Sorry I haven’t posted in a couple of days. I have been really tired at night. I think it is my body’s way of saying slow down. That is just what we did this weekend had a little bit of slow time.
On Saturday we got caught up on our sleep then and just lounged around for a while. That evening use ladies and Ken went to a candle party at my friend Julia’s. It was fun to visit with Julia and Andrea a little bit.
After the party I took Ken over to see the neighborhood where I grew up. I took him down the street that I lived on for 22 years of my life. My old house in Custer has changed a bit. For those of you who know the house where we had our deck and hot tub the new owners have added what looks like a three-story addition to the house. It looks a little strange to me but that is because it doesn’t look my childhood house.
We also stopped to meet Pam my 2nd childhood mom. Pam, her husband Hal and their daughter Angela bought the house across the street from us about a month after my parents and I moved in. This was in the spring of 1972. I don’t think my parents could have asked for better neighbors. Angela and I were both only children. We were only one month apart. Angela’s birthday is February 6th and mine is March 6th. Please note that she is the older one. We were like sisters growing up. Angela went on family trips with us. My best memories are camping trips to Whidbey Island. Maybe that is where we got our liking for Military boys. Pam and Hal still live in the house on Main Street. Angela and her kids where at her mom’s as well so Ken got a chance to meet her.
After that we went to Fred Meyer’s to get some groceries. While at the store I found they had a deal on eggs. You buy one box of 18 and you get the second one free. Of course I had to get the free one. Jordan kept saying we had enough eggs. I was thinking maybe I had one box, but that it would be fine. Jordan was right I had more then enough eggs. With the eggs at home and the eggs I had just bought I had 4 yes 4 18-count boxes of eggs. Dang that’s a lot of eggs.
On Sunday I called Michelle and Dave up and told them to come over we are have eggs for breakfast. lol. Marty made us a wonderful breakfast. We had hash browns, toast and of course eggs. Then Jordan made us some cinnamon rolls. It was a wonderful breakfast. After that we decided to go to the mall and let Ken do a little shopping. He loves to shop.
My five-day weekend was over. I really like working a two-day work week and have a five day weekend. That would be a nice schedule. lol
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Saturday, August 25, 2007
WOW!!!!!
Get a cup of tea or coffee and go to the bathroom because this is going to be a long one……….
As I start today’s blog I must start my quoting Seattle Mariners’ commentator Dave Niehaus by saying “My oh my.” This has been an incredible couple of days. I must tell those of you that don’t know me my life is not normally this busy. I like to plan my weekends so that I get all my plans, housework and chores done on Friday or Saturday just so that I can relax on Sunday. Please don’t think that my life is always on the go.
Well let’s start at the beginning of Thursday morning. We headed out of the house about 11:00am. After several trips here and there we finally got on the road and down to the Edmond’s to catch the Ferry. We made it over to Camp Indianola in plenty of time to get good seats to watch Jordan’s play from Drama camp. They told us to arrive by 4:30 but the play didn’t start until 5:30.
The entire play took about 30 minutes. It was so cute to watch. All the kids did an excellent job. It was very impressive to see that they could pull this off in just four and a half days. I have a ton of pictures from the play. As soon as David has a chance to sit down tomorrow to get them on the computer I will post them to share with everyone. No I haven’t learned how to get the photos from camera to computer to the Internet yet. lol I have been a little busy as you can tell. lol
Ken seemed to like watching the play. He told his Aunt Melanie that it made him a little home sick to see the kids it reminded him of his brother. Ken is still adjusting to being so far away from home. Who can blame him he has to adjust to being away from home along with the whole culture shock as well. I must say he is doing real well, but nights seem to be the toughest when his mind gets the better of him. I can understand where he is coming from on many levels. But the number one is I used to be a child that got home sick A LOT. I think I was about 12 before I could stay the night at someone’s house. I was so bad that I couldn’t stay at my neighbor’s house in a tent 30 feet from my own house. I had a good time until it was time to go to bed, then I would cry and cry and cry to go home. (Sorry Pam and Angela) On the other hand I did go to China when I was Ken’s age and I did great. I can’t say I didn’t do it without a little homesickness, but I did make it.
Ken and Jordan sat together on the way home from camp. There wasn’t much communication passed between the two. But they seemed comfortable with each other. I am sure before long they will be enjoying each other’s company. I know Jordan feels much better having Ken in the next room. Before camp she was having some issues with being alone on the opposite side of the house as her dad and I.
