Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Father's Day

 So, I just had to post one of my favorites of my little Tennessee fans!  We were all on the way to  the grocery store and when I turned around I saw these two handsome guys walking behind us.  They had the same expression on their face, holding umbrellas, and were walking EXACTLY the same way.
 We went out to eat for Father's Day!!  Excellent food.  Excellent Beverege Choice.  Quiet kids because they happened to be playing a movie that they had not seen in English. Full Bellies. Relaxing Lunch.
 We wanted to get a Father's Day photo.  The restaurant is called Yellow Submarine.  WE were going to get a picture in front of it, but the lighting was to dark to get a good picture that far away.
 So, we got another right outside :)
 This is Katherine's favorite spot in the house :)
 Sweet Gracie.  She is laying at Benjamin's door.  She misses Doggy Bones, too.  Last Thursday, Doggy Bones got into some rat poisoning outside and died. Jonathan rushed the dog to the vet, but there was nothing they could do.  It happened so fast.  Needless to say, it's been a rough week for Benjamin.
 Jonathan pulled out his guitar and really peaked Hudson's interest!  They were so cute together.
 Katherine brought 10 coins to play this marble game.  It gives you 5 marbles to play and chances to win extra marbles.  It is potentially the never ending game. :)  They had so much fun together playing it.
 After Lauren's dance class a parent offered to take several of the girls home.  It was a car full of giggling girls in the back seat (5 girls and Hudson...who was not thrilled about being back there with all the girls...haha)
 Lauren went out to play and eat with a friend. She caught 2 fish with her hands while playing.  The mom brought them back and put them in the pond in our complex.  I didn't know the name of the fish she told me, so she sent a picture.  Still not sure the English name, but at least I know what it looks like now.
 A different view of our city on a beautiful day :)
 If you looked closely, you could see our house :)
 Just hangin' out on the couch.
 Hudson saw this car and said, "WOW! Look Mom!  That car looks really fast!"
 The same beautiful day in our new city (picture from a friend)
 School's over and many things have been packed.  It's blazing hot outside.  That combination makes for lots of Twister and other board games!  The kids convinced us to turn the AC unit on.  I am so glad we have one now!  I checked the temperature inside the house after running the air for a few hours and cooling off and it said it was still 90! (But the cold air blowing on us made it seem much cooler!)
 The littles playing Monopoly.  They did a fantastic job of figuring it all out by themselves!
Winter and Yoyo playing outside for a few minutes before going home.  I thought it was a fun little picture.

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Still House Hunting

Well, we are still house hunting.  It's been a tiring process of traveling to the new city, finding multiple agents (because they can only show you their listings), seeing things WAAAAAY to small, WAAAAYY to expensive, apartments that were falling apart, some decorated for a king, some in the middle of the city and some on the edge of the city.  Although it's been tiring, we have seen some great views of the city in the process that make parts of it worthwhile.  We hope to have a place to call home again soon.  
 This was also one of the views.
 Just some different snapshots from the city.
 I smelled something fishy....I looked around and saw that this "moving truck" had just unloaded a bunch of live seafood and they were draining all the water tom inside the truck onto the street. I've never seen that one before.  I guess that's part of city life near and ocean.
 Some street venders ready to sell some clothes.
 Just some ladies carrying their babies and buying food from the vendor on the street.
 So, Jonathan and I had just gotten back from a house hunting trip and the kids were ready for bed when Regan and Benjamin wanted us to close our eyes.  They had gone to taekwondo that day and found out that they had placed in the competition a few weeks back! Last week they presented all the kids with a certificate with where they placed in the competition.  Lauren and gotten 4th place in the individuals and 5th place in the doubles, Benjamin had gotten 4th place in the individuals.  Regan asked the coach about her certificates and Benjamin's other certificate. When he checked into it he found out that they were supposed to have gotten medals!
 Regan got 3rd place in the individuals and they got 3rd place together in the doubles competition.  I am so happy for them and proud of them!
They had a small little ceremony at their studio and made a big deal over them.
 While Regan and Jonathan were in another city for an orthodontist appointment, I took the kids one last time to the play place.  They had renovated, so many of the things were new and the old stuff was rearranged.  They all had fun.  (That's Benjamin and Katherine in the back of the picture riding some kind of swing thing)
 Hudson loved riding the Little Tikes Roller Coaster.
 They had a new sand area where the kids could play.
 Of coarse, out of all the toys, Hudson finds the dump truck.  He loves cars!
 These two enjoyed building alls in the house and knocking them down. I think it's very therapeutic ;)
 They decided to play hide and seek.  It made me laugh so hard because Lauren was counting as loud as she could with her eyes closed and this little boy thought it was so funny.  He kept running up to her and putting his face about 2 inches from hers and then would run away laughing.  I'm not sure he ever figured out what she was doing.
 Trying to get all of these walls at the same time without other kids knocking them over was quite the feat.
 Once Hudson figured out what the gears were supposed to do, he was intrigued.  So glass he has big sisters and a big brother to help him learn.  They all played together at this wall for a while.
 Katherine knocking it down while Hudson is trying to rebuild.
 Lauren is ready!
 There was no stopping Benjamin.  We actually had to go find some of the blocks on the sand pit.  He's a little stronger than he realizes :)

Monday, June 6, 2016

Good and Busy Days

I just love this city!  The people we have met these past few weeks and the stories we have shared together have truly filled my heart with joy.  He is good.
This week I have mostly food pictures and random shots from around town.  I hope you enjoy.
Katherine eating at a muslim noodle shop.

a HUGE dessert spread that we were able to choose whatever we wanted

This HUGE plate covered the entire table!  They brought it out with a parade and everything.
This is one of my favorites...it's a special thin bread that is hollow inside.  It has a slight sweetness to it and I think it looks like the moon (others say the Death Star) haha!
Katherine was a happy girl....it's not every day we get fancy ice cream :)
Hudson and Yamma enjoyed taking plenty of selfies :)
I am not even going to try and master this skill of bike riding.  I'm really not that concerned with keeping the sun of of me :)
I really can't imagine running a restaurant while being a young mother, but it happens all the time.  The baby just sleeps through it all.
We celebrated International Children's Day (well my kids didn't celebrate but the rest of the kids did...I told them to choose...presents on this day or Christmas...haha)  My good friend is a teacher and they captured her picture with some of her students.
Then you have these two little ones at the market.
This lady was selling frogs (to eat) at the market.  I'm still not sure how she kept them from jumping of her red bag.  I guess it was too hot outside and they just didn't want to do too much.
A sweet new friend.  I hope we can get together again soon!
It's not often I catch a sunrise.  I prefer to get up AFTER the sun, not before :)
Wing and my kiddos made lots of silly photos together and put them all in a video while waiting for me to arrive at dinner.  This one was my favorite.
And then another friend had fun using her silly app with my kiddos....oh, Benjamin, this is just like him!  He's going to pretend to be a buny
Lady Tina and Lady Lauren
This little lady finally got a turn cooking/baking with her daddy!
She then wanted to decorate her cake with Mommy's supplies.  I think she did pretty good job for her first cake (and she discovered a bakers secret of getting to lick extra icing while you work...evidence is on her face)  I have lots of pictures of Benjamin and Regan, too, but they will have to wait until another time.