Tim and I recently had a break from class and were able to spend some good quality time with our kiddos and we got to know our way around our city a little more. I titled this post Learning Lots because that's what it feels like we are doing here daily. Whether it is learning new words and phrases in the local language, how to use different modes of transportation, or riding a bike, someone is always learning something in our family. Here are some pictures of what we did during our break.
This girl surprises me every day! She wants to try everything. She will try new foods, activities, reading hard books, etc. She received a hand me down bike from a friend who was moving away and Tim took her out to ride and she learned that day. She worked so hard and we are so proud of her. She had a pretty bad fall on the concrete about a week after starting to ride. She got banged up pretty badly but she has kept right on going. This picture above is her at a local store. She saw kids roller-blading and had asked us every day for about 2 or 3 weeks to take her to try them out. I must add that this little lady has read a ton of Magic Treehouse books this summer and can now do an entire load of laundry from start to finish all by herself. This includes hanging all the laundry in the sunroom.
Huge lake tucked away in our big city. Not far from our home. Enjoyed watching people swim and having family worship here.
Amazing indoor playground at the Children's Mall. Great way to beat the heat and get some energy out. A friend from our local fellowship back in NC came to our country on business. He took the train to visit us and it was a great time getting to know him a little better. I tell everyone he was the perfect first guest because he was much more capable of getting around our city/country than we are yet. He speaks the local language really well, is quite adventurous and found our place all on his own, and he was very low maintenance as most guys are. He really did bless us and our kids by taking us to this mall and treating the kids to a fun time and taking us out to dinner. So thankful for a local fellowship that loves well.
Zeke man couldn't be happier.
Where's Mei Lin?
Another fun day we had was a short staycation in our city. We rode about 10 minutes (or less) up the rode and stayed the night in a hotel that had a swimming pool. We had a great room with a wonderful view of the city and two bathtubs. The kids, and I, enjoyed that because we don't have a tub in our home. From one of the rooms we were able to see a really cool light and water show. Even though our trip was only 24 hours and a couple miles down the road, it was very fun and full.
Daddy/daughter breakfast date. For some reason only two people were allowed to eat the free breakfast offered at our hotel. No worries for us because it definitely wasn't an American breakfast. These two took advantage of the free breakfast and enjoyed a little date together.
Damaris didn't do too bad taking a picture of her daddy. He loved it!
Didi floating in the cold pool.
Everyone enjoyed being able to swim and relax.
Our city has a well-known "water park" that people kept mentioning to us. Our older kids visited it at the end of last school year for their field trip. When I say "water park" just think of a park that has water, maybe a lake next to it. It's not the same thing we think of in America when we say water park. Admission was free and we paid to ride a few rides. We should have charged everyone who was taking our pictures, then we could have ridden every ride we wanted as many times as we wanted.
Mama and Mei Mei got the first ride on cute mini water log ride. I was surprised she loved it.
Ezekiel driving the bumper cars. He loved it! We all did!
Didi and Mom on the mini water ride.
Who doesn't love shooting aliens with water? The boys sure did!
These two! I think they like each other! I missed getting their picture when they rode the huge ferris wheel. I took the other kids to a shady spot to rest, or so I thought. We were immediately the center of attention. People surrounded me asking questions about our children and what we were doing here. It was good language practice but not very restful.
More bumper car fun!
I mentioned we are all learning new things here constantly. Ezekiel has learned to do dishes!! We do have a house helper who does this most of the time but when she is off and Ezekiel is "bored" he gets to help do the dishes.
And one last picture of our daily adventures. We finally got a flat tire. I was surprised we hadn't had one sooner. Unfortunately Tim was about 3 miles from home with the bike loaded down with groceries and he had to walk the whole way back. Thankfully this man is right on the corner where we live. Tim took the bike down to him and he had the hole plugged in just a few minutes all for a grand total of $1, nice!