They Ferry ride was fun on the way back. We had our Friend Pastor Michele…….yes another Michelle. But Pastor Michele spells her name wrong. LOL She seems to think that Michele only has one L in it. What was her mother thinking? Just kidding Michele. Ken laughed and said, “I haven’t meet very many people in America, but all their name’s seem to be either David or Michelle.” (Please see previous blogs if you don’t understand this joke)
Back to the Ferry……We all went outside to watch as the Ferry left Kingston. There was a beautiful sunset behind us lighting up the sky with multiple shades of purples, pinks and oranges. It was casting a beautiful light on the Mt. Rainier. I must say it reminded me why I love Washington so much. The whole combination and being with my family made it a good ending to a great day.
I think after the full day Ken was tired. He said he feel asleep about 3:00am. This is an improvement from the 5:00am the last couple of days. I am so glad that he has a couple weeks to adjust his personal clock before school starts. As you can see by the link to your left Vietnam is about 14 hours ahead of us. I can’t say much about my personal clock. It is 2:00am and I am up righting this blog. Right now I am not setting a good example for him.
Now onto Friday we got up about 9ish. Got showered and headed out the door about 11:00am. We went over to my work and I introduced Ken to my co-workers. Then we went and had lunch Julia, from work. We went to KFC. Then it was off to the High School to get Ken registered for school. We have his class schedule for the year. He is taking an English as a Second Language class. They will test him the first couple of days to see where he is at and then place him in the proper English class. He is also taking Pre-Calculus, US History, Citizenship, Choir, racket sports, web design and a couple more that I can’t remember. This is all spread out over the school year. I think it was all a little over whelming for him. It was for me to say the least. They don’t have it like when I was in high school. They now have X, Y and Z days. Each day has a different schedule. On X days we will only have three of the classes. One Y days he will have a couple more. Z days are a little combination of both. It is nuts I tell you. Next week I will go over it with Ken on what days are what he has each class. I will write it on his calendar and hopefully I understand it enough that I can explain it to him. Wish us both luck on that one.
After we got done with the school Ken wanted to go to the mall and do some shopping. We stopped at a bunch of different stores. Ken shopped around he got some shorts and a belt. I think he might have had a little bit of sticker shock on the prices of things here, but he did very well with finding stuff that was a good deal.
Then we stopped at Verizon wireless and got Ken a cell phone for the year. He was so proud of the phone. He was getting the phone all set up with all our phone numbers. I was a little shocked when he made a phone call to someone I was a little worried that he was calling Vietnam. He was calling friend who was in Minnesota on an exchange program. He was so pleased with all his new stuff. It was a pleasure to see his excitement. He was so cute to watch.
After the mall we went home and got ready for dinner. Our neighbor’s David and Michelle came over for dinner. Yes we seem to spend a lot of time with them. Believe it or not we have lived next to each other for five years and didn’t become friends until this last July 4th. Michelle (spelled the correct way) said tonight that she doesn’t know how we survived this long without each other. I tend to agree with her. We really enjoy each other’s conversation. It is kind of funny they bicker, argue and pick on each other as much as David and I do. It is all in a fun way.
As dinner tonight Ken asked for another hamburger. Yeah!!!! Michelle patted his stomach and said we needed to fatten him up. He laughed and said to her…”You dream of me?” Oh my gosh we all started laughing. It was wonderful to see him feel comfortable with us to let his sense of humor come out.
After dinner we headed out to go bowling. I really can’t remember all that happened at the bowling alley because it is late and my brain is falling asleep. I can tell you that it was continuous laughter and fun for everyone. Sorry to say we all suck at bowling and that is even with having the bumper’s up. But we had so much fun. Ken’s seems to be getting more and more comfortable with us. Michelle kept saying I just live him he is so sweet.
After bowling we went back to David and Michelle’s to watch the movie Independence Day. Ken seemed to like it. We didn’t get home until after midnight. That is why I am up so late writing this blog. I would have waiting until tomorrow, but I had a couple people…Michelle…complains that there was nothing for her to read. lol
Little side not for those of you that don’t know text language lol means laugh out loud.
That sums it up for the last couple of days. I am sure I left a few things out here and there, but this is already long enough. Keep watching I will be posting some photos real soon. I am sorry if there are a lot of errors in my blog tonight, but I am very tired.
