First day of Preparatory!

 Today (day 2), Leila woke up, put on her PE uniform and exclaimed "I LOVE kindergarten!". Wow, this is already better than last year. We weren't expecting it to start out this well, so we are praying that it will continue to be a smooth adjustment for her. I have to admit, it's been hard for me to send Leila off to school. I really loved having her at home with me. I felt a bit spoiled actually because one child is much easier to care for than two, and a four year old is in many ways easier (in my experience) than a baby. Plus, Leila is still small and cuddly, so it felt like win-win! We have had a great time together, and now the house seems so quiet.  Next week I start training to be a supply playgroup teacher, so if it all goes well it could end up being a really perfect situation for me (flexible!). But I don't want to say too much yet since I haven't started.  

 She looks like she's headed off to a sleepover or something, but she's carrying her blanket and pillow that they use for nap time. It's funny what things she's been worried about leading up to kindergarten. She's been worried about what will happen if she has a bad dream during nap time. I don't actually think there's a very big chance that she will even sleep during nap time. Most kids don't... it's just a rest time and probably just a big pain for the teacher to police (although in Annika's class there were a few who did take daily naps, which made me wonder what their bedtime was! I think Annika slept once during her entire year of Prep). Anyway, Leila's final thoughts were that if she DID have a bad dream, she would just approach Mrs. Yap and say "I had a bad dream. Can I have a hug?". 

No changing leaves and fall colors at the start of school in Hong Kong! Just palm trees and humidity...

 Leila waiting apprehensively during the opening chapel. I was sooo thankful I decided to go to school with her, because I hadn't been told that they would do anything official to start the year. It was lucky I came- I think it helped to go more smoothly. 

 Checking out her new name tag as her class lined up. Only half the class goes for the first two days (Leila was in the second group) and then they all go on Friday. BTW there's an "Arthur" and a "Walter" in Leila's class. Is that funny? cute.

AND... she's off! And Mommy isn't even crying! It turns out the lady taking a picture in the background also lives in our estate, so Leila will easily be able to play with little Harriet in the playground or the pool. 

Mike showed up at the very end of the opening chapel after dropping his students off at PE, and we peeked into Leila's classroom window. This was an extremely comforting sight. They were singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and she looked so happy. It was extremely comforting to me that Mike could check on her a few times throughout the day, and all of his reports were positive. I probably sound ridiculous and over-protective, but somehow this whole "sending-your-kid-to-school-in-another-country" thing seems a bit more scary and unknown than it would if we were in Canada. 

In case anyone is wondering, Mike's year of grade three has started off well, but he has been VERY busy and has so far been coming home later than he ever did last year, and this is even with his shorter commute to the closer campus. His class is good, but maybe he has a new respect for grade three teachers now? It's keeping him very busy. He also seems to have a lot of meetings. 

We're all looking forward to our first week off in October (a reward for starting school in mid-August?!), and nothing gets me more giddy than planning/booking trips! Chiang Mai, Thailand here we come!!! Elephants and good food. A winning combo.

The first day of Grade 2

Last Thursday was the first day of Grade Two for Annika. I dug up some pictures of the first day of kindergarten and the first day of Grade One to see how much Annie has grown. It's hard to believe that she was four for the first five or six weeks of kindergarten!  

It's been a few days of school now, and it seems like it has started well. This year she has a female teacher from Seattle. One of her friends, Jessica, who she knows from church and from last year's Mandarin class is in her class this year. That was good news! And there is a handful of kids that she knows in her class that were from kindergarten and grade one. Her classroom is actually right next door to Mike so they will see quite a bit of each other this year. 

(This was a free printable that was in my inbox. Not quite the same as the chalkboard craze... oh well!) 

Grade TWO!

This is what our walk to the bus stop now looks like...

Apparently Planes is playing at the movie theatre in our mall. "Leila, if we were boys we would want to go see this movie!" 

Annika, her "bus mother" Lily, and Caleb who is in her class this year AND lives in our estate.

Making faces to Leila before she's off!

A few summer highlights

Today was Annika's first day of grade 2 and Mike's first day of teaching grade 3! But before I post pictures of that, I feel like I should do a bit of a summer recap. Only there are many gaps. I didn't do a very good job of documenting the many fun times we had this summer. Ah well... here are some:

Hanging out with Linc before he headed to Guitar Building School

Mom's fancy zoom lens works on our new camera.:)

Good times with family

Annie and sweet Baby Sam. xo

Another successful round of swimming lessons! What a great way to spend time with cousins and get over jet lag!

Such a great day celebrating a wonderful couple!

Sweet cousins and a photo-bomb... haha!

A fantastic day spent tubing at Wizard Lake!

Mom's cute neighbors joined us a for a walk to the library. 

Camping + farmer sausage burgers = amazing

Writing-on-stone Provincial Park

A great lunch and visit with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Anne in Rosemary. 

Heritage Park 

Farm girls at Heritage Park

It was so great to spend a day with the Poettckers! 

Celebrating Uncle Bill's birthday

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Alberta scenery's not too bad...

Baby Aubrey is so fun! 

Having such a great summer doesn't make it easy to return to Hong Kong- especially with jet lag and rainy weather, but now we are settling back into life here.  Thanks everyone for all the special times!