So it has been a week since Jason left for Yilan, and we still have another 4 to go!

It hasn't been too bad, the kids have been really cooperative most of the time, and have been spending quite a bit of time playing computer games and watching movies and eating lots of popcorn:) SUMMER VACATION - great timing...

Thankfully we stocked up on groceries before Jason left, so we just really have to buy bread, milk and water every other day or so, and fresh veggies from the market. However the boys don't really enjoy the trip to the morning market. It does get very crowded and the boys hate the smell (raw fish, pork, tofu, and many other smells that all blend together in the air and seems to get trapped). Nevermind the fact that me with 4 kids, 3 obviously belonging to me and 1 that doesn't look like me, but more like the locals, we draw much attention and finger pointing and questioning looks, and sometimes questions or more like a game of charades, and of course the ever dreaded stroking of the hair or face or wanting to take our photo! My kids, even a year later have not gotten used to this! Then we will even get those who want to practice their english, although all they know is how to count to five, so they will look at you shouting 1,2,3,4,5! Very funny!!!

But I sure will miss our little town of Donggang. There are some really sweet little ladies who are always quick to give us little treats, whether they are bananas, or some other strange looking fruit or vegetable, that I usually have no idea what to do with! And sweets for the kids, which are usually awefull, not at all like the sweets we are acustomed to, however I have trained the kids to politely take the sweet and say "xie,xie" , smile and wave and just keep on walking, and do what you like with the sweet when we get home (it usually ends up in the trash though).

Asia-Faith is really starting to pick up words now too - this is a list of words she knows:

mama

dada

her brothers names: River, Storm, Rain (although she mostly calls Talis-Rain "Talis"...)

nana

papa

Mel

Kitty

bottle

nio nai (milk)

yes

no (probably her first word LOL)

Rory

pillow

hello

how are you

I love you

Wo Ai Ni

xie xie

thank you

eyes

ears

nose

mouth

bum

poo (points to her diapers and says poo - too cute, although she mainly does it in the toilet now too)

yay (which she says when she is done on the toilet, or if one of us are done on the toilet)

"baby" - that is the name of her doll.

Although her pronounciation of the words aren't 100% yet, I still understand what she is saying. She also loves to sing and for the 2 songs she does, she needs her props. For her fist song "You are My Sunshine", her lullaby, she needs to have her "baby" to rock while she sings this. For the second song, "Jesus Loves Me", she needs to have her story book which has this song in that she "reads" from when she sings. It is so cute, because everytime you start to sing either of these songs, she holds up her hand and says "wait" (oh, another word of hers), and runs and gets either of these 2 things, depending on the song...is she cute or what?

It is my big boy's 8th birthday tomorrow! I can't believe it, it just seems like yesterday that I found out I was pregnant, I can remember it so vividly like it was just yesterday, and knowing it was 8 years ago already! WOW, time does go fast!

Enjoy the pics...