September Stuff

Here's a bunch of September happenings:

Jozie started school on September 2nd (post here). That week we went on a little date to talk about how her summer goals went and how school was so far. Haven and I did a similar date too. I definitely want to do that every year. Each kid picked McDonald's, which even without a playplace is still the best option for a kid restaurant here.

By the way you might notice the scooters parked in the background. People in Macau LOVE scooters. They are everywhere. And they do make sense - you can weave in and out of traffic and use Macau's super narrow roads, plus parking is easy. Here are more scooter pictures:

In September the girls got WAY into picking these chocolate eggs for our Family Night treat every week. They are really cool - a hollow egg made of chocolate with a little plastic princess surprise inside.

I thought I'd try sticking Claire in front of the washer for some entertainment (it's right next to the kitchen). She thought it was pretty cool for a while.

Haven and I started having "school" at home. Here is the first time she wrote all the letters in the alphabet:

Just some cute pictures of princesses:

This is when Claire took one of her very first steps:

In September our shipment from the U.S. arrived (yea!). Here's Jozie and Haven's room (Claire sleeps in the office):

Our plasmacars were shipped here too and they are fun with all the concrete that's around! This ramp is awesome on a scooter:

Our master bathroom ceiling was leaking from the bathroom above us so the landlord had someone tear out the false ceiling and this is what was above it. Towards the back of the picture you can see a dark squiggly line. This is created from some kind of bug that tunnels through the walls and ceilings here. It did it on part of the wall in the girls' room too. Yuck.

One day we had to stay after church for a zillion years while Chad got the car because it was parked really far away (we now park far away together and then take a bus the rest of the way to church because parking is horrible). While we waited we played "red light green light" with the missionaries.

This is us at the gas station:

In case you wonder how much gas costs (there are almost four liters in a gallon):

Claire thought she'd wear Haven's birthday headbands:

A dance group practicing outside. We see this all the time, this and tai chi.

We started looking for a rug for our living room. I went to a furniture store in Taipa and these were my choices if I wanted to order a rug. These would be awesome as scarves:

You can find old metal park equipment here. We like it.

This picture is from an activity at the church. This is the basement - the ceiling is really low. Also, does anyone know why so many international churches don't have carpet? I know most homes don't have carpet, but hotels do, and churches are soooo loud without any carpet to soften the noise.

Claire ADORES going up and down these stairs at church.

Just a cute picture of a castle Haven built. Haven used to avoid pictures and then one day I explained that when she's grown up she'll be able to remember what she did when she was a kid by looking at a picture of it. Now she asks me to take pictures of things all the time. Yea!

I took this on a day we were threatened by a huge typhoon. Luckily it changed course so all we got was a few drops of rain. You can see the outside of the apartment building near us, and ours looks exactly like it.

These are just some pictures I took when I was up in Macau:

This is at one of Macau's walking only market areas:

Somebody getting married:

People taking up a lane to move some store shelves. Driving here is crazy I tell you. This is on one of about two main roads in Macau. If you get off this road it's much worse (super steep, narrow, and windy).

Up ahead in this picture (in Cotai, not Macau) is the Galaxy hotel and casino. The girls call it the "golden castle." :) Jozie's school is across the street from it - pretty rare to get to go to school across the street from a golden castle, right?