Yeh-yeh and nai-nai's visit

Yeh-yeh and nai-nai came to visit us last weekend. As usual, they helped me a lot with my garden and yard. They each came to hear the symphony play Beethoven's 5th (duh duh duh duuuh!). On Saturday we went to an Arts and Craft's Fair where Rachel got to try bowl making and weaving. On Sunday we celebrated Moon Festival with some collegues in the symphony (food, mah-jong, and mooncakes). Monday we visited Rachel's school where Yeh-yeh did an Er-hu demonstration for Rachel's class and Rachel got to show her kung-fu fan prowess (see Yeh-yeh's NEW blog http://www.bloomington-heritage.blogspot.com). While Rachel was in school, we went to see a calligraphy exhibit at the downtown library and also a private collection of Chinese landscape painting at the Frist Art Museum. A trip to Costo to get supplies laid in for their upcoming Taiwan trip and a peek at Rachel's ballet class rounded out a full day! After a day of relative rest Tuesday (which ended with a rousing game of Go Fish), we had to say our goodbyes. As Rachel and I headed to school, Yeh-yeh and Nai-nai headed back home to Indiana on Wednesday after a fun-filled visit.

New friends from eakin

The weekend before last, we had some new friends over for a picnic lunch and playdate. Agatha is in Rachel's kindergarten class, her brother Peter goes to 1st grade at the same school, and her little sister Esther is still learning to roll over (she is about the same age as Bryson). Viera and Michel came from Slovakia and Michel is working on his PhD in chemistry at Vanderbilt University. Their family reminds me of ours while daddy was in school, except the kids are in reverse order. As you can see, the kids had a good time trying out Rachel's violin and playing together.

Rachel's ballet recital

Thanks to Mag for inspiring me to try to start blogging! We just got these pictures from Rachels dance recital last May. Thought you might enjoy them. The first dance is "Doing the Penguin" and was a tap dance. The second one is called "Poison Ivy". The words are "At night while your sleepin' poison ivy comes a creepin'." Notice all the itchy girls in the group picture.

Rachel starts school

Hello. Just wanted to share some pictures of Rachel (here she is wearing one of her uniforms) and her new school, Eakin Elementary. She is an official kindergartener! She loves school and has made some new friends, although she still misses some of her old friends from daycare. She came home last week one day with something important to tell me. "Remember how the teachers at daycare told us not to use bathroom words, mom? Well, the music teacher said, 'Ta, ta, tee-tee, ta!'"