A Quiet Return

So I completely and utterly fell silent on this platform.  For too long it felt like too many things (mundane and essential, urgent and routine) needed my attention and I could never find the energy or spirit to turn to this.  

Hong Kong went through a horrific fifth wave this spring, which was probably doubly devastating because the rest of the world was opening up and it seemed Hong Kong, with shutdowns of schools and working from home, was headed  diametrically in the opposite direction.

So I missed it, but not enough to dust off the laptop and compile the pictures and actually get back into it.  Everything else just seemed to take so much energy and discipline.  So now I'm trying blogging directly from my phone. Let's see if the convenience and accessibility makes this a better platform for me.

The kids have grown so much in 6 months. 

The boys are now in K1 (like nursery school/kindergarten) three hours a day in pure Mandarin stream on Monday through Friday at Mulberry International, and Lola continues at Singapore International in PY2 (like kindergarten, but pretty advanced by US standards - they are reading and writing in two languages and doing simple addition and subtraction).  They all head to school and return together in one drop off - amazing accomplishment!

Here the boys are on their first day of school. Lola and I went to drop them off.

Here is Lola on her first day of school.  She was the sweetest and most endearing combination of excitement and nervousness and anticipation and trepidation.