Thanksgiving Getaway in Sanya

We had a long weekend for Thanksgiving, so we decided to head to Sanya - China's closest version of Hawaii.  We stayed at the Atlantis Resort which is a replica of the Atlantis in Dubai where there is an outdoor waterpark, aquarium, sea shows, and more all on-site.  There was so much to do, we never even made it to the beach.

After a huge buffet breakfast every morning, we made our way to the waterpark for some thrilling rides.  Our favorites were the 4-person tube toilet bowl, a drop slide where the tunnel goes through the middle of the shark tank, and a small slide that strolls through the middle of the aquarium where we saw large sharks, manta rays, and sea turtles.  Afterward, the girls would stick around at the wave pool while Justin and went back to the room to rest.  Each afternoon, we went to the aquarium to see a different view of the sea life and got to see a mermaid show and beluga whales.

 

In the evenings, we went to one of the great restaurants at the resort, including a Gordon Ramsey restaurant where we had the beef wellington specialty.  One night we saw the C-Show which was similar to a Cirque de Soleil show.  It was great.

The biggest highlight of the weekend, though, was the seal show and beluga experience that we did on the last day.  The girls even got to touch and kiss a beluga whale!

 

 

 

Happy Halloween from China!

 

A Week of Performances

 The girls both had their fall concert this week where their strings classes performed in front of the school community.  Kaelia has been learning the cello this year and enjoys the low sound it makes.  Taelyn is in year two of learning the violin and is able to play with much better fluency and speech this year.

To top off the week, the middle school had a lip-sync competition on Friday where students could form their own groups and volunteer to perform.  Kaelia choreographed a routine for her friends to "Your Welcome" from Moana, and they had a fun time practicing all week.

Taelyn had a vision to perform solo to "Let it Go" from Frozen but wanted a few extras to execute her plan.  Justin agreed to help out as well as her best friend, Ikki.  He is a snowflake in the background with a sign that says "snowflake" and Ikki produces snow at just the right moments.  The final performance was the showstopper and won first place without question!

We are so proud of our kiddos for their hard work and for putting themselves out there in front of all their teachers and peers.  And, of course, the girls and I are proud of Justin for his confidence and determination to be the best snowflake he could be!

Trash Wars

The girls have brought their on-screen performance to a new level to start off this school year.  Thanks to a new friend and neighbor, Penelope, who has a great vision for film, we now present...

Trash Wars! 

We Officially Have Two Middle Schoolers!

We started our first day of school for the 2021-2022 school year this week.  It was a day to celebrate because our entire family is now on one campus together as Kaelia joins her sister in the middle school - the same building where Justin and work in the high school.

Both girls had a great time seeing their friends that they missed over the summer, finding out who is in each of their classes, and getting their new schedules.  Taelyn was very excited to have all of her core classes with one of her best friends, Ikki, and Kaelia was happy to see that her core classes are with some of her buddies from her 5th-grade class as well as a new faculty kid (and our new neighbor), Peppy.

When asked about the difference between elementary school and middle school, Kaelia said she loved all the freedom in middle school and how she gets to go to different classes.

One other highlight was our school's dynasty day on Friday.  The entire secondary school (6-12) was placed into different Chinese dynasties, set up like a house system (think Harry Potter).  The girls and I were all placed in the Tang dynasty, and Justin is in Yuan.  We will see how the year goes and who will win each dynasty challenge.

We are all looking forward to a great year!

The girls get ready for the bus that is pulling up in the background.

Kaelia's 1st day of 6th grade

Taelyn's first day of 7th grade

The Best Surprise

After 6 long months of being apart from our Meeka dog, she finally arrived in China, and the best part was that the girls had no idea she was coming! 

The girls have not quite been the same since we had to leave Meeka behind in the US last November as we headed off to China.  More recently, however, they have talked about her more and more, wanting to know if we would ever be able to get her here.  Little did they know, that I was planning her arrival for months, and months is what it took.  Her travel alone took 7 days to get from Michigan to Guangzhou!

This past Saturday, it finally all worked out.  The girls and I were watching a Netflix show about the world's best dogs, and we, of course, talked about Meeka throughout.  Then we heard some whimpering and scratching outside the front door and thought it sounded like a dog.  The girls ran to the door and found their Meeka waiting for them on the other side!  Their reactions are absolutely priceless.  Taelyn even lost her voice for several days afterward after screaming so much.

About 30 minutes prior to this moment, I finally got the notice from the pet relocation company that Meeka had arrived in Guangzhou.  I left the apartment to "run some errands" and greeted our pup in the back of a van that came from the airport.  I have never seen Meeka bark so much as when she saw me.  Meeka never barks, but she was so excited to be with her people again.  My video is terrible as I was trying to hold the camera and see Meeka, but you can get the idea of how excited she was.

The whole reunion took months of planning and working with a pet relocation company on both the China and US ends of the operation along with lots of paperwork, vaccinations, and health check-ups.  Grandma and Grandpa Walker were integral in getting about 99% of it all done and in getting Meeka across the world.  One week before she arrived in Guangzhou, they drove her to Chicago where she sat in cargo for an entire day before flying to Frankfurt.  There, she stayed another full day before flying to Shanghai.  Again, she spent another full day at the airport just to get cleared into China where the pet relocation company picked her up.  She had to spend a couple of days in a kennel in Shanghai while the company got her approval to fly to Guangzhou, and she finally boarded that final flight Saturday morning.  This dog has been to more countries in the past six months than most people in the world this year!

Unfortunately, Justin had an event going on when Meeka actually got to our apartment, but he had another special greeting from her when he got home.  It is so wonderful to finally be together as one full family now.

Performances in 5th Grade

Kaelia has really enjoyed her new school this year and loves being a part of the oldest grade in the school.  She has taken on a few leadership responsibilities such as a bus walker where she greets a preschool student from the bus and walks him to class before school.

Kaelia has also participated in several different performances this year.  For the Chinese New Year celebration, she was one of only a few 5th graders chosen to perform the lion dance for the school.  Kaelia was very excited that she got to play the part of the lion's butt; she is the student waving the tail at the back of one of the red lions.

Then Kaelia joined a special choir that was open to older elementary students.  They met during lunchtime and gave a final performance at a fancy international-themed gala about diversity at a hotel.

Finally, Kaelia was a part of the elementary school play where she helped write a script and song and performed in front of the school at an assembly.  The play was called Hairum Scarum, and it was about different princesses or famous females who end up in a hair salon together.  She did a great job playing Goldilocks who was hiding in the salon because she was wanted for trespassing in the three bears' home.  It was pretty cute.  The film of the play is not great, but here is the link to watch.

Secondary School Theater Production

Our secondary school, grades 6-12, just finished the theater production of Annie, and Taelyn had the opportunity to be a part of the show.  She showed quite a bit of promise as a 6th grader, and was the only middle school student with one of the major roles, playing the lead orphan role of Molly (Annie's best friend in the orphanage).

Taelyn had a fantastic presence on stage and did so well working alongside high school students.  She was really impressed with how big the production was with a pit band and backstage crew - parts of a play that she was not exposed to in her previous elementary school plays.  She learned quite a bit from the older students and was so happy to play the role of Molly.  

We are so proud of Taelyn for all the hard work she put into the play!  Here are a few pictures of the final production and the link to watch the entire play.