Photos Pertaining to Previous Posts and Other Tidbits

Here are some pics from our travels and new home. More to come soon!
(sorry - the first one is super cute - before we left from when Lucia was just over being sick - she was taking the temperature of her "Baby Dear" doll!):

From Blog All

Now the real fun begins - i.e. from our trip:
Lucia and the little Thai girl we befriended in the Seattle airport - her mom left her with me for several minutes without asking - I just turned around and the mom was gone! It was kind of strange...

From Blog All

Here is the play area in the Seoul Airport:

From Blog All

And another one:

From Blog All

Dalian mall - girls in double stroller:

From Blog All

All bundled up as it is cold here (about 40 at this time of morning)! This was before the barrage of Chinese adoring fans - they loved the girls:

From Blog All

Skyping (is that a word? If not, maybe it will become one.) with Ama & Apa in the hotel:

From Blog All

View from the Shangri-La of Dalian waterfront shipyard (not the same waterfront as where we live now in the Golden Pebble Beach resorty-area):

From Blog All

Another view from the Shangri-La of downtown Dalian:

From Blog All

These next three are from the day we viewed our house (last Thurs) - none of our stuff is in it yet.
Dining to Kitchen:

From Blog All

Living (washed out due to window):

From Blog All

Atrium - you can see the windows on the left INTO the girls' room - there is a similar one into our room on the other side. The atrium is open down to the first floor over the kitchen table:

From Blog All

Lucia hamming it up on the couch - laundry in one of the Rubbermaid tubs we used for checked luggage as there were no laundry baskets provided with our sparse furnishings:

From Blog All

Other tidbits are the quickie run I took today and the beautiful Rock Garden I saw - just when I was thinking things were a bit ugly what with all the construction going on and the walk we all took on Sunday to the older/worker part of town... kind of gross and stinky there... many interesting thoughts on the resort/shanty town for construction workers dichotomy of this "resort" town. And a delicious Japanese restaurant where I finally had my first post-partum sushi ... mmmmm.... And the strange situation with our oscillating hot/cold water, as well as the healthy plants the office ladies here keep foisting on us. I feel bad for them (5 now) since I have a horrible brown thumb! The lady told me that they needed to be watered with tap water that had sat out for three days - tap because the drinking water has been stripped of nutrients, but sit out for three days so the chemicals will be gone (??) before watering the plants with the water

Things are definitely interesting! Tomorrow I'll go grocery shopping with just me and the girls (though our driver, Chen, will be waiting in the lot - I keep saying things in the car like "I love Lucia, I love Magdalena, I love Dada" and Lucia says "What about Mr. Chen?" Such attention to fairness in children. :-). And Wednesday I am really looking forward to my first Mommy group with other Intel wives and kiddos at the Shama Luxe hotel/service apartments in the Downtown Development Area (DDA - area between Dalian and Golden Pebble Beach). Thursday I have a mommy-playdate with two other mothers and their kids, and am looking forward to that too. And Alex went in today for his first half day, going in for his first real morning start tomorrow.

So far things have been busy - no time to get bored - girls were on wacky schedules for a few days/jet lag, but as of last night started both sleeping through again (pray that keeps going!). Naps are very iffy as we are out and about after lunch, which is Lucia's naptime, and both kids tend to fall asleep for ~20 mins in the car, which ruins the chances of a real nap when we get home. But Lu went to bed at 6:50 today, and Magdalena went down around 6, so hopefully they'll at least get some good night-time sleep toinght.

Whew! That was long - 9:15 pm Monday now, and time for yours truly to hit the sack too. :-)