Kirk Injures his Ankle

I was looking forward to having fun with Kirk while I was here without the kids to make the best of it. I figured we'd both go to work, meet up after to work out and then go out to dinner. It started out like that. We golfed one day, we went out to dinner another night with friends, and we ran around Century park another day. Then on the Sunday after I got here, we went out for a night run and only got about a block from the apartment when Kirk ran over an uneven piece of sidewalk and rolled his ankle. We took him to the doctor the next day and there is a slight fracture and he has to wear a boot to keep it immobilized and he has to use crutches. He's pretty disappointed, but that's how it goes.

Kids in Florida Blog - Saturday

We are getting a little behind in sending out the updates, so I thought I would send along some pictures of the kids at the new water park that we found in north Naples. Alex could have stayed there all day, but he was really getting tired and probably did not know it. We also spent some time having a picnic which is outside the water park and I never thought we would be able to drag them out of the play gravel pit. We are sure enjoying having Elizabeth and Alex here and I am certain that they are having a good time.

Love, PopPop

Kids in Florida Blog - Thursday

Dear Mama and Daddy,

We are sorry we missed your call tonight. We'll explain later.

We had a good day today. We went for a long bike ride this morning and checked out the birds and fish in the bridge pond. The fish were really jumping, trying to eat bugs I guess. When we got back, I helped Grammy clean the pool deck. Then we all played in the pool until lunch time. When Alex took his nap, Grammy and I painted, did puzzles and played Old Maid. It was a rainy afternoon, so we didn't get to go back swimming.

PopPop suggested that we go to the new Chuck E Cheeze for dinner. We ate pizza and played a lot of games. There were about a million other kids, moms, dads and grandparents there. Alex LOVES Chuck E Cheese. He was very impatient when we had to stand in line to get in. He just didn't understand why he couldn't run into the play area!

On the way home, PopPop suggested Dairy Queen, and we all said SURE! We just got home and got our teeth brushed and flossed and our stories read. Alex is in bed and I am on my way. I love you so much and I miss you. You are the best mom and dad in the whole world. When we are in Michigan, Alex and I will take you to Chuck E Cheese. We'll talk to you in the morning.

Hugs and kisses from Elizabeth and Alex

P.S. I really love you!

Kids in Florida Blog - Wednesday

Dear Mama and Daddy,

I am very tired but I wanted to let you know that Alex and I had a good day. We rode bikes after breakfast. Then PopPop took Alex to get a haircut and to McDonalds for lunch. Grammy and I spent some time in the pool, then we made english muffin pizzas for lunch. They were delicious.

After lunch, we met Aunt Gretchen at the movies. We saw Kit Kitteridge, an American Girl. It was very good. My favorite part was when Kit solved the mystery of who stole the money.

When we got home, Grammy and I made meatballs for dinner and cookies for dessert. We all went swimming before the rain started. Alex and I ate a good dinner. (I had 5 servings of fuigibles today). We watched Little Einsteins while we had our milk and cookies. Then Grammy read us stories. PopPop is laying down with Alex and Grammy is taking me to bed. I love you mama and daddy. I like spending time with Grammy and PopPop. I miss you today, and I love you forever.

Good night. Elizabeth

Kath Arrives Back in Shanghai

I came back to Shanghai to work since we had to be back in US in September for the weddings. It seemed like it made sense at the time. I would leave the kids in the US for a few weeks, and come back and work full time with no responsibilities, then go back and be able to enjoy a few weeks of downtime.

This has been too hard to be away from the kids so long. I know they are having fun, but it's not much fun for us after the first week.

Although the US is a much better place to be than Shanghai in the summer, it doesn't matter where you are as long as you are with your family, it would be better.

If the situation is the same next year, I think I'll do it differently.

Michigan Summer Video 1

Kirk did a great job of putting all of my short videos together.

Elizabeth and Alex Blog from Grammy & Pop Pop's House

Elizabeth and Alex are writing blog messages during their stay at Grammy & Pop Pop's House so Kirk and Kath won't miss them as much. Here is the first entry:

Dear Mom and Daddy,

Here's how we spent our day. We had a slumber party with Grammy last night, so we slept in until almost 8:00 a.m. We got up and watched The Backyardigans and then ate pancakes, bacon and fruit for breakfast (We were co-presidents of the Clean Plate Club!). After we cleaned up the house and dishes, Grammy took us to the big pool, where we played and swam for about an hour. Alex and I like to do double cannonballs holding hands. A nice man told Grammy what well-behaved children we are.

