A message from Amelia

Amelia and our house guest, Molly (a student teacher at our school in the Mandarin department), made Liam a video for his birthday.  I love this on so many levels.

Liam is Special Because....

For his birthday gift, Liam's class wrote him a book.  It completely melted this mom's heart.   Everything that was written is what I hope for my kids...being kind and a good friend.

Liam at 5.

Liam at 5:

- really into dinosaurs, Star Wars, and Legos

- wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up

- favorite color is orange

- favorite foods are pizza and cheese burgers

- loves to go to school and cries if he can't

Still the sweetest little boy I know.  

HKsevens

I am now a rugby fan.  I went from knowing nothing about it, to knowing the teams and players.   The games are fast and entertaining, while the players not sore on the eyes.   

Wet morning with a pitcher of my favorite drink. 

This turn of events happened a couple weekends ago when I met Wade in Hong Kong.   His company was the apparel sponsor of the HK Sevens.  This meant, I could stay in his room and get tickets to the games.   A couple other friends, who are legit rugby fans, joined too.   

The stadium

I spent two days living at the stadium and watching game after game with some entertainment thrown into the mix.   We responsibly drank pitchers of Pimms (the English version of Long Island), beer, and Bloody Mary's.  When hungry, it was meat pies and chips.   At night we joined the fans from around the world celebrating wins and mourning loses in the streets of Hong Kong.  

Half-time show...guess who?

I didn't get to experience the culture of HK, but I did get to meet people from around the world and learn about this awesome sport.   I have decided Liam is going to play and my goal is to spread the word about how cool rugby is in the USA. 

Go USA!  Two players in the background.  One is a gold-medal olympic rugby player, and the other plays for the New England Patriots on his "off-season".

The crowd getting started. 

Our friend Rory (he is from S. Africa) explaining the game to us.   

New Zealand vs. Fuji.   BIG boys!

G1 Parachutes, Ribbons and Scarves Oh My! concert

Staycation

Amelia had to have this picture!

This past Spring Break, I didn't have it in me to make big plans.   We decided to stay in Singapore and spend the week at home.   The first night of break, I decided I needed to do something.  So I got onto the hotel sites to see what might be reasonable for a night on Sentosa in Singapore.  

My view the next morning. 

A little background about Sentosa...It is a small island on the tip of Singapore made from reclaimed land.  It was developed for tourist (and the really rich) and boy is it designed for that.  There are the major hotels, a ton of attractions (including Universal Studios), good shopping, MANY places to eat, and some beaches. We have been a handful of times and the kids love it.  It literally is a resort area in Singapore.

This girl LOVES her ribs. 

When looking for places I told myself that I would only pull the credit card trigger if it was a great deal.  Well, it was.  I got a room for one night at The Hard Rock Hotel for a quarter of the costs.  Helped that it was low season and I waited so long that they probably just wanted to fill rooms.   I had heard of others who had stayed here and know from their recommendations, it was a golden deal.  

We headed there early Wednesday morning.  Wade was able to skip work and also joined.   We spent the first half of the day at Adventure Cove, a water park.  It was empty and we got to ride most of the slides and go to all the attractions.   My favorite, the lazy river.   Hunger sank in, so we then left for lunch and finished the afternoon at the Hard Rock's awesome pool.   That night, Chili's for dinner.

Wade and I both left and said it was the perfect Spring Break.   We didn't have the stress of travel, but still felt we got away.  We had good family time and learned more about the area we live in.  

Soccer

This last quarter, SAS offered a select U8 (under 8) soccer team.   After lots of discussion and persuasion, Amelia decided she would at least try.   It only took her about 10 min into the tryouts to realize this was something she could do.  A week later, she made the team (by number default.  Only 7 girls tied out).  

Since then, we have been a busy soccer family with practices and games.  Amelia doesn't seem to be fazed by the commitment and usually comes home from the team to play more in our yard.   Wade is in his parental happy zone and I don't mind seeing the other schools she is playing at.  Liam however, is waiting for his turn and spends the games asking when he can go home or play on the playground.

With each game she is finding her way around the field.  She loves being up front and made 4 goals the last games.  The team is also starting to get to know each other and form that team bond.  

This is just a start to her life of playing sports.