleagues on the second last day of school. I didn't take my cell phone. When I got back to the office, the receptionist met me at the door with a desperate, but excited look on her face.

"Call your husband! Right now!"

I knew from the look on her face that 'she' was here in our lives. When I finally saw Amy's face for the first time, I was in love. I never, in my wildest dreams, had hoped for a beautiful little girl to be my daughter, and yet, there she was. Our lives were changed for ever.

Here's Amy, June 28th, 2008. Here's Amy today. She still is the light of our lives.

School is out!

On the last day of school, my brother Glen and I would rush off the school bus, into the house and put on the record with the song "School is Out" . . . really loud. It was like a symbolic beginning to the summer.

Amy's last day of school was this week and we had an observation meeting with her and her teacher on Friday. It was so interesting to see how much she has learned over the past year. She already knows more than we do. Who knew this was the flag of England? Amy was busy making special "ennalopes" for her teachers.

Each on was personally decorated with a portrait of the intended receiver.

Fun at the Ex

Kristin and her friend Doug took Amy to the Ex when they were in town and Amy was in her glory. Amy really enjoys carnival rides and animals, so it was the perfect activity for her.

She also loves Doug and was very happy, I'm sure, when he carried her all around. Now, if she could just learn to hold on without choking the living day lights out of the person she's hanging on to! They went on some rides she didn't like and deemed to be "too scary for Amy". It should be stated that during the straight-aways, she really enjoyed this ride, but it was when it sped up around the corners that it got to be a bit much for her.

There were rides that were fun regardless how many times they went up and down.

And some rides that had a bit more of a humanistic touch . . . in more ways than one.

Then, the highlight for her, was all the animals at the petting zoo. Looks like Amy wasn't the only one to have fun.

The Marathoners

Here are a few pictures from the Marathon on the weekend. Here's Sean with Robin (after a number of bottles of water!). And here's Kris with her Dad. They would both like to point our that these pictures weren't taken right after they got in, but about an hour and a half later.

That's one proud Dad!

Busy Weekend

There is one happy little girl in the house this weekend. Her big brother and sister are home from Toronto! She loves having them around and wants to be with them all the time. If I hear "I want to go wake up Krissy" one more time . . . ! There are only so many excuses I can make for them before she goes barrelling down the stairs to introduce the day to her siblings.

They came in to run the half-marathon this weekend and both did remarkably well, considering the heat and humidity yesterday. Robin is Past President of the marathon this year, so he is there until the last runner comes in and Sean and Kris stayed with him, after their run, and helped cheer everyone in. Amy and I had plans to do the 10km walk after Amy ran in the Mighty Mites (a 60m dash for children under 5), but Amy decided that she wanted to stay at home and "hang out with my Mama" instead.

Amy had lots of fun showing Sean our new house, especially the new play structure. As always, Sean was only too willing to do whatever Amy wanted him to, including wearing her tea party hat . . .. . . and swinging on the swings . . .

. . . and going up the slide.

Graduation Day

This morning was graduation day at Amy's Montessori. It was fairly low key and very cute. The kids all sat in circle time, sang songs and danced. Amy was so excited that we (myself, Kristin, Dougie and later, Daddy) were there, that she couldn't stop turning around to smile at us. Amy suggested to her teacher that they do the chicken dance, so they did.

She really got into it! Or, as my Grandma would say, "She really cut a rug".

All the children received certificates and a picture from their teachers.

We are so thankful that Amy has wonderful teachers who clearly care about her and her learning. So thankful in fact, that we signed her up for the month of July, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We are anticipating a busy summer with the move.

Guests from the Bay of Fundy

We had special guests from the Bay of Fundy for dinner on Saturday. Can you guess who they were? Need another hint?

Our friend Arlene is from Newfoundland and was able to special order dinner guests for us. Thankfully she was able to provide some much needed expertise to us Landlubbers. Yes, I do know this lobster was still alive, but Amy wanted to know what the cracker thingy was for. Arlene was merely illustrating how we would use it later. Amy was amazed.

She managed to make friends with a number of the lobsters . . . before their final swim.

As a result, she much preferred the shrimp that was served as an appetizer.

Our resident Chef.

Eryl was illustrating that not all tools needed to have a lobster motif. The pliers from her shed worked quite well, but they didn't match.

