Halloween

Unfortunately, with the chaos of the evening of trick-or-treating, I missed getting photos of all the kids in their costumes this year. Craig was doing magic tricks at the door again, which was a big hit. Tyson was Luigi this year (he was Mario last year) which I wish I would have gotten a photo of, but he was done trick-or-treating and out of his costume by the time I was done taking Keely around. Plenty of candy to be had here in Hong Kong...just like home...

Kyra - Soccer Tournaments

Here are some photos of Kyra's recent soccer tournaments. This year there is a new "D-Grade" team, which mostly comprised of 6th and 5th graders, but Kyra was amongst a few other 4th grade girls that were asked to practice and compete with this newly formed team. They have had great success and Kyra has enjoyed every minute of playing time.

Kyra's Splash N Dash

Another event that took place in October was the last Splash N Dash of the "season" - this one was held at Repulse Bay Beach near where we live. However, there are others held at various other locations throughout Hong Kong. Kyra really enjoyed competing and did quite well. She was the second girl in her age group out of the water and finished fifth after the run! I think she is looking forward to participating in more of these next season.

Kyra's Open Water Swim

I'm playing a little "catch up" here, but it has been an extremely busy beginning of the school year. In October, Kyra competed in her first Open Water swim, a 600 meter swim out in Repulse Bay. She did great despite the clawing by other participants. She even had one girl pull her leg to pull her back! She has participated in these mass starts before in her triathlons, but has never experienced this intensity. Overall, I think she would still say it was a good experience for her.

Keely Learning Mandarin

Although Keely was not accepted into HKIS this year along with her siblings (long story, but our most outgoing and outwardly expressive child chose not to talk - not one word - in her initial "interviews" at HKIS. Now, as you can imagine, some 3-year-olds are a bit shy when being interviewed by adults they don't know. Hmmmm...imagine that...I've moved on, can you tell?), she is attending the same preschool that she attended at the end of last school year. Thankfully, we love the preschool she is at and she is enrolled in the bilingual stream so that a good part of her time in school is spent learning Mandarin. Sometimes I don't know if she is saying words she has learned in Mandarin or if she is making up words (usually to a tune of her own creation) so I often have to wait for the other kids to get home to ask if what she is saying is jibberish or actual words.

Despite this daughter of ours loving to sing and dance and TALK, she seems to shy away when I get the camera out. She requires permission to be given by her in order to take a picture or video tape her and it doesn't happen nearly as often as her picture-taking-hobbyist-mother would like! However, this is one of those moments that she was actually willing to talk while I was video taping and she is telling us about some of the Mandarin she has learned. So much fun to hear from her. Thought I'd share.