The looooooong drive home

We started the LOOOONG drive home on Wednesday the 28th. When I say "we," I mean me- by myself- accompanied by 3 little ones strapped in car seats. There are 2 kiddos that are happy with snacks, Disney music, (obviously) DVDs, and an occasional potty and running around break. There is one little one in particular who is quite demanding of the two hands that should be steering the wheel: "me das (can I have) crackers? cheese? play with mommy's hair? mommy hold my hand? my tray fall down!!!! otra musica, 'nother book, 'nother book, 'nother book, my shoe, my sock, cargame! (carry me), po-po, Maya color, abajo (down) mommy, and the ubiquitous "no see my window To-to!!!!" (ie don't look out my window)... I think the 2.5 years of me working and commuting with Vivi was the vital car-survival-training that Maya missed out on.
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Anyway, I drove all the way to south-eastern Missouri to stay with our friends Kim and Scott (and Drew- Tonito's buddy from Urumqi). It was awesome. Not the drive- the getting there and letting the kids run around and be crazy with their friend. We had so much fun playing and having a "sleepover" with Drew! We went to the same Chinese restaurant that we had visited on the way down. Fan, the gracious owner, is from China, is one of Kim's friends, and has kids around the same age. The kids were wild already, and then she blew up a bunch of balloons and the true mayhem began: balloon volleyball over the tables and around customers, the occasional balloon popping and subsequent crying until another balloon of the same color and size could be provided to the victim, and just plain running and jumping and expelling of energy. After dinner we went back to Drew's house and the kids all played until well past bedtime- we miss you so much Drew!
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Day two was supposed to be the "easy" day, but fate had other ideas. We left around 11, and I had supposedly 6 hours to get to Little Rock to pick up Tonio at the airport at 5. The trip was supposed to only take 4 hours, so I could check into the hotel and relax before picking up Tonio. Ha. Relax. That's funny. The radar on the weather channel was right- the line of thunderstorms and tornado producing weather fronts started exactly at our location and ran all the way to Houston. Not only did I have to drive through rains so hard my fastest wiper speed couldn't keep up, but this same storm system ended up delaying Tonio until 9pm.
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Most of the drive from rural Missouri to Little Rock was on two lane farms roads, flanked on both sides by flooded rice paddies, or even one lane bridges, where you should wait for the only other lone car on miles of highway to cross. (this I did not know until I saw their headlights on the same little bridge as I was breaking and hydroplaning to avoid a head-on collision). Back to the paddies- did you even know that Arkansas grew rice!?? I didn't. Side note: they also grow a lot of cotton, and I pulled over and picked a pod bursting with white, fuzzy cotton (on an emergency bathroom break). Vivi and Tonito saw it and said "a cotton ball!" On the way up to Chicago I had explained how people use this cotton to make tshirts, and the kids demanded that Tonio make them a tshirt right there to show them.
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So we finally made it to Little Rock and randomly found the Children's Museum, which was open for one more hour! I first had to take the dogs out (oh, you forgot I also had two 50 pound dogs in the car?). This was a little difficult since 1) forgot the leashes at Kim's, 2) it was pouring and Boo is terrified of storms, and 3) we were parked on a in the busy museum district. I had the kids stand next to a dumpster under this mini-roof, and opened the back door of the van and begged the dogs to do their business in the tiny patch of grass littered with garbage I found (right next tot he kids, don't worry). I guess holding their bladders for 6 hours made them hurry. Dogs locked up, we ran down the street to the museum and played there from 4-5. Whew.
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Tonio called by now, and told me he had good news and bad news. The bad news was the plane delay, but the good news was that he was sitting next to RICK BAYLESS!!! I gave him a list of comments and questions and raving reviews to relay to Rick, and told him to call me back when he knew more details about his flight. The kids and I found the nearest restaurant, which happened to be fish, and took some great pictures while trying to waste a couple of hours:

Maya's favorite activity, twirling mommy's hair.

We waited another 2 hours in the Little Rock Airport parking lot, watching more DVD's. My dad kept us updated on the flight patterns and the red massive storm on the radar directly over Little Rock. Somehow Tonio landed, we drove the 45 minutes to the hotel (that's why I didn't check in! The only hotel that had rooms and accepted dogs was way out of town)...