As I start today’s blog I must start my quoting Seattle Mariners’ commentator Dave Niehaus by saying “My oh my.” This has been an incredible couple of days. I must tell those of you that don’t know me my life is not normally this busy. I like to plan my weekends so that I get all my plans, housework and chores done on Friday or Saturday just so that I can relax on Sunday. Please don’t think that my life is always on the go.
Well let’s start at the beginning of Thursday morning. We headed out of the house about 11:00am. After several trips here and there we finally got on the road and down to the Edmond’s to catch the Ferry. We made it over to Camp Indianola in plenty of time to get good seats to watch Jordan’s play from Drama camp. They told us to arrive by 4:30 but the play didn’t start until 5:30.
The entire play took about 30 minutes. It was so cute to watch. All the kids did an excellent job. It was very impressive to see that they could pull this off in just four and a half days. I have a ton of pictures from the play. As soon as David has a chance to sit down tomorrow to get them on the computer I will post them to share with everyone. No I haven’t learned how to get the photos from camera to computer to the Internet yet. lol I have been a little busy as you can tell. lol
Ken seemed to like watching the play. He told his Aunt Melanie that it made him a little home sick to see the kids it reminded him of his brother. Ken is still adjusting to being so far away from home. Who can blame him he has to adjust to being away from home along with the whole culture shock as well. I must say he is doing real well, but nights seem to be the toughest when his mind gets the better of him. I can understand where he is coming from on many levels. But the number one is I used to be a child that got home sick A LOT. I think I was about 12 before I could stay the night at someone’s house. I was so bad that I couldn’t stay at my neighbor’s house in a tent 30 feet from my own house. I had a good time until it was time to go to bed, then I would cry and cry and cry to go home. (Sorry Pam and Angela) On the other hand I did go to China when I was Ken’s age and I did great. I can’t say I didn’t do it without a little homesickness, but I did make it.
Ken and Jordan sat together on the way home from camp. There wasn’t much communication passed between the two. But they seemed comfortable with each other. I am sure before long they will be enjoying each other’s company. I know Jordan feels much better having Ken in the next room. Before camp she was having some issues with being alone on the opposite side of the house as her dad and I.
They Ferry ride was fun on the way back. We had our Friend Pastor Michele…….yes another Michelle. But Pastor Michele spells her name wrong. LOL She seems to think that Michele only has one L in it. What was her mother thinking? Just kidding Michele. Ken laughed and said, “I haven’t meet very many people in America, but all their name’s seem to be either David or Michelle.” (Please see previous blogs if you don’t understand this joke)
Back to the Ferry……We all went outside to watch as the Ferry left Kingston. There was a beautiful sunset behind us lighting up the sky with multiple shades of purples, pinks and oranges. It was casting a beautiful light on the Mt. Rainier. I must say it reminded me why I love Washington so much. The whole combination and being with my family made it a good ending to a great day.
I think after the full day Ken was tired. He said he feel asleep about 3:00am. This is an improvement from the 5:00am the last couple of days. I am so glad that he has a couple weeks to adjust his personal clock before school starts. As you can see by the link to your left Vietnam is about 14 hours ahead of us. I can’t say much about my personal clock. It is 2:00am and I am up righting this blog. Right now I am not setting a good example for him.
Now onto Friday we got up about 9ish. Got showered and headed out the door about 11:00am. We went over to my work and I introduced Ken to my co-workers. Then we went and had lunch Julia, from work. We went to KFC. Then it was off to the High School to get Ken registered for school. We have his class schedule for the year. He is taking an English as a Second Language class. They will test him the first couple of days to see where he is at and then place him in the proper English class. He is also taking Pre-Calculus, US History, Citizenship, Choir, racket sports, web design and a couple more that I can’t remember. This is all spread out over the school year. I think it was all a little over whelming for him. It was for me to say the least. They don’t have it like when I was in high school. They now have X, Y and Z days. Each day has a different schedule. On X days we will only have three of the classes. One Y days he will have a couple more. Z days are a little combination of both. It is nuts I tell you. Next week I will go over it with Ken on what days are what he has each class. I will write it on his calendar and hopefully I understand it enough that I can explain it to him. Wish us both luck on that one.
After we got done with the school Ken wanted to go to the mall and do some shopping. We stopped at a bunch of different stores. Ken shopped around he got some shorts and a belt. I think he might have had a little bit of sticker shock on the prices of things here, but he did very well with finding stuff that was a good deal.
