Mall of America

On our way back to the Minneapolis airport, we had a little time to kill. Kim suggested that the aquarium at the Mall of America would be fun. Indeed it was! We really enjoyed our time at the aquarium and even got to pet some baby stingrays. Okay........ that was a little gross.

When we were done walking through the aquarium, we went to the amusment park and Legoland. Alex loved building the cars out of Legos and racing them down the track. After lunch, the kids and Kirk went on some rides. They rode the Semi Truck ride and loved it. After that they went on the Carousel. The only thing that would've made the trip more complete was if we had the time to get Dippin Dots (I looove those!)

Natalie's Baptism/Trip to Dufon's in Minnesota

Our next blessed event was going to meet Natalie Grace Dufon and attending her baptism.

We flew to Minneapolis from Flint. The Slivinski's, Thompsons's, and Bumpa and Gigi also came. Instead of our yearly camping trip at the farm, we had it at Steve and Kim's.

They borrowed a bounce house from their friends for the whole weekend. Not only did the little kids like it, but the big kids and "bigger kids" did too. Even Bumpa and Gigi jumped on it! That was a blast!

On Saturday, we walked down the street and went into the river. We played in the water and then floated down in tubes to where Steve's house is. Elizabeth thought that was pretty cool. That night we had a great barbecue and we celebrated Anna Marie's 7th birthday with cake and ice cream. Saturday included lots of tennis games, jumping matches in the bounce house and card games.

Sunday was the baptism. It was a very nice ceremony during Mass. I was blessed to be Natalie's Godmother and Dale is her Godfather. You can see how sweet Natalie is from her pictures and how much her brother and sister love her.

After the baptism, we took some family pictures. You can see how big all the kids are getting.

It was a great weekend and a lot of fun to all be together. Thanks for hosting Dufon's!

Visit to the Park

We had to spend the morning at Dr. Politis' getting 4yr old and 2 yr old checkups. They are both on track. However, they both had to have shots! Fortunately to take their mind off of the pain, Aunt Chrystal invited us to picnic with them at Firefighter's Park in Troy.

This is a really nice park that Chrystal takes the boys to and meets Kevin for lunch sometimes. The only problem was that there was a considerable amount of dirt on the ground since there were a lot of trees and the grass in some spots couldn't grow.

Of course, Alex is naturally drawn to dirt. We think he will definitely be either a farmer or an archaeolgist when he grows up. You can see from the pictures, he was covered in dirt shortly after we arrived. He and Ethan also had much fun playing on the structure.

Wisconsin Visitors

A trip to the US wouldn't be complete without seeing the Wisconsin gang. Jill, Jan, Amy, and Kelly graciously made the drive to Michigan to spend the weekend with us. We had a lot of fun basically just goofing off!

Police Concert

The Police reunited for a tour and it just so happened that they made a stop in Detroit while we were in town. A few years ago, Kirk took me to see Sting in Detroit and we got lucky and got front row seats. Since we've seen him once in the front row, we had to do it again.

The concert was great! They played all of the great Police tunes. A lot of 40-50 something year old women were screaming!!! See the video attached.

Elizabeth's 1st Trip to the Dentist

Today Elizabeth went to the dentist for her first cleaning. She went with me last year to watch me get my teeth cleaned, but I don't think she remembered that. She was SOOOO good! I had an appointment too.

They took xrays on her teeth and then we went into the cleaning room. She listened to the hygienist talk about what was going to happen. My hygienist then came into the room and said that she was ready for me. I asked Elizabeth if she needed me with her for her cleaning and she said no. I was two cubicles away and heard everything. She did great and never cried once.

No cavities (for either of us!).

After the dentist, we visited our old neighborhood and our neighbors, the Bruett's. Elizabeth was curious about our old house, she remembered it.

Allison and Nicholas both grew a lot over the year. We had a great time visiting. Allison gave Elizabeth a manicure and pedicure and of course she loved it. Scott and Cindy were both there and it was good to catch up with them. Unfortunately, this is the only time we had to spend with them as our time got too busy.

