GO FALCONS!!

Chinese School has begun.....

We had such a wonderful time at Chinese School yesterday! I was happy that Colin was able to join us. It is going to work out great that it is on Sunday, so he will be available to participate in the process.

They usually only allow one parent to stay, but since it was our first day, they let us both stay. Colin ended up leaving and walking around; talking with the principal who was also born in Hong Kong.

School is three hours long, but it is broken up into three different segments with snack and recess in between which makes it nice. The first segment the teacher reviews common words with them all together as a class before handing them each some individual work. There were 12 kids in his class yesterday. Christopher worked on writing the numbers 1, 2 and 3 (yi, er, san). At one point, he looked at me, smiled and said "I love Chinese School".

He will even get to bring a little lunch box for snack time and a back pack for his notebook with all of his work sheets. It is so adorable. It is great that at least one of us can stay because that eliminates any anxiety and just lets him get excited about it and look forward to going. He is already looking forward to going again and going shopping for his notebook and pencils and crayons.

I could tell by the last segment yesterday that it won't take too long and I will move to the back of the class rather than right next to him and then before I know it, he will be telling me that I don't need to stay. At least it will be on his terms though when he is ready to stay alone which will set my mind at ease.

He was so pleased when the teacher pointed to a bowl of rice and asked how to say it because he knows how to say rice in Chinese, so he was all smiles and very proud! He was shy of course at first, which made him very well behaved. When the teacher took him by the hand to lead him somewhere, he would turn around with this worried look to make sure that I was following, then I could see his relief as I smiled and gave him the big thumbs up. They did work sheets in the class room, sang songs in a big room with a stage and organ and then back to the classroom for more work sheets and coloring.

At the end of our last segment, he smiled and said "Dis is juss like First grade or Kindergarten or somethin" with a wide grin. I think this was a great idea!

My Montage 11/12/09 at OneTrueMedia.com

As Christopher's fourth birthday fast approaches, I thought it would be a good idea to start getting him involved in some activities again such as Art class at Gymboree. When I scheduled the preview class by phone, I was not told that it was a drop off class, so I was not prepared to leave him, nor had I attempted to prepare him that I might leave. I thought I would give it a try. I told him just to "try it" and if he didn't like it, we wouldn't do it again. I told him that I would watch him from the window and that he could see me. He was fine - until the teacher closed the door! Then, it was the saddest thing I have ever witnessed. With his elbows on the table, he placed his chin in the palms of his hands, squinted his eyes and cried this sad little cry. He was devastated. He just looked so helpless and sad. He was rubbing his fingers into his eyeballs and I said to myself "That's enough of this. It is not worth it and I am NOT ready for this".. I rescued him and we headed to the mall. I am just not ready to let go of my baby yet...

When I got home, I started working on this video as I poured over the thousands of photographs uploaded to my computer. I think I will have this made into a DVD and give it to Daddy for Christmas.

Warning: It is a long video...approx 20 minutes...

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Aye, Aye Matey!!

So, I predicted that it would rain tonight because it ALWAYS rains on Halloween in New Hampshire and guess what? I was right!!! (But at LEAST it wasn't freezing rain) Christopher had a great time, however after an hour he said "I wish we could go home" LOL....

Sedona, Arizona

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

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Ok, so now I want to move to Sedona! Oh my goodness was that place ever beautiful! First, let me say I was NOT expecting it. When we landed in Phoenix, I thought "nice, but would not want to live here". We stopped for dinner (I spotted a Sweet Tomatoes and Colin couldn't believe it!) After dinner, we drove over an hour and a half to Sedona. Well, it was pitch dark and I couldn't see a thing.

The next morning, Colin got up bright and early for his meeting. He walked out the door, turned around came back in and said "Come outside, it is so gorgeous out there". I'm thinking he is talking about the weather. So, I got up and walked out the door. I was blown away by the view from the terrace outside. I was shocked because on the way in the night before, you seriously could not even tell there were mountains right there. It is just soooo pitch black.

Christopher and I got up and the adventure began. I couldn't explain it, but I immediately felt some kind of energy there. I was trying to put my finger on it. It had a spiritual feel or something. Later, Colin would tell me he learned some theories that some people have about the energy at his conference. Apparently, it is something to do with the iron in the rocks attracting electricity and causing magnetic pulls or something like that. Alot of people believe that there are energy/magnetic vortexes scattered around the Sedona and that they have healing powers.

I know that I had alot more energy while I was out there and could never sleep beyond 7:30 am., when here at home I have no problem sleeping in..today I woke at 12 noon lol. But there, I woke up at 7:30 and was ready to get outside!

To read more about that click (or copy and paste in your browser) here:

http://gosw.about.com/od/sedonaarizona/a/sedonavortex.htm

I am not a scientist or a doctor, but I know that it is just gorgeous out there and I definitely want to go back each year at the very least.

Canadian Thanksgiving 2009

Another trip has come and gone! I am getting so busy with my travels that I have been neglecting my blog. But anyway..

We had a great trip. Christopher is such a good trooper with traveling now. He is a pro!

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I enjoyed the break from all of the oppresive Florida heat; we even had a bit of snow on Sunday. Our Thanksgiving Day dinner was very relaxing in a small town about 2 hours from Toronto. The food was all toooooo yummy! Time to hit the bike again!

I am looking forward to Halloween (and Taylor's birthday) when I head to New Hampshire again on the 30th.




I get to have another Thanksgiving when I go to New Hampshire for our "U.S. Thanksgiving" lol. And YAY, Britany will be there too! Wooooo-Hoooooo!





The girls will be coming down for Christmas this year and we will be celebrating it at Rob and Ann-Marie's house! I can't wait!

I will spend some of the holiday break with them here in Florida before Christopher and I join Colin in Toronto.

My computer is getting so slow and running out of disk space...it is really sucking the fun out of all of this!!