Then we stopped at Verizon wireless and got Ken a cell phone for the year. He was so proud of the phone. He was getting the phone all set up with all our phone numbers. I was a little shocked when he made a phone call to someone I was a little worried that he was calling Vietnam. He was calling friend who was in Minnesota on an exchange program. He was so pleased with all his new stuff. It was a pleasure to see his excitement. He was so cute to watch.
After the mall we went home and got ready for dinner. Our neighbor’s David and Michelle came over for dinner. Yes we seem to spend a lot of time with them. Believe it or not we have lived next to each other for five years and didn’t become friends until this last July 4th. Michelle (spelled the correct way) said tonight that she doesn’t know how we survived this long without each other. I tend to agree with her. We really enjoy each other’s conversation. It is kind of funny they bicker, argue and pick on each other as much as David and I do. It is all in a fun way.
As dinner tonight Ken asked for another hamburger. Yeah!!!! Michelle patted his stomach and said we needed to fatten him up. He laughed and said to her…”You dream of me?” Oh my gosh we all started laughing. It was wonderful to see him feel comfortable with us to let his sense of humor come out.
After dinner we headed out to go bowling. I really can’t remember all that happened at the bowling alley because it is late and my brain is falling asleep. I can tell you that it was continuous laughter and fun for everyone. Sorry to say we all suck at bowling and that is even with having the bumper’s up. But we had so much fun. Ken’s seems to be getting more and more comfortable with us. Michelle kept saying I just live him he is so sweet.
After bowling we went back to David and Michelle’s to watch the movie Independence Day. Ken seemed to like it. We didn’t get home until after midnight. That is why I am up so late writing this blog. I would have waiting until tomorrow, but I had a couple people…Michelle…complains that there was nothing for her to read. lol
Little side not for those of you that don’t know text language lol means laugh out loud.
That sums it up for the last couple of days. I am sure I left a few things out here and there, but this is already long enough. Keep watching I will be posting some photos real soon. I am sorry if there are a lot of errors in my blog tonight, but I am very tired.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
First day
Khoa has informed us that he would like for us to call him by his American name of Kenneth or Ken.
We had a great afternoon. Once David got home from work we headed into town to give blood. While we gave blood Ken and Marty, my mother-in-law, went to Kmart and got a few things. Then we went over to my dad’s house where Ken got to meet my dad, his wife Karla, and my two little sisters, Mandi and Samantha. Then it was home for dinner.
Dinner tonight was my dad’s special baked beans left over from the family reunion this last weekend. I also made French Dips. Ken seemed to like both the beans and the dips. He had several helpings of beans. Thanks dad you have one more fan of your famous baked beans. I was a little worried about what to make for Ken to eat. I have no idea what he likes to eat in Vietnam. He keeps telling me that he is not a picky eater. I was very happy to see him eat. It sounds like he is not afraid to at least try it before he says he doesn’t like it. That is not like a typical American kid or at least not my kid. I kind of like that about him.
After dinner the rep from the agency that we went thru to have Ken come stay with us came over for the first visit. She went over all the rules and what is expected of both Ken and us while he is here. Her name is Shelly. The picture above is of Shelly, Ken and I. For Ken’s family Shelly is the blonde.
After Shelly left our neighbor’s Dave and Michelle came over to meet Ken and to sit in the hot tub. We sat around the living room chatting while we waiting till the sun went down since Dave, the neighbor, whined about it being too hot to sit in the tub. LOL Then we all got in the tub. We had a good time teaching a little bit of American slang to Ken. Tonight Ken learned the following phrases….. What’s up Dawg? That’s Awesome!!! and my favorite word SWEET!!!!! Michelle commented jokingly that Ken was a nice kid and she hopes that my Dave doesn’t ruin him. For those of you that know Dave would understand that one. LOL
Ken is a very nice young man. He is very polite and always trying to help. He was so sweet with Marty tonight. He opened her car door and when he walked with her he helped her out. His parents should be very proud of him.
As far as his English he seems to be getting a little more comfortable with us and when we say something he doesn’t understand he will ask what we mean. I found out tonight he has been studying the English language for 7 years. I think that is great that he has done it. When I was in school you didn’t have to take a foreign language and when it was offered it was when I got into high school.
That’s it for our first full day together. Tomorrow Ken will get to meet his little sister. I am sure David will get lots of pictures.