Then we came home and had an inside picnic while we watched The Shaggy Dog movie. We did a good job of eating all of our salami, cheese, bread, grapes and carrots. Next Alex went for a nap while Pop Pop took Elizabeth on a bike ride. (She's getting good at balancing on the bike. She decided she would take the training wheels off when she comes back at Christmas!)

Next Elizabeth went with Grammy to get her nails done, and Alex had just got up from his nap when we got home. PopPop took us swimming in the pool while Grammy made dinner. When we came out of the pool, we both got showers and shampoos (we smell really good!) Again, we were co-presidents of the Clean Plate Club, as we ate all of our grilled chicken, french fries, broccoli and salad (well, no salad just cucumbers for Alex!)

PopPop put the new stunt race track together for Alex. We watched a Little Einsteins and had milk and a cookie. We just finished brushing and flossing, and we are off to bed for stories.

We miss you both very much, but Grammy and PopPop are taking good care of us. We'll talk to you in the morning.

Hugs and kisses from Elizabeth and Alex xxxxoooo

PS (from Elizabeth): I love you mama and daddy. Say hi to Xiao Ju and Mr. Liu.

Kath & Kids Arrive at Grammy & Pop Pop's House

These two kids were so terrible on the plane from Detroit to Ft Myers. I was ready to put them into the luggage hold. I think they were just excited about being able to swim. You can see the smiles on their faces.

Beth's Wedding Shower

Pelton hosted a wedding shower for Chesna and Beth. She was worried about the rain, but it turned out to be a nice day. They had a nice shower with family and friends attending.

Afterwards, the Wasiks came over and they did go out to play on the lake. It did rain this time but that didn't stop Elizabeth and Ryan from swimming and tubing.

The last photo is Alex, Ryan Harris, Clare Cronley, Elizabeth holding Kate Cronley, and Rachel Harris. They all had fun playing with each other.

Fun at Kevin & Chrystal's House

Swimming is a big part of these kids summer. They had fun playing at Uncle Kevin and Aunt Chrystal's in the sprinkler, swimming pool, even at the splash park. Jake came to help and became one of Ethan's buddies. Even Nolan joined in when it came time for the sand box playing and ice cream festivities.

swimming at Aunt Cole's house

I cannot access our Picasa google page from this computer, so I can only load up one or two pictures at a time. I guess I will load more when I get back to Shanghai to our home computer.

While the kids were at Nicole's house, they went swimming in the little pool. Alex loved going under the water.

Gigi's new gardening crew

Gigi has decided that she wanted to hire a new garden staff. She needed the extra support as the deer have decided to use this garden by the house as their new lunch spot. One night they munched off 36 lily flower heads. And this the week before she is hosting her garden group's weekly garden walk.

So we needed to inject some more color into it......the hiring began.

Of course "dirt boy" Alex loved helping. Elizabeth was the water girl, watering the holes that Alex would dig and then I would pop in the new flowers.

Elizabeth has now decided that she wants to be a farmer. When we move back, she wants us to live on a farm. I told her that would be up to her dad.

Farm pics

Kirk got all the pictures up on picasa, so now i'll start with the stories about the first part of our summer.

After we left Nicole's house, we drove to Bumpa and GiGi's house. The trip started fine until about an hour into in on the Ohio Turnpike, Alex threw up. Not sure why, maybe the combination of fruit loops and soymilk. After that, the trip was uneventful although it seemed to take forever to get there.

On Tuesday evening before the fourth of July, the Scottville Clown Band plays at the band shell in Scottville. The weather was beautiful and the kids enjoyed dancing. Well Elizabeth did. Alex had ants in his pants and was doing everything he could to tease his sister. So Aunt Suzanne took him and went to play at a friends house nearby.

The next day, we spent time playing outside. When we were in Xian, we bought some small terra cotta warriors and GiGi has place them in her garden to ward off the deer. Elizabeth and I went to the local children's museum in Ludington and she was able to make a bird feeder. We brought it home, hung it up, and the bird's had a great feast.

We also took golf cart rides back to the pond and the river and they both spent much of the day swinging and playing in the dirt.

On fourth of July, we went to the parade. As always, it was a very entertaining parade with the clown band finishing it off. The kids had a great time to trying to catch all the candy. They passed out in the backseat with Bumpa on the way home.

Next day we went to the beach with Aunt Suzanne and Alex pretended he was a bulldozer. He had sand in his head for a few days after.

Another day, Ally and Anna came over and they all swam in the pool and then we went to watch Bumpa in a tractor pull. We made one more stop at the beach that afternoon, but it was too chilly to stay too long.

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I am a new user to facebook and this is a pretty cool feature...showing all the places I've visited. A couple are left out since I couldn't find.