Summer 2012

I haven't posted much lately, because Blogger changed a little and I was having some technical issues. Pretty much, we are doing well as a family. In April, my school did a celebration of Families Around the World. In my room, my coworker did The Middle East and I did China. It was a lot of fun and Jili was able to contribute some artifacts from China, and challenge others to the Chopstick Challenge. Students and adults practiced moving Cheerios from one bowl to another.

May came and went too fast. In June, we took a family vacation to Paradise, Michigan. It was amazing. We rented a cabin on Lake Superior, and we rarely saw another person the whole time we were there. It was like having a whole beach to ourselves. In fact, we didn't see a single boat until Day 7 of 7. We took a short commute to Tahquamenon Falls twice, but barely left the cabin. For a change, it was nice to not be running around. We also took Bear, our black labrador, and he spent most of the time in the water. Also, we saved a ton of money, because we cooked everything at the cabin.

One really amazing stop we made on our trip was to a bread store on the way back from the Falls. Instead of just selling me bread, the woman invited me into the kitchen where she makes hundreds of loaves of bread weekly. She makes different flavors daily, but her aged sourdough base was strictly from flour, sea salt and water - no sugar. It tasted so good, we almost ate a whole loaf in the half hour ride back to the cabin. We bought a plain sourdough and a Hawaiian sourdough (flavored with carrots and cherries - so good. The bakery is North Star Brick Oven Bakery, 13 miles north of Newberry, Michigan, on M-123: 906-658-3537. It's amazing how nice people are in the Michigan U.P.

Speaking of helpful, I went to a cafe in Paradise to buy some homemade maple syrup. The biting flies are bad in that area during the summer heat. The flies kept biting my dog on the beach, so I considered buying something to spray on him that was in their gift shop. The lady at the bakery told me not to buy it, but to spray Apple Cider vinegar on him. It worked and it was safe for him. We had to keep reapplying it, but it was better than seeing him get attacked and a natural remedy for less than $3, spray bottle included.

Pretty much, our summer flew by quickly. I go back to work on Monday, and it seems too soon to be ending my summer. I had so many family plans and personal projects, that I feel so behind. On a positive note, Jiliang learned to swim in the shallow end. She is not strong enough to swim on her own for long, but she is getting better each time. She does everything at her own pace. In June, we were trying to get her to jump in the shallow end, then in the deep end, then finally off the diving board with a life jacket. In July, she started doing cannonballs in the shallow end, and then off the diving board with a jacket. She is swimming underwater really well, across the length of the shallow end. Back on St. Patrick's Day, Jili learned to ride her bicycle without training wheels. The day before, Scott took them off, and she kept falling. He offered to put them back on, and she insisted: "No." The following day, she kept at it, and taught herself. I went inside for a moment to check on dinner and T.J. yelled, "Mom, Jili's doing it! She's riding on her own." At the beginning of summer, my kids were inseparable. The giggling and silliness was almost too much. By July, Jili started to need her space. Around 1:00 every day, she goes inside and ignores her brother, who tries anything to get her attention. Oh, it bothers him so much when she doesn't answer him. He doesn't understand that she gets tired and needs space. He is the most patient and loyal brother. He rigged a cart to his bike and wanted to pull her on it, and she just got up and walked away. I could tell that it hurt him. I am trying to teach her to say she needs some space, and teach him to give her space. Anyhow, they are due to go back to school any time now, and I know that a regular routine will remedy all of that. One morning, she woke up and starting looking all over for him, but he was at school. She was disappointed. Oh, Jili lost her first tooth a few weeks ago. I can't believe my baby is getting big kid teeth. Where does the time go? I can't believe that she will be six years old on August 26th. Well, another long post to catch up. I posted more pictures below. Jill :)