We'll look forward to seeing them again next year!

Nolan's Baptism

Here are picture of the first joyous party that we went to. Nolan William was baptized. We were able to see Chrystal's family and all of the kids had a great time playing. After the baptism, Kevin and Chrystal had a party at their house. It was a really hot day and the kids ended up getting out the hose and having a splash party. Alex loved to fill up the bucket and dump it on his own head!

Michigan Friends Summer 2007

We left the farm and headed south to the Harris' mansion on Commerce Lake. I teased Andrea a lot about the size of their house. You have to understand that we are used to living in a small apartment. Compared to our apartment, their house is an absolute mansion. I could never keep it clean! You could fit a couple families in their house. Ten Chinese families. :()

Anyway, we had a great time with Jeff, Andrea, Ryan and Rachel. We actually met John, Suzanne, Clare, and Maggie (the dog) on the way. They were coming down I-75 also from Suzanne's parent's house up north on their way back to St Louis. Cronley, although we were having dinner at the Harris', was hungry as we drove through Grand Blanc and we pulled over to the Hot Dog Stand. He ate 3. Does that surprise anyone?? :)

You can see from the pictures we had a really good time. We were able to get out on the lake and do some tubing and some swimming and some Jet Skiing. Elizabeth likes to go fast, imagine that! Maybe next summer we'll have her up on skis.

We made a trip to Cass Lake beach and the kids loved using the slide. That night, Pelton and I were able to go meet up with friends. Michele Miller and Angie Bohr, then Pelton and Beth Hatsios, then Jeri Ward and Kath in the pictures. We had a great time catching up.

The next night we took pizza and salad over to Chesna and Beth's new house. Harris got pulled into doing some moving as they were not all moved in yet. Alex liked hiding in the furniture. You can see him in the pictures with his pink Wowee still. Nichoel Wasik, Nick and Katherine also came.

The rest of the week, we just hung out and played. I think Ryan was ready to get rid of us so that he could have his toys to himself again! On Friday morning, we got to finally have Friday morning breakfast with Grandpa and Grandma Pelton and Aunt Deborah. Uncle George had to work. Aunt Deborah is pregnant with twin girls!!

Thanks to the Harris' for letting us live in the lower wing! We felt so much at home and loved hanging out. Can't wait to do it again.

Dufon Farm

After my leadership conference, I drove back to Cleveland and picked up the kids. Gigi and Jake and us had a caravan back up north. They brought Olivia with them and Dale and Nicole followed a couple days later.

Wow! What a great time we had. It was really hard for me and the kids to be away from Kirk for so long, but this was the best thing for the kids.

Let's start with Elizabeth. She was so excited about being able to spend time with Alli and Anna. When they came over, I didn't see her again until they left. They had fun playing in the back, going for golf cart rides, and we went to the beach as well.

Now for Alex. If he heard anyone say "Golf cart", he would be right there by the door ready to go out. Being the routine boy that he is, he would talk about what we would see next on the ride. Let me walk you through:

We would drive down the lane, pass the pond, go around the junk pile, go over the bridge, look for fishes, drive past the cornfield, point and say "cornfield", go into the new paths and look for berries along the way. Then return and say all the same things!! He just absolutely loved running around the farm.

At the pond, Bumpa had to put up a rope to keep the little kids from walking into the pond. One day, it was windy, and we flew kites by the pond. Bumpa had a lot of fun doing it and said it was the first time he'd ever flown a kite. He was the last one flying them.

Oh, and the swing. Alex still loves to swing. Everyday, we had to walk down to the swingset and swing for at least 30 minutes.

On Tuesday, July 3, we loaded up the kids and went to Scottville to hear the world famous (well maybe) Scottville Clown band. We got there, sat down and waited for them to start and then it started raining. We thought it might, so we brought umbrellas and waited and thought it would pass. It started raining harder. So we went into the VFW hall and waited. While we were waiting, Elizabeth saw one of the clowns. He was dressed as a girl. She said, "Mom, look at that silly boy, he's wearing a dress!"