I Hate Play-Doh

I admittedly have a few idiosyncrasies. I dry the sink after I use it, my clothes in my closet are hung according to colour, I don't get out of bed unless the time on my clock is a multiple of five and I don't like it when play-doh colours mix. As a matter of fact, it makes me queasy.

Unlike myself at her age, Amy loves play-doh and mixes colours with wild abandon.I can't even let her clean it up. I have to restore order by putting all the colours back into the properly labeled containers.

Yes, I know I have a problem.

Renovations

Since we arrived back on Canadian soil, I have been busy with overseeing the renovations in the new house. There has been a lot accomplished since the possession date, but there is still much to do.

This was the family room the day we got the house. Gone are the hard valance and the spotty lights that can be seen at the very top of the hard valance. When the valance was removed, it was discovered that the little lights were actually strings of christmas lights. Ingenious . . . and thrifty! There is now a real light box on the ceiling where the dining room light was hung (and plugged into the christmas lights. Is that really up to code??) and the walls and ceiling are covered in drywall. It looks much better now, even though the room is not finished. And yes, the 70's carpet is going. The hardwood should be installed in the next two weeks. Unfortunately, the new windows won't be in until August.Amy! Look what's being constructed outside!

It's your play structure!

Here's the kitchen, all torn up and waiting for the new floors . . . and for me to paint the cabinets. This side of the kitchen has not been drywalled yet. Our contractor doesn't have the time right now to fit it in, but will in the coming months. It just serves to illustrate the 'before and after' of our house.

Here's the section that's been finished. In case you haven't noticed, it's a little messy. The funny thing is that Robin thought we could have a lobster party there this weekend! In his defense, he hasn't been at the house for a few weeks.

Having the kitchen torn up means that the cabinets and dishwasher are all in the dining room.

At least the living room is 'done'!!

Okay, at least the veranda is 'done' and a great place to relax with a mint julep on a hot sunny day . . . if we lived in Hong Kong . . . not Manitoba!

Sleep

The last few days have been difficult in terms of sleeping. Amy has been up each morning by 4am, which means I have been up each morning by 4am. This morning felt like a gift; she slept until 5:30am! Ahh . . . .

Home Again

We’re home. We arrived last night just before 7pm, which meant we were travelling for just under 24 hours. Amy was wonderful on the plane, but did not sleep on the long 14 hour flight to Vancouver. She did eventually fall asleep just before boarding the relatively short flight to Winnipeg, but awoke before arrival, giving her a total of 3 hours sleep.

She was very excited to see her Dada at the airport and gave him big hugs and kisses for quite some time. I think the feeling was mutual.

Back at the house, she did not go to sleep until almost midnight and was up at 4:30am. Needless-to-say, she and I had a long nap this afternoon and are soon to go to bed.

It has been great telling people about our trip to China. We had such a wonderful time and it was a very meaningful trip. Here are a few thoughts about our experience:


The People
What made this a wonderful trip were most certainly the people of China, most importantly, Gan Nian Hua, otherwise known as Popo. She was the reason we went to China, to meet her and establish a connection and some roots for both Amy and our family. She was a very thoughtful and generous woman who took a sickly baby into her home and nurtured her into a healthy, clever and loving little girl. Thank you, Nian Hua, for helping to raise our beautiful little girl. We are forever grateful.

Bruce Yu, our tour guide and interpreter, and Mr. Wong, our driver, also made our trip enjoyable. Without Bruce, we would have never have known about, let alone met, Nian Hua. He went above and beyond the call of duty to make sure that our trip was great by not only arranging the Mainland China leg of the trip and the meetings with Nian Hua and the orphanage, but also taking us shopping, carrying all the packages, carrying Amy and making sure we had everything we needed. Mr. Wong was very patient and drove us around to see the different parts of Jiangxi, carried luggage and was so kind to not only Amy, but Carol and I as well. Thank you both.The people of China were wonderful to us as well. We did not encounter anyone who made us feel unwelcome. Everyone was so kind. There was the waiter at the BP International Hotel who joked around with Amy every morning, the thoughtful man in the Hong Kong airport who helped me with all the luggage, the wonderful woman on the plane who gave Amy gum when she was so upset about her temperature being taken and the ladies on the street who came up to us and talk, even though we could not speak the language. Our encounters with them, even though they may have been brief, culminated into making this a memorable trip.

