But Oh, Those Summer Niiiiiiiiiiights

I just noticed that our friends in North Dakota are wearing mittens in the pictures on their blog. I've heard the weather in our home states is starting to cool down. And when I called Xiao Li today to wish her a happy Mid Autumn Festival, she told me that it's starting to feel like fall there-that it's cool in the mornings and she dresses in layers. She is Chinese, so she is probably wearing more layers than I would think is necessary for the cool weather, but the point still stands-it's starting to get cooler there too.

For the most part we are still pretty far from anything resembling fall weather. Our evenings feel more like mild summer weather, but not really like fall. Tonight for dinner we went to a park with our new Chinese friend and gazed at the full moon but didn't eat any mooncakes-she said the ones you can get here are pretty bad. That's really different from the ones you get in China. HEHE. Our kids swam in a lake, played on a splash pad (our city really has neat stuff for families) We've been to the pool two times two times already this week. The water is starting to cool down, but it's pretty much perfect when the temperature reaches the low-mid 90's during the day.

Though the fall is by far my favorite season, I'm really enjoying the weather here. I'm looking forward to getting outside with my kids throughout the year, even in winter. We're going to check out Disney's Animal Kingdom pretty soon, as the parks feel more bearable now that we're dipping into the 80's on some days!

Andy actually took our kids to the Magic Kingdom BY HIMSELF last weekend. I was away on a women's retreat and he decided brave Disney on his own. It went great, which seems to be the way it goes with Dads. If it had been me, it would have been a total bomb! Jack, who is saying so much these days told me after I got home. "Mickey Mouse, Mommy, that's fun!"

Grapes is saying lots of fun things as well. She is totally enamored with the whole Princess thing and regularly changes her name to one of the Princesses (or a friend from China, or a friend from here, or Mary, mother of Jesus, and occasionally Jesus himself). There is rarely a night that I pray for Emma Grace during our bedtime prayers. I pray for Mandy, and Julianna, and Mary, and Snow White, and Jasmine, but rarely Emma Grace.

When I picked her up from preschool last week she told me, "Me and Anna Rose were having conversation." I then asked her what they were having conversation about. "Apples. She said the peel is really good for your tummy."

There you go, Mom-hope that was enough of a Jack and EG fix for you. Sorry I haven't taken more pictures lately! (this post is in response to some slight nagging from my mom to blog. hehe)