July has kicked off to a nice (HOT) start for us.
We finished out the last week of June with a playdate at a friend's house on Friday June 25, where the kids were nearly delirious playing with the dollhouses, Peppa and George toys, and the amazing ride-on cars (a motorcycle! a Ferrari!) while I indulged in some lovely champagne with the fellow mom. Woo hoo!
The next day, Saturday, Siti and I went to the American Club with all three kids (brave move) where we played at Eagles' Nest, enjoyed dinner, and then went home. I bumped into a lovely family while dining who expressed their admiration at my bravery/insanity. They also had an older daughter and younger twin boys, and had that knowing look in their eye that instantly made me feel 1000% understood. However, their kids are 3.5 years apart and are now 3.5 and 7... which explained why the parents were able to sit quietly finishing their dinner while their kids all played in the TV room by themselves. I was in awe.
On Sunday, I took Lola to her swim class (where she once again refused to put her head under water) and then we went to breakfast with our friends at the Chinese Recreational Club. In the afternoon, we went to Maggie and Rose (not particularly exciting) given the rain, but Lola did get to watch Trolls in their movie theater which was quiet enjoyable, and the boys got to run around like the maniacs that they are...
The remaining last days of June saw me finally trying a meal at La Petit Maison for a farewell lunch for one of my associates, a farewell/welcome party for a few other co-workers, and signing a deal (wahoo!)!
I kicked off July (July 1 is a public holiday here) with a valiant attempt at taking the kids to the space museum, but the line was so long that it stretched around the block. We ended up going for a very hot, long stroll by the waterfront instead. Alas, not everything goes according to plan...
And after a very long break, I also started getting massages again (I knew it had become really dire when I couldn't even turn without pulling something in my neck).
Since then, our days have been a blur of birthday parties, playdates, classes and museum trips.
I got to attend the last day of Al and Teo's playgroup at Highgate and it was so special - I was so happy everyone showed up and we got group pictures. This was a really wonderful group of moms and similarly aged kids who all shared very similar temperaments and attitudes and... well, the past year of school with everyone has been simply lovely.
Not Highgate related, but... this picture kills me. I love it so.
In the afternoon we went to a very well planned and really wonderful astronaut-themed birthday party. Lola loved the DIY astronaut helmet, and all three kids loved the rocket but the prize for enjoying it the most has to go to Al. He couldn't get enough of hiding himself in the rocket behind the door, and playing peekaboo. His giggles and grins were so infectious.
On Sunday, I took Lola to swim classes again (again no head submersion in the water) and we met the boys at Maggie and Rose and enjoyed lunch there. Then, in the afternoon, in honor of July 4 (which no one here celebrates, sadly) we went to South Bay for a swim and playing in the sand with the kids. As a testament to life with children, I couldn't help but laugh over all of the effort I had made to get us to the beach, and no one wanted to go in the ocean but all three kids were nearly delirious with joy over the grody public shower stalls. Ah, well. We had a great time.
Lola had a playdate with a classmate at Maggie and Rose after school on Monday, and then in a very serendipitous moment bumped into another friend. The three girls got super hyper and happy and it was so wonderful to see how exhausted Lola was at the end of her playdate.
While Lola was busy at her playdate, the boys were off to a new summer Mandarin immersion program at Mulberry House in Central. This is just for an hour every week, but I'm hoping will be quite good for them. They are the youngest in the class. The teacher gave a good progress report/initial feedback.
Al is very good at mimicking words in English or Chinese, but he tends to be less verbose. Along with "mama" and "daddy," Al can say "A, B, C, D" and "1, 2, 3" as well as a very good "bye bye," "xie xie" and "please". Teo doesn't really mimic words, but he will "speak" for a very long time. Teo's newest words are "bow" (and he points to bows in my dresses) and "wow!" which is just said in the most adorable way. They have a lot of other words like "ye ye," "po po," "taxi," "bus," "boat" that are also coming out more frequently now.
Yesterday, the boys enjoyed yet another birthday party at their playgroup (one of their friends turned one) and partook in the healthiest cake smash ever (it was a no sugar, organic, wheat, apple and banana cake with fresh fruit and cream) in which none of the babies knew what to do with the cake and instead picked off the fruit. Then in the afternoon took a trip to the Science Museum which, despite some of its exhibits that look like have not changed since 1950, does have some cool stuff. Their current earth science gallery in particular is pretty good. Here is a picture of me and Lola sitting on the core of the earth, having perused the tsunami (Lola's favorite), the tornado and the volcano.
Time flies! As you can see, we are truly trying to suck the marrow out of every day with all of our adventures and explorations. Happy summer!
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