Sean's First Piano Recital

Ni hao, Ya'll!
Wow! In 16 days days we will be on an airplane heading home. Time is flying now! There is so much to take care of before we leave that I wish time would slow down (just a little). Sean started taking piano lessons here in Shanghai in March of this year (11 weeks of lessons). They held an informal piano recital last weekend. Fun! He was sooo nervous as you can see by his anxious smile, but did a great job:) I attached a video.

It's Almost Summer

I can't believe that the Great Firewall of China has kept me off this blog and Facebook for so long! I truly needed this outlet. That is okay! We are getting a VPN when we come back to Shanghai in the fall. In 4 weeks and 2 days we will be flying out of here and heading home. We are all so excited, especially the kids! (Well, I can hardly contain my excitement as well!) The kids have grown so much this year. Sean has done so well in Kindergarten. Jasmine has had a tough year, but she is so resilient that I know she is going to be just fine. The poor kid has been in 2 different homes in Shanghai, 3 different schools, and just frustrated on a day to day basis due to the language barrier with her ayi. She really has picked up a ton of Mandarin, and now she and Ayi just sit and chat, and I have no idea what the heck they are saying. Sigh! I guess I better start taking some Mandarin lessons to keep up with her. She is so funny because she will talk with Ayi all afternoon, and I ask her to tell me how to say something and she says, "No Mommy! You speak English." Anyway, I put together a quick slide show called, "Our Year in 30 Photos". See you all soon!

Click here to see the slide show:) http://photopeach.com/album/kaiijc

Multi-sport

Instead of choosing one sport for the kids to play this Fall, we enrolled them in what is called Multi-sport. Each Saturday morning a different sport is introduced and they play for an hour in their own age groups. The first week was basketball, the second, soccer, and yesterday was field hockey. They love it. Here are some pics from the second weekend, soccer. Below is a video of Jasmine playing "Shrek" during her soccer weekend. They had to dribble the ball up slowly and quietly and "steal" the "treasure" from Shrek while she was sleeping. If she woke, you had to pick your ball up and run back to base. Jasmine was sooo scared she didn't get up there to get her own treasure. She found one that someone dropped and claimed it, LOL!

Ni Hao from Shanghai

Ni Hao, Ya'll! I can hardly believe that as of tomorrow, we have been here 7 weeks. Some days it feels like time has flown by and other days make me feel like we have been here 7 years. We hit the ground running and it still has not stopped. We are starting to settle the house little by little and we are already halfway through the first quarter. Mid-term progress reports go out on Monday. Whew! School keeps us busy to say the least. Sean is doing incredibly well. He seems to really enjoy school and all the amazing activities that his teacher creates. Here is a link to his teacher's blog to see him in action.

Jasmine's honeymoon period ended not when Mommy and Daddy started work 3 days after we arrived because she had her brother. The world came to an end for her once Sean started school and the 3 of us left her with the ayi. "But Mommmmmeeeeeeeyyyyyy! She doesn't understand a word I say, and I don't understand Chinese!!!!" Tears flowing from her eyes, arms flailing, my heart breaking! It was sooo hard. This happened every morning for 2 weeks. Then she started school. WOW! What a difference! She attends from 8:30 to 1:00, and rides a big kid bus with 2 other students from our compound. She loves it and the teacher says she acts like she has been there forever. She is doing great, picking up more Chinese than any one of us, for sure!

Me, well, it has been a challenge as I expected. I would say the most difficult things have been related to the language barrier and how far the school is from where we live. I truly can not stand that 45 minute bus ride to school every morning and 1 hour (or more) ride home every afternoon. Poor Sean gets headaches induced by motion sickness and that just stinks! I feel for the kid. Mostly though, I feel for Jasmine. Coming here next year would have been more ideal as she would have been 4 years old and able to come to our school. It truly is hard for her! This Thursday will be an even bigger challenge as we have Open House. The school is too far for us to come home between the end of school and Open House. That day we will depart our apartment at 6:45 am and not return until late that night, around 10:00 pm. Not looking forward to that, but I absolutely enjoy being back in the classroom, though. I LOVE teaching Humanities, and my sixth graders are lots of fun. Click here to see my Humanities blog.

Anyway, just wanted to post an update now that I have a way to access this blog. Yes, I found a way around the Great Firewall and I hope it lasts! I'll post some pics tonight or tomorrow:)

Zai Jian... we are heading out!