We had a great afternoon. Once David got home from work we headed into town to give blood. While we gave blood Ken and Marty, my mother-in-law, went to Kmart and got a few things. Then we went over to my dad’s house where Ken got to meet my dad, his wife Karla, and my two little sisters, Mandi and Samantha. Then it was home for dinner.
Dinner tonight was my dad’s special baked beans left over from the family reunion this last weekend. I also made French Dips. Ken seemed to like both the beans and the dips. He had several helpings of beans. Thanks dad you have one more fan of your famous baked beans. I was a little worried about what to make for Ken to eat. I have no idea what he likes to eat in Vietnam. He keeps telling me that he is not a picky eater. I was very happy to see him eat. It sounds like he is not afraid to at least try it before he says he doesn’t like it. That is not like a typical American kid or at least not my kid. I kind of like that about him.
After dinner the rep from the agency that we went thru to have Ken come stay with us came over for the first visit. She went over all the rules and what is expected of both Ken and us while he is here. Her name is Shelly. The picture above is of Shelly, Ken and I. For Ken’s family Shelly is the blonde.
After Shelly left our neighbor’s Dave and Michelle came over to meet Ken and to sit in the hot tub. We sat around the living room chatting while we waiting till the sun went down since Dave, the neighbor, whined about it being too hot to sit in the tub. LOL Then we all got in the tub. We had a good time teaching a little bit of American slang to Ken. Tonight Ken learned the following phrases….. What’s up Dawg? That’s Awesome!!! and my favorite word SWEET!!!!! Michelle commented jokingly that Ken was a nice kid and she hopes that my Dave doesn’t ruin him. For those of you that know Dave would understand that one. LOL
Ken is a very nice young man. He is very polite and always trying to help. He was so sweet with Marty tonight. He opened her car door and when he walked with her he helped her out. His parents should be very proud of him.
As far as his English he seems to be getting a little more comfortable with us and when we say something he doesn’t understand he will ask what we mean. I found out tonight he has been studying the English language for 7 years. I think that is great that he has done it. When I was in school you didn’t have to take a foreign language and when it was offered it was when I got into high school.
That’s it for our first full day together. Tomorrow Ken will get to meet his little sister. I am sure David will get lots of pictures.
Arrival
It is Wednesday and Khoa has arrived, sorry no pictures yet. We forgot to bring the camera with us last night. I will get some today. We have no major plans for today except David and I are giving blood this evening. For today I was just planning on letting Khoa just rest and get settled in here at the house. We will take him into town this evening to borrow my dad’s van for tomorrow. He will get a chance to me my dad’s and his family.
Khoa speaks English very well. I did find that we have to speak a little slower for him to catch everything we had to say. But I am very impressed with how well he was doing after traveling for such a long time.
He brought us some beautiful gifts from Vietnam. I got a beautiful tablecloth, a wine holder that has some great needlepoint on it, a Kleenex cover and a nice hand sewn portrait of a scene along a river. Then he brought David the coolest looking tie. It was so sweet of him to bring us gifts. He of course loved his Mariner t-shirt we gave him.
Tomorrow will be a busy day of going down to the Kitsap Peninsula to pick Jordan up at Camp Indianola. I did get a great letter from Jordan. Sounds like she is having a great time at camp. It is a drama type camp. They are going to be doing some sort of performance tomorrow night after dinner. It ought to be fun to watch. My little drama queen should do well.
That’s it for now.
Khoa speaks English very well. I did find that we have to speak a little slower for him to catch everything we had to say. But I am very impressed with how well he was doing after traveling for such a long time.
He brought us some beautiful gifts from Vietnam. I got a beautiful tablecloth, a wine holder that has some great needlepoint on it, a Kleenex cover and a nice hand sewn portrait of a scene along a river. Then he brought David the coolest looking tie. It was so sweet of him to bring us gifts. He of course loved his Mariner t-shirt we gave him.
Tomorrow will be a busy day of going down to the Kitsap Peninsula to pick Jordan up at Camp Indianola. I did get a great letter from Jordan. Sounds like she is having a great time at camp. It is a drama type camp. They are going to be doing some sort of performance tomorrow night after dinner. It ought to be fun to watch. My little drama queen should do well.
That’s it for now.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Oh what a feeling........