It started raining so hard and didn't look like it would quit. By this time, we were wet dogs and it was warm, so I hauled the kids through the pouring rain, through puddles into the car. You can see Elizabeth's displeasure at being so wet!!

The next day, we went to the parade in downtown Ludington. We went to the same spot as last year, by the shoe store. The girls had fun dancing around in the empty street before the parade. Jake was bored! House of Flavors gave away pints of ice cream again. Alex's favorite was the firetrucks, Elizabeth's favorite was the Clown band. We came back after the parade and had an awesome cookout!

At night, we attempted to go to the fireworks at one of Suzanne's friend's house on Lake Michigan. No luck...cancelled due to fog. They rescheduled on Friday, but Nicole and Dale wouldn't be able to go since they were leaving for a wedding during Friday afternoon.

The rest of the time at the farm was spent just enjoying the fresh air and wide open space. The kids loved playing in the pool that was set up and running around in the back. It was too short of a trip and we'll spend more time next summer. This will be a place that we will spend time at every year in the summer no matter where we may live. Thanks to Gigi and Bumpa for a great time!

Construction Everywhere!

Construction Everywhere click above for pictures

All around our apartment there is construction. There are cement trucks, welding equipment, digging machines and cranes moving 24 hours a day. Behind us they are building an office building. They have dug the underground garage. Across the street they are building a shopping mall and a 5 star Japanese hotel. They are continuing to add more restaurants, shops, and a small boutique hotel in the strip mall behind us. Down the street they are just completing a tall office building. Soon they will start construction on a new 5 star Shangrila Hotel. All of this is supposed to be complete within the next year or two. This will not be the quiet area for too much longer.

Welcome Natalie Grace Dufon

Natalie Grace Dufon arrived June 26th at 3:16 PM Central time.

She weighed 8 pounds and was 20 3/4 inches long.

This is Steve and Kim's baby, Nathan and Sarah's new sister. We've done a few webcams with them and Natalie seems to be a very good baby and she is very beautiful.

Elizabeth was excited that she is a girl! We will fly there July 27th and spend the weekend with them and attend her baptism. More to come with that trip.

Slvinski's House

The kids spent the week at Aunt's Cole's house from June 24 - June 30. Gigi and Jake came to help out. Needless to say, they had a blast and didn't miss their Mom at all. Alex LOVES Buddy (their dog). Elizabeth had a lot of fun playing with Olivia.

I had to work in Troy that week and really missed them, but I knew they were in good hands. I loved it when I got the text message from Nicole saying, "Al pee pee'd in the potty". By the way.....one time thing. :(They swam, went to the park, did arts and crafts, went to the community pool......

When I picked them up, they seemed like they were both more grown up. I cannot imagine what Kirk is going to think after being away from them for 3 weeks.

I picked them up on Saturday and we left for the next destination....Bumpa and Gigi's.....more to come

Back in the USA

Ahhh....the smell of clean air and new cut grass! Nothing like that in Shanghai! The kids and I made it back to the USA on Thursday. We waited too long to book our tickets and had to fly from Shanghai to Tokyo to San Francisco to Detroit. That last flight was painful. Will not do that by myself with the kids again. They were really good considering having to sit in a seat for the better part of 18 hours. We went the the St Isadore Strawberry Festival today. There was a band called the Polish Muslims out of Hamtramck playing music. Elizabeth, Ethan, and Alex had a ball dancing. I love summer church festivals! I love American made, grilled, hot dogs! I only ate one, but I could've eaten a couple more. Note to anyone we are visiting this summer.....just grill a few hotdogs and we'll be all set! We are cheap dates. The kids really miss Kirk and we are struggling with the body adjustment to the time. It will get better in a few days. For now, we watch a lot of Mickey Mouse clubhouse and Little Einsteins in Kevin and Chrystal's guest room between 4am and 6 am! I'll post pictures later in the week.

