A Day Away

Orlando Summer

Even though it has been 2 years, we still feel new to our Floridian title.  Summertime is a completely different feel here.  On any given day, we see temperatures of around 100 degrees with high humidity.  As a result of this, we tend to keep indoors, knowing that a temperate and comfortable "winter" is just around the corner.  So we think of inside activities to pass the time.

Making homemade play dough!

Watching mom and Eli
make homemade play dough!

Lots of cars and trains for this one...

Lots and lots of sitting and napping for this one!

 

Play with or on Dad!

A Colorado Summer...Breaking the Blogging Silence

It is embarrassing that two and a half years have passed since my last post. Instead of going into detail of the many life events that have passed in this span of time; moving back to America, buying our first home, the birth of our daughter, I will simply pick up to where we are now and fill in the gaps as I go.

Skipping the hot, humid, 100 degree temperatures of an Orlando summer was a nice bonus to spending six weeks in Fort Collins, Colorado.  This is the third time we have been there and some of the sights, sounds, and food are becoming nostalgic.  The view of Horsetooth Mountain, Old Town, Walrus Ice Cream, Beau Jo's Pizza, and Mary Mountain Cookies to name a few.  If you ever get the chance to spend some time in Fort Collins, I would recommend it.  We so greatly enjoy our time there.  Here are a few pictures from our summer.


Our summer had many joys....

holding our new daughter, Norah Kate!

  

 popsicles with our friend and summer roommate, Tabitha!

playing the pianos in Old Town, Fort Collins.

Road trips with headphones and chocolate treats!

Learning to roll over!

Celebrating a birthday with an old friend from East Asia!

Letting our roommates daughters dress Norah for a day!

Nap time at our house, one with all of his toys and the other wide awake!

and lots and lots of giggles and smiles!

8 Months Old!

While skyping with Grandma and Grandpa Krupke, E took an unfortunate "nose" dive into the table resulting in his first "boo boo".  Can you see the table edge shaped bruise?  He took it like a real trooper though!  What a tough guy!

 "Oh where is my hairbrush"  This seems to be the new favorite toy!

8 Months Old....

We took all of our student friends to a night of karaoke and Eli got to come along!  He and his best baby friend Charis were a big hit!  We tried to get a picture of this pair, but they were more interested in each other than smiling for the camera.

Mom and Dad getting a little "artsy" with a spur of the moment photo shoot....

Just A Few New Tricks

Li Ayi, Eli's favorite friend, is teaching him how to 拍拍手 (Pāi pāi shǒu) or clap his hands!

Here are a few more pictures of our growing boy!    

Trying to get a good 7 months old picture...he is a man of many faces!

He's on the move.... Eli is army crawling all over the house...

... and getting into everything! :)

Around the World in 60 Days (Part 4: Hong Kong)

I love Hong Kong!  It is clean, beautiful, and orderly.  It was such a breath of fresh air to spend a few days in this amazing city.  Across the street from our hotel in Hong Kong there was a New Years Festival Street fair.  They had rows and rows of beautiful flowers and small fruit trees.  It was a great reminder that Spring is soon on its way!  Here is also a photo from our hotel at night.

During our stay we ate lunch at this dim sum restaurant overlooking the harbor.  No menus needed.  These ladies come around with carts of dim sum (Hong Kong style appetizers) and you simply point to what you want!  We enjoyed a gorgeous view, fancy tea, and good food!  It was a really fun experience.  Eli was the only kid in the whole place, but several commented on how good he was.  We are so blessed with such a go-with-the-flow little boy!

We took this cable car up the side of a huge hill called Victoria Peak where there is a great view of the city  At times we were literally hanging at a 45 degree angle.  They crammed everyone in, on the way down we didn't even have a seat and had to keep our balance by leaning up against the wall!  Below are a few pictures from up on top!  We picked a great, beautiful day!

The last touristy thing we did was take the ferry across the harbor.  There is a famous shopping street called "Nathan Road", where we were sure to get a picture!

We all enjoyed planes, trains, automobiles, boats, a trolly, a golf cart, a double decker bus, and even an elephant on this wonderful tour around the world.  What a blessing the many memories we made are!  We are so incredibly thankful for this journey.