Tonight is the night that Khoa arrives. My neighbor, Michelle and I did the final touches on Khoa’s room. Yes my neighbor is named Michelle and if you can believe her husband’s name is Dave. While doing our landscaping this summer Andy, my father-in-law, has been making a path across the field between our two houses. He likes to say that is so Dave and Michelle can go to Dave and Michelle’s house. Lol Anyway Michelle and I put a dresser in Khoa’s room along with an MP3/CD Stereo for him to use this year. I hope he finds his room satisfactory and comfortable.
Doing all of this reminds me of my time as an exchange student. I was a junior in high school and got the chance to spend six weeks in Chengdu, China. I attending the high school there, the name was Middle School #3. I remember the flight over there was almost 30 hours. It was an incredible feeling of mixed emotions on the flight. I was excited about going and seeing something new. But I was scared because I was going to be on the other side of the world. I was feeling goofy from being on the plane for almost 30 hours with very little sleep. I was worried about the food and what kind of food they would try to feed me. I was nervous about the school and if I was going to make any friends. Lets not even mention the fact that I didn’t know a word of Chinese. I can tell you that my first couple of days I was a little homesick, but I did get settled into life in China and I had the time of my life while I was there. I have memories that will last a lifetime. I am hoping with my experiences, as an exchange student will help me be a better host mom to Khoa.
I still have a few final touches I would like to do on the general part of the house. I need to stop at the grocery store and have some food in the house. I have no idea what I should get for food. I keep telling myself that he is here to experience America and food is part of that experience. I also remember my first couple of weeks in China I didn’t eat much. I would hate for Khoa to be starving his first couple of weeks. He may also not be as picky of eater as I was when I was his age. I am still somewhat of a picky eater, but I am much better then I was when I was 17. I guess I will just have to wait and see what happens. Teach Khoa is first slang expression……We will play it by ear.
I plan on taking pictures of Khoa’s arrival I hope to get them up on the web site sometime tomorrow. I might have to wait until David gets home from work. I need him to teach me how to get them from the camera to the computer then ready to post in the site. You would think I would know how to do it by now, but having a photographer as a husband I just take advantage of him and have him to do it for me.
That's it for now I will keep you posted.
Doing all of this reminds me of my time as an exchange student. I was a junior in high school and got the chance to spend six weeks in Chengdu, China. I attending the high school there, the name was Middle School #3. I remember the flight over there was almost 30 hours. It was an incredible feeling of mixed emotions on the flight. I was excited about going and seeing something new. But I was scared because I was going to be on the other side of the world. I was feeling goofy from being on the plane for almost 30 hours with very little sleep. I was worried about the food and what kind of food they would try to feed me. I was nervous about the school and if I was going to make any friends. Lets not even mention the fact that I didn’t know a word of Chinese. I can tell you that my first couple of days I was a little homesick, but I did get settled into life in China and I had the time of my life while I was there. I have memories that will last a lifetime. I am hoping with my experiences, as an exchange student will help me be a better host mom to Khoa.
I still have a few final touches I would like to do on the general part of the house. I need to stop at the grocery store and have some food in the house. I have no idea what I should get for food. I keep telling myself that he is here to experience America and food is part of that experience. I also remember my first couple of weeks in China I didn’t eat much. I would hate for Khoa to be starving his first couple of weeks. He may also not be as picky of eater as I was when I was his age. I am still somewhat of a picky eater, but I am much better then I was when I was 17. I guess I will just have to wait and see what happens. Teach Khoa is first slang expression……We will play it by ear.
I plan on taking pictures of Khoa’s arrival I hope to get them up on the web site sometime tomorrow. I might have to wait until David gets home from work. I need him to teach me how to get them from the camera to the computer then ready to post in the site. You would think I would know how to do it by now, but having a photographer as a husband I just take advantage of him and have him to do it for me.
That's it for now I will keep you posted.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Crazy busy weekend
I think I need another weekend to recover from my weekend. Oh well it is only a two-day work week for me then I am off thru to next Monday.
Friday we had my friend Stephani’s daughter Lily for the night. She is 3-years-old, and she is just the sweetest little girl. Once we got home I ran around to do some general pick up on my house because the rep from the agency was coming to inspect my house. I guess to make sure we were normal or something. lol I guess we passed that inspection. There is proof that we are normal or at least we appear normal.
I then feed my family some dinner. Lily got to try some different dishes of Chinese food. She seemed to like it. Then the girls disappeared into Jordan’s room for a while. I guess Lily had a blast dressing and undressing Jordan’s bears. Lily is such an easy child watch. When it was bedtime she went right to sleep without any fussing. I was very impressed because this was Lily’s first time staying away from home with someone other then family.
