4th Grade Camp for Kyra

Well...I have survived another camp! Yes, it is somehow all about me. Well, not really but with a bad back, it truly is about survival with the "hard as rock" beds to sleep on. Starting in 3rd grade here, the kids are required to go away to camp for three days & 2 nights. It is a great way for the kids to get to know each other better and a great way for some of these kids to have their first true experience with independence and personal responsibility (i.e. getting themselves showered and dressed without help). This year I was blessed with a respectful, although energy-filled, group of girls. And although I came away with many stories full of laughs, "shake-your-head" moments, and a severe back ache, I had a great time building memories with my daughter.

Yesterday, Kyra came home with a handful of thank you cards for me that the girls in our bungalow had written and drawn. Many were filled with very thoughtful comments and heartfelt thankfulness, but Kyra's truly brought tears to my eyes and just have to share...

"Dear mom,
Thank you for taking out of your precious time to come to camp with me. I don't know if anyone had as fun of a time as I did. Thank you for watching over us at night and day. I had a blast and I'm sure everyone else did too. I'm so thankful that God made you such a great person. Thank you for helping me get the food from across the table and serving me every meal. Thank you for keeping all your promises. Hope to see you at 5th grade camp! I love you Thanks mom for everything."

That card alone will make me go to 5th grade camp...aiyaiyai! which means I'll have to do what I did last year...go to 5th grade camp straight to 3rd grade camp for Tyson.

Chong Yang Festival

I remember one of the things that we used to joke about when living within the Eden Prairie School District was that there were so many Fridays off of school. Implying that surely there was no other school district with so many Fridays off. Well, I've learned that it happens on the other side of the world as well...except here it seems we are always celebrating another holiday. Although this particular one falls on a Saturday this time, it seems most often they fall on a weekday. There are many and they are hard to keep track of, but thankfully the head of Chinese studies at the kids' school sends out an informative email for us to learn from. I am sharing her words of our upcoming holiday this weekend and hope to share more in the future.

Chong Yang Festival: the 9th day of the 9th month in the lunar calendar (Saturday, October 16th this year)

The 9th day of the 9th month in the lunar calendar is the Chinese Chong Yang Festival and a happy occasion in autumn. According to the traditional theory of Yin (Shadowy side) and Yang (Sunny side), both the 9th month and the 9th day of the month belong to Yang, which means positive and masculine, and Chong means double, thus it is called Chong Yang.

On the double 9th, the Chinese people traditionally go to the hillsides to tend their ancestor's graves, make sacrifices of special paper money and paper winter clothing, after which a picnic is held. Children in many provinces fly kites on this day. Since the weather during this time of year is excellent for kite flying, many families go to the countryside to take advantage of it. In Hong Kong, you will see people hiking in the mountains. It is customary for the whole family to climb high in the mountains and spend the entire day hiking.

The double 9th this year is this coming Saturday. According to the weather forecast, it should be sunny with the daytime high of 28 degrees. Enjoy some hiking in the mountains and kite flying on the beach with family and friends. Wish you a happy Chong Yang and a great family holiday.

"The Princess"

Well...Princess Keely was invited to a "princess birthday party" for one of her friends and, of course, she had to wear her princess gown. She was totally in her element. This dress, which we bought in Stanley Market is probably fancier than any prom dress I ever wore!

Soccer Tournament

Last Sunday, Kyra participated in a soccer tournament hosted by a school in Discovery Bay, which meant an hour+ bus ride...but beggars can't be choosers and Kyra wanted more actual "games" in soccer than what has been offered here in the past. So, they are making great efforts to find more "game" opportunities for our girls to play against other teams, so she was excited for the opportunity.

It was a scorching day of heat and humidity, but I know Kyra had fun. Our school had five teams participating, one Under 8s, two Under 10s and two Under 12s. Kyra was very excited that her Under 10s team "won their age bracket." Despite the fact that even I was dripping wet by mid-day and all I was doing was watching and cheering, it was a good day! Smiles, for any reason, makes for a good day! I think her scoring three goals in one of the games may have contributed to that smile also.

First Swim Meet of the Year

The kids had their first "swim meet" of the year. Throughout the year, the team hosts practice meets so that the kids can work on beating their best times. Today was a Super Saturday meet and was Tyson's first swim meet ever. It involved a lot of waiting between races because the meet was for all levels of swim groups, but otherwise the kids had a great day of races. Trey and Kyra both swam 200 Meter Freestyles as well as a 100Meter of their choice and 50 Meter of their choice. Tyson did a 100 Meter Freestyle and 50 Free and 50 Breaststroke. They did awesome of course!

The video is of Tyson's 50 Meter Freestyle. His time on the clock showed 55 seconds, but actually was 53 seconds after the timer did a self-correction. Yeah Tyson!