Xi'an

When Auntie Celia visited us, we all took a trip out to Xi'an to visit the Terracotta Warriors.  The boys woke up super early so we could catch a flight out there first thing in the morning.  When we arrived to queue up at the airport check in counter, Joshua said, "What are we doing here in Economy?"  We've created a monster.

Badminton

It took 3 months, but Joshua finally received his school uniform and loves to wear it, especially to play badminton.  He's really Chinese now.

Happy 8th birthday Joshua!

At 8 years old, he is the sweetest lego loving big brother there is.

To Annette today: "I love walking home with you mom. We can stop and look at things and talk about them."  I came across them as they were walking to campus and I was headed toward Sam's school - - he ran toward me to give me a hug.

Joshua celebrated his 8th birthday in Beijing at a  pizza pub with his new friends: Chloe, Han, and Yenmingzhi.

His favorite toys now are: nerf guns, Chima and Star Wars Legos, and of course his iPad especially the magic chess and Angry birds apps.

His favorite TV cartoon is KaiXing Chaoren, a Chinese superhero.

He likes to build paper airplanes, answer math questions and teaching his little brother all about life.

He still does not like most veggies except broccoli and squash.

His favorite food is McDonald's, nuggets, cheeseburgers, and of course cheese pizza.

He's growing up fast, but still likes to give and get hugs and kisses from us. His sweet little lamb from age 2yrs old is still his bedtime companion.

We love you Joshua!

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Abacus?

Joshua's Chinese math homework yesterday was to do some simple multiplication questions, but on the abacus?  There's probably some pedagogical reason for using it, but seemed very retro.

Master Lego Builder

Joshua has some work to do in the area of Language Arts, but he definitely has this lego building down.  This morning, he created from scratch both a Republic Gunship and a Podracer.

I don't like surprises

Joshua told Annette's friend that mommy was going to Beijing tomorrow to find a home for us to live in. And she was going to bring back the address, and that was important because he didn't like surprises.

Joshua wanted to go to the gym and workout with me this morning.

Math

I like how Joshua shows the 4 different ways he uses to solve this math problem.