At least someone had fun:)---

Day 3, Tonio drove the whole way from Little Rock to Houston. Aaaah, just in time for Halloween!

Dance Party

Our last night at Grandma and Grandpa's we had a little dance party! Everyime we would turn on this African children's music CD, Maya would imediately stop what she was doing and dance. It was so funny we had to tape it! Watch for Tonito's hilarious wiggle dance, and check out Vivi's amazing latin rhythm...

Cousins! One last time...

One last playdate with our cousins!!! We miss you guys so much!!! It's so fun to see the boys grow up and get their little personalities- Sam as Mr. Active, so musical, and such a kind soul. Nate as Mr. Cuddler (as you can see in the picture!), who seems to be a ball of hugs and love. Sam reminds me a lot of curious Vivi and Nate of cuddly Maya. Happy-go-lucky Tonito plays with both!

Early Trick-or-Treating

There was an early trick-or-treating opportunity, and of course we took it! We had brought Maya's Mermaid costume because she wears it all the time, then Tia Didi randomly gave Vivi a Jasmine costume for her (pre) birthday, so we just had to scramble for something for Tonito (thank you so much Sue!!!). Sensei Tonito looked great and LOVED his karate master duds, even with the 6 inch cuffs at his wrists and ankles:).

The kids didn't really remember Halloween from last year, but they caught on VERy quickly: go up to the guy with the big bowl of candy, say trick-or-treat and smile, get candy. It is so weird that this holiday involves kids dressing up (in sometimes terribly bloody or age-inappropriate costumes) and then asking strangers for candy. But anytime my girls can dress as princesses with REAL make-up, combined with eating candy that they are never allowed to eat- well, how can they pass that up!?

Mermaid Maya, who uses the word "mermaid" to mean any princess.

Kung-fu Tonito, who doesn't exactly know what martial arts are yet, but loves the idea of them!

Princess Vivi, who was so excited to get this *pink* version of Jasmine!

The kids had a lot of fun with Grandma and Grandpa!!

Leaves! Leaves! Leaves!

It is time to go outside, shake off the cabin fever, and jump in some leaves!

BUD, To-to, Zhu-Zhu

SQUIRTY, Vivs, Sweet Pea

BOOSIE, Punkin, Munchkin

It was a golden lit, crunchy leaved, cross country racing, fleece-wearing, cool and damp, trail running, branch shaking, sweet smelling, jewel-toned, dogs barking, wet-jeaned, tarp swinging, leaf jumping, worm-finding, heavy raking, fire burning, chilly handed, screaming, laughing, sunny day.

As Vivi would say, "Fwends!"

More fun with "fwends"! Yummy nachos for dinner with Becks and Ewan and of course Doshi!

And for dessert (after the caramel apples)- wrestling on "big grey"- the squishiest couch ever!

We wuv you Ewan!!!

Family:)

Visiting with more cousins!!!

It is so fun to watch our family grow!!!:)

Our (non) sleepover at Tio Timo and Auntie Colleen's house! Only a non-sleep-over because the kids woke up at 3:30 and never went back to sleep! But sleep or no sleep, it was FUN going to the park, the supermarket, making homemade tortillas, dancing ballet, and goofing around. I really miss coming here and am so glad this time we got to sleepover! In the morning we watched Totoro- a great Japanese anime film for kids about a friendly monster. I've never seen anything like it, but loved it! We can't wait to meet our new cousin

Putzing around...

Still recovering! Playing board games (Maya learned how to play color bingo!)

Mingo participated in playing "house"-

Also reading lots of books, watching more DVDs than ever, coloring, cars, listening to music, board games, and books on CDs... We're getting a little cabin fever:).

Celebrating un-birthdays!

Un-birthdays, because when you live far away, it's hard to celebrate birthdays without family! So we did a kid and fall birthday party that included my mom and Auntie Colleen- complete with scrumptious cakes from Whole Foods that all could enjoy (egg-free and gluten-free: thank you Colleen!!!!:) It feels so at home cooking and eating with everyone, I forgot that we don't live here anymore!