On Saturday we took the girls to the fair. They had a blast with all the carnival rides. Lily’s favorite was any ride that spun her in circles. She did have to be rescued by David on one adventure. I guess the slide in Raiders scared her. But a little cotton candy made that memory fade.
At 1:30 we headed out of the fair to take Lily home. It was so cute when we pulled up to Lily’s house she started to cry. She didn’t want to go home. As Stephani put it who ever is happy when the fun ends? The Willoughby adventure was a success with Lily.
After that we headed down to Seattle to see our friends Michele and Erich. We meet them at the Spaghetti Factory for dinner. For those of you that don’t know Michele she is the minister that performed mine and David’s wedding ceremony. It was fun visiting with them and getting caught up on everything. It has been a while since we got to hang out.
After dinner we went to the Ronald McDonald house to drop of the hats that Jordan’s Girl Scout Troop made. They earned their sewing badge while making the hats. We walked around the house to see if any of our friends where there. I told David it was a bittersweet moment. You really want to see your friends there, but if you did see them that meant that their child was still sick. However we didn’t see anyone that we knew so we headed out to go back to Michele and Erich’s house.
We stayed the night with M & E. It was a nice evening of chatting. The boys had their typical chat time. I think it was David picking Erich’s brain about computer stuff. Jordan played with Michele’s daughter Emily who is two years younger. The two girls are attending camp together this week.
The next morning Michele, family and Jordan headed to Church. Michele took Jordan and Emily to camp so that David and I could attend my family reunion. That is where David and I headed after we finished getting ready.
It was great seeing all my family at the reunion. This was a family reunion for my mom’s side of the family. I got to visit with several people that I hadn’t see in years. I also got to meet several cousins that I had never met before. A big Thank you to my cousin Larry and Barb, who hosted the event.
We got home at about 6:00pm. I did a bunch of laundry, watched a little TV and then I crashed. It was a busy busy weekend. I had a good time, but I wouldn’t want to have a weekend like that every week.
Now that we survived the weekend and got Jordan off to camp it is now time to get the finishing touches on Khoa’s arrival.
I did get an email from Khoa. I guess he and his mom got into a car accident yesterday. It sounds like he might have broke his wrist, but I will know more tomorrow. That was the worst of both their injuries.
Friday we had my friend Stephani’s daughter Lily for the night. She is 3-years-old, and she is just the sweetest little girl. Once we got home I ran around to do some general pick up on my house because the rep from the agency was coming to inspect my house. I guess to make sure we were normal or something. lol I guess we passed that inspection. There is proof that we are normal or at least we appear normal.
I then feed my family some dinner. Lily got to try some different dishes of Chinese food. She seemed to like it. Then the girls disappeared into Jordan’s room for a while. I guess Lily had a blast dressing and undressing Jordan’s bears. Lily is such an easy child watch. When it was bedtime she went right to sleep without any fussing. I was very impressed because this was Lily’s first time staying away from home with someone other then family.
On Saturday we took the girls to the fair. They had a blast with all the carnival rides. Lily’s favorite was any ride that spun her in circles. She did have to be rescued by David on one adventure. I guess the slide in Raiders scared her. But a little cotton candy made that memory fade.
At 1:30 we headed out of the fair to take Lily home. It was so cute when we pulled up to Lily’s house she started to cry. She didn’t want to go home. As Stephani put it who ever is happy when the fun ends? The Willoughby adventure was a success with Lily.
After that we headed down to Seattle to see our friends Michele and Erich. We meet them at the Spaghetti Factory for dinner. For those of you that don’t know Michele she is the minister that performed mine and David’s wedding ceremony. It was fun visiting with them and getting caught up on everything. It has been a while since we got to hang out.
After dinner we went to the Ronald McDonald house to drop of the hats that Jordan’s Girl Scout Troop made. They earned their sewing badge while making the hats. We walked around the house to see if any of our friends where there. I told David it was a bittersweet moment. You really want to see your friends there, but if you did see them that meant that their child was still sick. However we didn’t see anyone that we knew so we headed out to go back to Michele and Erich’s house.
We stayed the night with M & E. It was a nice evening of chatting. The boys had their typical chat time. I think it was David picking Erich’s brain about computer stuff. Jordan played with Michele’s daughter Emily who is two years younger. The two girls are attending camp together this week.
