Stevens Visit (Chicago)

How my Kindergarten Boy perceives me

I titled this as "how my kindergarten BOY perceives me" because I think Elizabeth had a much better perception of me when she was Alex's age.

Alex brought home my Mother's Day gift which was titled "My Mother's Biography". I am transposing word for word below, it is priceless. The teacher had standard sentences provided, the bold words were written by Alex.

My mother's name is Kathrin.She is 140 cm tall and weighs 90 kg. (For the Americans, that is about 4 1/2 ft tall and 198 lbs)
Her hair color is black and her eyes are blue.
The prettiest thing about my mother is her hair.
My mom is 39 years old and still looks great.
I love my mother because she is my mom.
She gets upset when I play in the sink.
When I am really good, she will let me go to the shop.
When I am at school, my mom watches TV.
I am glad she is my mother because she's my mom.

Now, let's clarify some things......

His spelling on my name was pretty close.
I'm a little taller than 4 1/2 feet (5'9" to be exact) and I only weigh 65 kgs although some days it feels like 90.
My hair is dark brown and my eyes are hazel.....could he be color-blind? Gotta check that out at the next doctor's appointment.
I am 39, he's right there.
He does make a mess when he plays in the sink, but I don't ever remember being really mad about that.
I do take him to the shop when he is good.
TV????? So much for thinking my career was getting in the way of things, apparently I was just watching TV :)

I am so glad he is my son!

Jetlagged

Jetlagged!

Michigan

After Florida, we went to Michigan. There was a ton of snow! We had a great time at the farm and even Ethan and Nolan and Allie came to enjoy the snow with us. We had fun snowmobiling and stayed the night at a hotel and went swimming.

Florida

After our great Christmas, we were a bit homesick, so we traveled to US for the Chinese New Year holiday. We started in Florida. The kids had a great time. Alex had a 100 day project due and was missing a few days of school during our trip. His idea was to find 100 shells. He did and made his name out of the shells.

Walking with Dinosaurs

A life size dinosaur show came to the Mercedez Benz arena in Shanghai. It had huge dinosaurs and was a show that was incredibly entertaining. We all loved it.

Snowing in Shanghai

While December was mild, January and February were not. Shanghai got a snowstorm and we got about 2 inches of snow. This may not seem like much but it is for Shanghai. The kids loved it and built a snowman.

Crazy Dress Day

The kids school has many school spirit days. This was crazy dress day and the kids wanted to wear wigs.

Tauranga/Rotorua, New Zealand

Christchurch, New Zealand

Dunedin, New Zealand

Fiordland, New Zealand

Sea Days to New Zealand

Hobart (Tasmania), Australia

Melbourne, Australia

Sydney, Australia

Australia & New Zealand Vacation

The next several posts are pictures of our 2010 Christmas holiday. We decided to take a 2 week cruise around Australia and New Zealand. We went with two other families - the Tavernas and the Gaylords. This was an incredible experience for us. We cruised on the Diamond Princess and have really good memories from the trip.

Christmas in Shanghai

We celebrated an early "cyber" Christmas with many of our relatives. Thanks to all for sending packages and meeting up with us online.

Alex - Christmas Concert

Elizabeth - Christmas Concert