Emily dressing up her in Pocahontas costume along with Little Mermaid and Jasmine. Look at our growing family!! Fun fiestas!!!

Pretty soon there will be one more grandchild to squeeze in:).

Pirate aaargh...

Tim and Colleen.

Christy let the kids borrow her camera, and so they were setting up photo shoots of their stuffed animals (obviously lemur was first in line)-

Tall Tio Timo.

Saying good-bye to Tio Co before he goes back to college. Nico we miss you! Come visit!!!:)

Recuperating with cousins

Tonito had surgery on Monday, and so his best buddies and cousins came to cheer him up! They were a GREAT distraction and we really appreciate their visit! We played with cars and toys, and then did some pumpkin painting. For lunch we made mini-pizzas, and then it was time for naps.

There is nothing like cousins to brighten the day and mood!! Thank you Sam and Nate for coming over!! We *love* playing with you so much!!!!

Pumpkins!

Having fun with Grandma and Grandpa at a fall farm/pumpkin fest. My favorite parts: jumping down the blow-up slide with the whole family, watching the kids on the pony rides, and seeing their expressions holding baby chicks!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Julie's wedding!

We took 2 days to drive up to Chicago- and we got to visit with Drew and family for dinner along the way! It was the usual DVD after DVD, snack food and drinks (and then rest areas and pit stops). We made it to St. Louis for the night, and so the 2nd day was much shorter. It felt so good to be home!!

Thursday night was the wedding rehearsal, and then Friday was the wedding. Since I was a bridesmaid I didn't have a chance to take too many pictures, but here are some photos of the fun. The cheeseburgers at midnight were due to the reception being at the McDonald's headquarters/Hyatt:

Adventures in the Bayou

When my brother and sister were little (and I was 15 years older) they used to beg me to take them on "adventures"- it would qualify as an "adventure" if we wore old clothes and got very muddy observing and collecting things in nature. I was (willingly:) carrying on the tradition today when we walked down by the bayou after a heavy rain and collected things washed up into the grass: shells, worms, bugs, seed pods, and a huge snail. Tonio told us that it was a snail that should be living in the water, so since it was still alive I ran back and threw it in the bayou after we snapped the picture (ie no animals were harmed during this blog post!).

Soccer/ Futbol!!!!!

Coach Tonio and team!!!!! There is nothing cuter than watching your husband coach your kids:).

Pumpkin Patch

This is how a pumpkin patch should be- we rode out to the field where the pumpkins were growing, and picked one out!

I think it was the first time to a fall festival/farm where 1) we went out into the fields, and 2) were very hot and wearing sunscreen.

Maya kept holding her "bebe pumpkin" and kissing it.

Back in the farm area, there were pumpkins, games, a park, little rides...

Swinging into the haystacks...

We even got to learn how to milk a cow, which was curiously appropriate since we had just studied dairy products:). I was asking the dairy farmer if there were any dairy farms that allowed tours, and he told me that since 9/11 people are not allowed to visit dairy farms for fear of terrorism/contamination. So there is no way for kids to see "milking" in action. I feel like we are so far removed from where our food comes from, by the time it is processed and transported halfway around the world. I remember when we lived in London and there was a big study interviewing school-aged kids about identifying vegetables- most kids ate 0-5 veggies per WEEK and couldn't identify half of them. They didn't know what potato chips or pizza was made of, couldn't tell you what was from a plant or animal, etc. It was incredible, but then believable at the same time when you look at what is served in school cafeterias. When I worked as a high school teacher I cannot tell you how many times I saw kids eating a huge serving of fries and a king-sized candy bar for lunch (day after day after day). So at least we are trying to eliminate partially hydrogenated oils/trans fat, high fructose corn syrup, eat less salt and cholesterol (oops, except the homemade butter), etc, etc. At least being more cognizant of what we're ingesting and where it is coming from!

It was really cool to learn about the cow-milking. Who knew brown cows make more milk than the black and white speckled ones? This one can make up to 6 gallons/day! It was a really fun day- much better than if we had spent the day unpacking ;).