Finally, there is my wonderful husband Robin who made our trip possible on such short notice. Thank you for insisting we go.
The Food
The food was always interesting in China. We ate mostly authentic Chinese food using only chopsticks. The further we went into China, the more authentic the food became. We loved all of it and even developed a taste for spicier food. There was only one dish that I did not care for and that was a big tureen of soup Bruce ordered one day for lunch. I had a few spoonfuls before I decided that I really did not like it. I enquired after what it was and Bruce informed me that it was pig’s blood soup, but it was better when it was served hotter. No wonder I didn’t care for it.

Amy loves ice-cream. The entire time we were in China, she would ask for and consistantly pick out what she called purple ice-cream. I thought it was grape flavoured ice-cream until I tried it on our last day in China. It tasted a little funky for grape, so I looked at the label. It was udo flavoured. I don't think we can get that here.
The Culture

The culture of the Chinese people is fascinating. It’s not only the rich history that creates its culture, but it’s the everyday happenings that make it such a different place from where we live. For instance, there are the fire crackers. Every holiday, the Chinese purchase what looks like huge movie film canisters filled with long tapes full of fire crackers. These are rolled out in public places and lit (after safely removing all people from the vicinity) as a way of celebrating. The result is usually that you are levitated out of bed, as they are likely found in the parking lot below your window before dawn. Then there are the beds; they are rock hard. They are really just a box spring without the mattress and take awhile to get used to. I think they build character . . . or something.

Cleanliness is the other interesting tidbit about the Chinese. Amy and Carol went to the playground near our hotel a number of times and soon discovered that the play structure gets cleaned every day at 11am with huge hoses. Can you think of any play structure in Canada that has been cleaned in the last five years??

There were many facets that made our journey an interesting and memorable one. We truly had a great time. Thank you China. I know we will be back, I hope in the very near future.

Hong Kong - Day 14

Our last morning in Hong Kong.

We are off to breakfast and then taking a taxi to the airport. The best part is we'll be in Vancouver before we ever took off.

Hong Kong - Day 13

No, that's not some special effect on my camera. That's what happens to a camera's lens in high humidity if you forget to wipe it off first.

It was raining this morning as we headed across the harbour to the Hong Kong side. The heat was oppressive. One would think with it raining it would be cooler, but it seemed like the humidity was just dancing around 99% so that it would rain for a bit and then go back to being just extremely humid. Due to the weather, we thought we’d begin the day with the Hop on/Hop off and finish our tour of Hong Kong Island.

When we were done the rain seemed to have stopped, so we took a taxi to the far west side of the island, to an area called Aberdeen, and went to Ocean Park, China’s own version of Disney. This has to be the most beautiful amusement park and attraction I have ever been to, but it was almost deserted in some parts. A number of years ago there was an animated Chinese film that won many awards and it took place in an abandoned amusement park. I kept thinking of that movie today as we walked through. It gave a surreal feeling to the whole experience.

Giant and red pandas are the main attraction here, but the giants were out at the vets’ today. The red pandas were very cute and cuddly and really did look like a stuffed animal sitting in a tree (for the record, I did see them move). There was an area devoted to gold fish (who knew there were so many versions?) and Chinese alligators. The area where they train the dolphins for the dolphin show was also open for viewing and afforded an opportunity to get up and personal with them.

A section of the park was dedicated to kiddie rides and Amy had a blast. We went on the merry-go-round, the flying insects, the ferris wheel and the frog hopper, which I thought she would not like, but she loved. Again, there were no line ups and Amy had the rides to herself for the most part. It was very odd.

The best part of the park was that it is split into two sections and to access it, you had to take a 9 minute gondola ride over mountains. It is located on the very coast of Hong Kong Island and is breathtaking. The only downside was that it being built on the side of a mountain, it was on an extreme slope, so going uphill was a bit of a challenge while pushing Amy in the stroller and carrying a stuffed backpack all in 99% humidity. Let’s just say that I felt like I had just gotten out of the shower the entire time we were there.

There is a huge four storey aquarium with all sorts of large fish such as sharks, rays, groupers and tuna as well as a ferris wheel, built right on the ocean’s edge, that offered some spectacular views of the sea and the outlying islands.

Taking a taxi back to the hotel was an exercise in patience as the trip took over an hour due to heavy traffic and a car getting a flat tire in one of the tunnels, causing a huge traffic jam. The best thing was that the ride was less than 10 CND as the meters don’t run when the car is not moving. What a great rule!

Once back at the hotel, we finished packing. We leave tomorrow, thus ending our wonderful trip to China.