In just 4 short hours, the Carozza clan will be starting a new chapter in our lives! We leave for Norfolk airport at 4:15 am with 15 suitcases, 8 carry-on bags, a double stroller, 2 kids, and lots of hope for a great start in Shanghai. I'm not looking forward to the Chicago to Shanghai flight... 14 1/2 hours! I sure hope the IPods hold out, LOL!

I will try and update with pics of our new place and city as soon as I can. We expect we will have internet by next Wednesday or Thursday.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers:)
Love to you all!

Jasmine's Urology Appointment

Jasmine had her yearly testing done this past week, and unfortunately, her kidney/bladder issue (vesicoureteral reflux) has not resolved. The doctor explained that each year we should be seeing some improvement, but at this point Jasmine is still a grade 3 on the left side and grade 4 on the right. If she doesn't show some improvement next summer, she recommends that we consider a surgical procedure next summer. In the meantime, we had to stock up (1 year supply) on her macrodantin meds and added another medicine for her to take daily. My carry-on is filled. Hopefully the new meds and cutting out some foods in her diet will help us see some improvement at her appointment next July.

Life's a Beach!

The kids LOVE going to the beach! Playing in the sand, hopping over the waves, splashing in the water all make for a great summer morning. On this visit, they were able to catch a crab, a fish, a sea horse, and lots of little waves. Hopefully they will get one more sunny morning beach blast before we fly out on Saturday.

Traveling at the Speed of Fright

Busch Gardens is always tons of fun. This year was especially fun as Sean was finally tall enough to ride one of the big roller coasters, the Big Bad Wolf (a suspended swinging coaster with a 1oo ft drop that sends riders barreling down at 50 mph and swooping just above the river below). During the time we were standing in line, I asked him (more than once) if he was sure that he wanted to ride this one. I told him that this was a LONG roller coaster ride, unlike the Elmo rollercoaster seen above (which by the way is much faster than I thought it would be). When we were next in line, we waved goodbye to one train of cars as they started their ride and another train of cars pulled in. Sean looked at me and said, "Mommy, that is NOT a very long ride!" It was so funny! It was our turn to board, he held on, and LAUGHED the entire time even down the huge drop. It was great! We also enjoyed lots of other rides, shows, and yummy food. We hope to hit Disneyland in Hong Kong in the fall.

The Harvest

I can hardly believe that we are just 9 days out. There is still so much to do, but I guess it will get done. The kids have enjoyed harvesting veggies from the garden every few days with Lolo! We have had a fantastic crop this year... tomatoes, grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, hot peppers, yellow squash, and our new addition this year, snap peas. These snap peas are DELICIOUS... much better than any fresh snap peas we buy at Kroger. Anyway, we have had fun picking veggies from the garden and cooking them for dinner.

Water Park Fun

The kids love playing and swimming at the JCC water park. We have been members since January, and the kids have been taking swimming lessons. They are like little fish now... love, love, love the water:)

As you'll see in the video, Sean was thrilled with the waterslide.

T-ball Tots

Sean and Jasmine played T-ball at the JCC and just loved it! They had a great coach, and learned to throw, field, and hit the ball. What fun!

Tights and Tutus

What do you get when you put a bunch of 3 and 4 year old girls on stage? Tiny ballet shoes, mini pirouettes, and lots of smiles and giggles! Jasmine has been taking a preschool “ballet” class at the JCC for the past two months. She LOVED it! She can often be found in her ballet tutu reading her ballet book and practicing the different positions. Unfortunately, as you'll see in the video, her mischievous big brother often tries to break her concentration, LOL! To the right is a picture from her first “stage” performance!

Ni hao, ya'll

8 weeks until the Carozzas ship out to Shanghai! Sean is full of questions. His most recent was (sigh), "But why can't I go to Kindergarten at St. Gregory's? All of my friends are!" Jasmine is more concerned with having a baby sister, LOL. She hopes that we adopt a mei mei when we get to China.

We took the kids to Disney World during Spring Break, and Mulan helped to get the kids excited about the move to China. Mulan asked Sean if he was strong, and he showed her his muscles. That must have impressed Mulan, and she kissed him on the cheek. He blushed and whispered in my ear, "Mommy, can I keep this kiss forever?" We told him he could rub it in and keep it forever.