So much fun with Grandma and Grandpa

Simon and friends over to our house for Homecoming dinner, prepared and arranged by the big sisters.

        Lei Lei's playdough creation                              

Volunteer Park Conservatory in Seattle

The Space Needle

Flower Market at Pike's Market

Our precious little guy is in the recovery room right now. The surgeon did a fine job making his hand more functional. He is still asleep and we won't be able to take the bandages off to see the hand for a week, but thumbs up from the doctor. Solomon fought sleep and with two dinosaurs in the pre-op room we battled T Rex and stegasoraus until all he could think to do was make them kiss; at that point, disoriented and unsure from the meds they wheeled him away. Thank you God he is out and recovering!

We had prayer for Yu Lei and dinner last night with our super duper friends. These guys have been best of friends for the last 16 years. We are so blessed to have them in our lives. Last night ALL our kids were together for the first time in forever.

Catching Up

Meggie has been off at Oregon State University for two weeks now and came home to visit and take a trip to pick some apples. We went out to get fresh cider, apples, squash and corn and enjoy the beautiful October weather. Meggie's loving college and her independent living in a christian house along with 48 other OSU women.  Everyone's glad to see her!

I've been taking Solomon up to Portland weekly to meet with doctors and look at options. This visit started at 5:00 AM and to Mom's defense, it was dark out when I grabbed his shoes.

Three weekends ago I headed up to hike South Sister with a friend's son. We left at 9:00 PM and got up to the trailhead about 12:30. We then had a 2000 ft. hike in the dark to get to the family's campsite. Due to blackness and a few uncertainties we didn't roll into the tents until 4:00 AM. What an adventure. We did get up and down and back to my home by 8:00 that evening. It was a great hike.

Last weekend Leo and I hikes Diamond Peak. I think this is one of my favorite hikes. It's a pretty easy 12 mile hike without much tedium or technical difficulties. It is so beautiful! The mountain with snow is South Sister, the mountain I had hiked two weeks prior.

All is well with life and the kids. Solomon continues to grow in understanding of family and language. He and Lydia are enjoying each other a lot and it's fun to see the "wild siblings". The three youngest are home schooling and going to Chinese School on Sundays and doing really well. Lydia is still holding back because of her arm, but we are on week 8 of recovery, so hopefully she can jump into activities soon.

Emma is in Portland and Solomon and I get to visit her on our Portland medical trips. We love seeing her. She just got a raise at her current job and took the test today for teacher's college.

And Simon is a month and a half into his ACL recovery. He is out of commission for 6 long months total, which has been a bummer for him. He has a tough high school load but misses all the athletic activities.

Mom and Dad come in a couple of weeks and we are so excited to spend the time with them. I am so thankful for their frequent visits!

Solomon's 1st and 2nd haircut

Solomon's hair was getting a bit long and even he was complaining about it. As you can see in the picture his bangs are uneven. It was the haircut he met us with; a chunk out of his bangs. I thought how difficult can it be to cut his hair? And so, I cut his hair, to which he responded, "Uhhh! Uhhh!".  He is a boy who likes to look good! It makes me smile. And so, today I took all three littles up to Master Cuts on the way to visit the farm for produce. Lydia and Eva were still sporting their layered China cuts, which they have never liked, and Solomon couldn't get in the chair fast enough.

What he really wanted was a circle of hair on his head like some of his early toddler pictures I have of him.

He was not thrilled with Mom's stylist challenged cut.

 

But we settled on a cut he could gel the top, which he absolutely loves!

Zoo visit

Lei Lei has been home two months and Lydia broke her arm!

Lei Lei continues to be a joy for all of us. He is fun and sweet and truly a lovely child. It says a lot that his 8 year old sister adores her little brother. He loves to measure, create, swim, tease, camp, throw pinecones, and play with sticks. His English vocabulary is growing daily and he knows how to use his words to win over all of us. I am so blessed!

On a sad note, our sweet  Lydia moved too fast from her round-off into her back handspring and fell twisting and breaking her right hand. It was during a gymnastics display up at the park and traumatic for all of us! After five hours in the emergency room she has a splint on and will get her cast on Thursday. Not to be outdone, Simon goes in for his ACL surgery next Friday. Our deductible has been met!

Oh, what a week!

We headed up to Mount St. Helen's this past week and had an adventurous four days. For the past seven years our family has peaked a mountain with our friends. This is the first year we car camped verses backpacking up to the base of our climb. The kids were excited about the ease of the trip. Little did we know about the challenge of the mountain. How steep could a mountain be that blew off a large portion of its top, right? Every year I have done my research and have known exactly what to expect. This year because of many factors, I chose to 'wing it'. Silly me!
        

                                           Packing and Food Preparation

Our campsite

A day of looking over the mountain

If you look closely to the right of the kids you can see the mountain. This was the location where a man photographed a quick series of pictures of the explosion before realizing the landslide was moving at a rate of 150 miles per hour. It was blowing toward the north, but none-the-less, he was in great danger and jumped in his car outrunning the heat and wind.

5 AM and ready to climb!