Alex & Daddy Go To School

Alex & Daddy go to School click above for pictures

I was able to take a couple of hours away from work to take Alex to school. Just my luck it was the day that taught the kids how to turn water and flower into dough. Alex isn't the best kid is class as he doesn't like to sit still while the teachers are showing the rest of the class the activity. When the teacher brought out the flour to show the kids how it felt, Alex ran right up to her a stuck his hands it and started tossing the flour around the room. When it was time to mix the flour and water to make the dough, Alex had to pour the whole cup of water into the pan so it was impossible to make dough. He stuck his hands in the mixture and didn't like the way it felt do he wiped them off all over himself and me. I think that the Chinese people in the class must have thought we have never seen flour and water before.

We did finally get cleaned up and Alex got to go a play with all of the toys. He also got to go outside on the swing, which I believe is one of favorite activities. We had a good time together and it was fun getting to meet all of his friends at school.

Father's Day

Father's Day Click above for pictures

I couldn't have asked for a better Father's Day. All you have to do is look at the pictures and you will see why my day was so much fun. I was woken up by my two lovely children who gave me beautiful picture of themselves for me to hang in my office. You can see the pictures in the link above.

Snow White Ballet

Snow White Ballet click above for pictures

Kim and I took the girls to see a Russian Children's ballet perform Snow White. Orla, Ciara, and Elizabeth absolutely loved it and were really good.

Elizabeth's Last Day of School

Elizabeth had her last day of school as a 2007 Ladybug. She will be returning to Concordia in the fall and most likely Mrs. Chiu will be her teacher again.

From the left, Mrs. Taylor, Lauren Round, Mrs. Round, Crystal Tan, Mrs. Chiu, Elizabeth and Samantha Chow. Mrs. Taylor, Lauren and Mrs. Round will not be back this fall. Mrs. Taylor and her family moved back to Australia. Mrs. Round and Lauren moved back with their family to Warren, MI.

Kirk's Trip Down Under

Kirk's Trip Down Under Click above for pictures

I made a trip to Melbourne, Australia on business to visit Ford about an opportunity for my company on the new Global Truck they are developing there. I met an old work mate and good friend Jeremy Gill and his wife Crystal there. Crystal was able to get time off work to make the long trip.

Melbourne is a really nice city. It was nice to visit a Western City after being in Asia for so long. It is amazing how much you miss the little things. For one I can eavesdrop on conversations there and understand what the people are talking about. We spent most of the time wandering around the city. Jeremy and I spent most of the time preparing for our meetings while trying to stay top of work issues back home. We will have to come back as a family on vacation where we can spend more time touring.

The pictures in the link above are from around town. They have a free cable car that takes you around town that tells information about the key areas of the city.

Elizabeth's Ballet Recital

Elizabeth's Ballet Recital click above for pictures

Finally after all the practicing the recital was here. It was a production of the Nutcracker and it was held at the Portman Hotel Theatre. It was really amazing. It was like a professional production of the ballet. The dancers were amazing and all the practicing really paid off. Miss Li is the teacher in the middle.

The little girls were the youngest and really did an outstanding job for being so young. The craziest thing at the end though. You know how you give your ballerina flowers after???......Well you do that here as well, but in true Chinese fashion, all the parents rush up onto stage at the same time, while all the dancers are there on stage at the end, to give them the flowers. There are about 200 people on stage at once!! Chaos.

Elizabeth fell asleep in the car on the way home!

Elizabeth's School Recital

Elizabeth's Recital at School click above for pictures

A lot of singing practice for the school recital was happening during the last couple months of May. The preschool and elementary school classes performed American Folk Songs. Elizabeth's class sang: I've Been Working on the Railroad, Shoo Fly, Knick Knack Paddywack, and Polly Wolly Doodle. Alex loves to sing Shoo Fly with Elizabeth. Kath loves the Polly Wolly Doodle song.

They all did a great job and it was a lot of fun watching the concert.

Oh yeah......more of Alex's antics on the last picture. He pulled one of Elizabeth's Easter Bonnets out and decided to wear it! Ha Ha