NC--Flight and First Few Days

The day after school was out, we headed on our annual trip back east for summer vacation. The kids are expert flyers by now, even handling Mommy oversleeping and just barely making it to the airport, sitting on the runway for an hour, a two hour delay on our layover and hustling through the airport for a last minuet gate change. They were real troopers!

 

Because of all our delays, we arrived way late to my parents house that night and spent the good part of the next day sleeping, grocery shopping and getting settled.  Then the children got to participate in VBS that night.  A local church was using my parents front yard to set up an outreach VBS for children's who's parents might not be able to bring them to church.  They held it outdoors with games, singing, crafts...all the things that make up a VBS.  It was a really success, at least 20 kids a night...God can work anywhere, even in a front yard out in the country!

We spent a few days just catching up with cousins...Kaylee, Timo and Cameron were joined at the hip most of the time.  Making wishes together and catching fireflies!

And getting used to the heat...ah, it felt good to be in 80 degree temps...until it moved on up over 95 degrees (I'll talk about the 107 heat later).  Granny had lots of nice cool snacks...jello and ice pops galor!

We also hit our favorite Southern meals...BBQ and sweet tea!  And a nice afternoon thunder stom to top off our first two days!  Wow, seems like a perfect vacation already and it just got started!

T-Ball Family Day

The weekend before we left for vacation, Timo's baseball team had it's final game and a big Family Day celebration to hand out trophies. It was so much fun to have the last game at Barry Bonds Park right next to Giant's stadium...nice views. And his coaches really went out of their way to make a really fun day for the kids and families. Here are some highlights...

Cameron got to have some fun too in the bouncy houses and mechanical bull!

Timo's game was the first game of the day, so we had a few games to wait out till the trophy ceremony.  We walked around the stadium and surrounding bay...as well as a pick up game of pitch baseball with any kids that were waiting too.

Timo's first baseball trophy...he was so excited!  We're already looking forward to next year...

Cameron's First Year End at CAIS

It was funny, while in our parent/teacher conference, the teachers were signing the praises of Timo and then it was Cameron's turn.  The teachers somewhat fell silent.  Mrs Rackham made the comment of how rare it is to have twins and have them completely different.  Yes, our little girl kinda has a mind of her own and doesn't mind letting everyone know...

On the serious side, Cameron had an amazing first year of pre-k!  Both teachers agree she is a ray of light, always smiling and add extra "spice" to the class.  While Timo constantly surrounds himself with people, Cameron prefers to work alone.  She is completely content by herself and can most often be found at the art table or out on the monkey bars.  Her determination helped her surpass expectations...even if it was a bumpy ride.  She doesn't like help, she insists on doing most everything by herself.  But her amazing teachers soon realized how to allow her space to succeed and fail, while being ready to encourage in both situations.

Here is Cameron writing her name at the beginning of the year and end...good work Baby!

 Cameron's self portrait beginning and end of year...I'd say her artistic skills have come a long way.

Music was one of her favorite parts of the day.  I wasn't shocked when her teachers said she often led the class for music time.

 Mastering her English and Chinese languages...

Our little puzzler...both teachers were surprised that she could solve puzzles by herself.  She was quick to turn down any help if they offered...

You can see her enthusiasm for singing...

Timo's First Year End at CAIS

Yes! We are back home and jumped right back into the swing of things. Our VBS started the day after we got home so needless to say, it's been a whirlwind. So I'm hoping to get back to blogging and catch up all up on our summer vacation. But...before I get into the 1000+ pictures of our summer, I want to wrap up Timo and Cameron's school year....

Timothy had such a great year for his first year of school. At the end of year parent/teacher conference, his teachers talked about how he is every one's friend. He joins in any and every activity, constantly challenges himself and eager to learn more. They often find him lurking while they teach more advanced items to the 5 year olds in the class. His English teachers even confessed she has to result to Google to answers some of his detailed, detailed, detailed questions. He always has a smile and both teachers will be looking to him next year to help with the younger students coming into the class. Good to know others can see what a joy he is in our lives!

Here is a brief look at his year "digital download" we were given..we were blessed with two great teachers that watched over Timo, taught, nurtured, and embraced all the good and bad of our little boy!

This is "self portrait" from the beginning of the year and end of year.  I think the fact that he got one new freckle on his face made a lasting impression on him.  (we were given a grocery bag full of their art work on the last day of school.  I still haven't gone through it all, but hope to soon and get some pics of their art work up)

Timo one goal of the year was to be able to write his name...check!  Beginning and end of year name.

Learning his numbers in Chinese and addition/subtraction in English.

An appreciation for Chinese cultures and customs.

He loves to build...anything.  One thing his teachers mentioned was he would stand back and watch the older kids make something or solve a problem then he would go in behind them and replicate the same thing they just did.  The second picture is an aqua duct he build after watching some older boys make one.

 Here is a video of Timo singing his favorite Chinese song.  It takes a while for him to get into it but he finishes strong!