I had a nice birthday last week. Did the hike on Weds., which was my real celebration. Had a regular day on Thursday, even a Chinese class. That night we all went to dinner at Kagan, a nice Japanese bbq place downtown, which the kids love. I had forgotten how upscale and sleek it was. […]

He yanked it out in the bathroom at school today. The big one is already half in. He is so proud. I managed to load this picture of him holding it up over my sorry ass internet connection. He still believes in the Tooth Fairy and I had to tell Jacob to shut up about […]

So the hike the other day was great. We drove a little less than two hours Northwest from here. About 45 minutes up the Badaling Expressway (north) then you get off and snake Northwest on twisty mountain roads. You come down into a beautiful valley. We were probably less than 60 miles from Beijing and […]

My mom writes: Your blog was very interesting. It sounded to me that you were extremely unfriendly to the newcomer! Dad felt that way too. YOu should make it up to him! We will call you tomorrow. Love, M OK, I need to clarify and defend myself. I can understand how from what I wrote […]

For the record, I did include the nasty letter and they decided not to run it. I welcome hate mail! After the First Year,The Challenges ChangeSeptember 1, 2006 What a difference a year makes. Last August, we stumbled off the plane in Beijing, dazed and wide-eyed and feeling like simply righting ourselves in the most […]