Benjamin's Soccer Season

Benjamin is just finishing up his second year of soccer and has made some great improvements this year in his skill and confidence. It is fun to watch him learn and enjoy a team sport. We finished the season at a tournament in Gubai with several other teams. Our boys were stunned by the competition as our friendly teams in Zhudi team are not nearly as aggressive as those in Gubei. By the final game, though, they had made huge improvements and had learned to be much more aggressive when playing. I am very happy that we are playing in our small little area as the competition was a bit too intense for my taste. It was a fun experience, though.

Kindergarten Career Unit

In March, the kindergarten students at SAS studied careers. Benjamin really enjoyed the unit and chose to "become" a photographer. Michael was the guest speaker for the photographer group. As yearbook advisor, Michael is often seen around campus with his camera so is also considered to be a photographer.

K-2 Concerts

Each month at SAS there is an assembly for all K-2 students. Each grade level performs and students from each class receive awards. In February, Benjamin was very excited to earn an award for good behavior. Then, in March, his class did a Dr. Seuss presentation. It was pretty cute. Benjamin is the one in all red in the middle group. He really had his moves down!



A slideshow of the preparation for the assembly:



Receiving his award in February:

Molly Turns 4

Molly turned 4 on January 30 and we had a party for her in our apartment. She invited 5 friends, their siblings and parents and we ended up with quite a party. We grilled and talked and ate. At the end, we even had fireworks in the street. It was a pretty amazing site and the kids loved it. Molly was excited by the new camera she got as well as all of the Barbies. She loves playing with her Barbies and acting things out. She is also having fun playing with her new puppet theater! Now, I am hoping 4 is easier than 3.

Chinese New Year

We had a week off during the Chinese New Year holiday and we decided to head downtown for a few days with some friends. We stayed in an apartment/hotel near Old Town and had a great time. We went to Yu Yuan Garden, wandered around the Old Town Area, went to the Bund and went through the sightseeing tunnel and had lunch in Pudong. We even attended a circus and watched in awe as a bike broke away from one of the riders and flew into the front row and landed on a lady in the audience. It was an action-packed few days and it was fun to play tourist for a while.

Chinese New Year

We are looking forward to experiencing our first Chinese New Year next week. The elementary school had two assemblies and Benjamin participated in the primary grade assembly. The kids also made Chinese lanterns, wore traditional Chinese clothing -- Benjamin stuck with his red sweats since red is the color for Chinese New Year. It is fun to see the city decorated for this important holiday. We are looking forward to a week off from school.

Ice on the Pond

It finally got cold enough for a bit of ice to form on the pond. Benjamin and Molly were amazed to see the pond frozen over and spent a lot of time throwing rocks on the ice, breaking off large sheets of ice and shattering them, and even standing on top of the ice at the very edge of the pond. Benjamin wanted to go back to the pond constantly for two days. He filled the freezer with sheets of ice to save for later. Now, if we could just get a bit of snow his life would be complete.