The next morning Michele, family and Jordan headed to Church. Michele took Jordan and Emily to camp so that David and I could attend my family reunion. That is where David and I headed after we finished getting ready.
It was great seeing all my family at the reunion. This was a family reunion for my mom’s side of the family. I got to visit with several people that I hadn’t see in years. I also got to meet several cousins that I had never met before. A big Thank you to my cousin Larry and Barb, who hosted the event.
We got home at about 6:00pm. I did a bunch of laundry, watched a little TV and then I crashed. It was a busy busy weekend. I had a good time, but I wouldn’t want to have a weekend like that every week.
Now that we survived the weekend and got Jordan off to camp it is now time to get the finishing touches on Khoa’s arrival.
I did get an email from Khoa. I guess he and his mom got into a car accident yesterday. It sounds like he might have broke his wrist, but I will know more tomorrow. That was the worst of both their injuries.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Getting ready.
I started this blog to write about our adventures on having an exchange student for the year. We are expecting our student to arrive Aug. 21st at 11:45pm. Thank goodness he is flying into Bellingham, otherwise it would have been a long night. I am very excited for this up coming year. I know that it will not be without its hardships, but after last year I think our family can survive it.
His name is Do Dang Khoa. His first name is Khoa, but his American name is Kenneth. He has said we could call him either one. He is 17 and is from Ho Chi Mihn, Vietnam.
Jordan and I have been getting his room ready. For those of you who are familiar with my house he will have Steve’s old room the one next to Jordan’s room. I have gotten it all cleaned out and almost ready to go. I still have to get a dresser and some sort of shelf unit in the room for him to use. Jordan and I have done a little decorating for him. I purchased a Seattle Seahawks and Mariners poster for the room. He doesn’t know much about either sport, but I am sure David will education him on the art of being a fan.
We have busy week ahead of us. Jordan is headed to Church camp for the week. We drop her of on Sunday. She is attending the same camp that I went to growing up. Camp Indianola on the Kitsap Peninsula. This year is a drama camp. They will be doing some sort of performance at the end of the week for the parents.
Then Khoa arrives the following Tuesday. I have taken Wednesday-Friday off so that we have get him settled. Plus will have to pick Jordan up from Camp on Thursday. It will give us a chance to give Khoa a new experience. He has never ridden on a ferry before.
After that our life will be getting both kids ready for school. Jordan will be entering the 5th grade this year at Alderwood Elementary School. This is her last year in elementary school. Next year it is Middle school, but that is a whole other blog time. Lol Khoa will be a senior at Squalicum High School.
We hope to have some sort of Meet and Great party so that our friends and family get a chance to meet Khoa. I will keep you posted on when that will happen.
Well I hope you enjoy reading about our adventures this year. Please feel free to post any comments, questions and or suggestions…….lots and lots of suggestions. lol
His name is Do Dang Khoa. His first name is Khoa, but his American name is Kenneth. He has said we could call him either one. He is 17 and is from Ho Chi Mihn, Vietnam.
Jordan and I have been getting his room ready. For those of you who are familiar with my house he will have Steve’s old room the one next to Jordan’s room. I have gotten it all cleaned out and almost ready to go. I still have to get a dresser and some sort of shelf unit in the room for him to use. Jordan and I have done a little decorating for him. I purchased a Seattle Seahawks and Mariners poster for the room. He doesn’t know much about either sport, but I am sure David will education him on the art of being a fan.
We have busy week ahead of us. Jordan is headed to Church camp for the week. We drop her of on Sunday. She is attending the same camp that I went to growing up. Camp Indianola on the Kitsap Peninsula. This year is a drama camp. They will be doing some sort of performance at the end of the week for the parents.
Then Khoa arrives the following Tuesday. I have taken Wednesday-Friday off so that we have get him settled. Plus will have to pick Jordan up from Camp on Thursday. It will give us a chance to give Khoa a new experience. He has never ridden on a ferry before.
After that our life will be getting both kids ready for school. Jordan will be entering the 5th grade this year at Alderwood Elementary School. This is her last year in elementary school. Next year it is Middle school, but that is a whole other blog time. Lol Khoa will be a senior at Squalicum High School.
We hope to have some sort of Meet and Great party so that our friends and family get a chance to meet Khoa. I will keep you posted on when that will happen.
Well I hope you enjoy reading about our adventures this year. Please feel free to post any comments, questions and or suggestions…….lots and lots of suggestions. lol
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