New Zealand Trip

今天早上我们结束了9天的旅行从新西兰回来了。 我们一开始飞到了奥克兰，然后又飞到皇后城。在皇后城，我们乘坐缆车到了风景迷人的山顶， 并在山顶上玩了滑板车, 安娜高兴得大喊大叫。 然后我们开车去乘坐一整天的游艇开到了雨林及充满湖光山色的野生地带，在百尺瀑布下，景色尉为壮观。离开皇后城后，我们驾车沿着西海岸开到了著名绿玉产地的小镇赫基第卡 , 一路蓝天，白云，雪山，草地，牛羊遍地，享受着大自然的魅力。然后我们又开车横跨南岛， 途经雪山山脉，远眺连绵山川群峰峻脉，零距离欣赏景色壮观的冰川，来到了基督城。基督城被称为花园城市，我们游览了水族馆，教堂广场中心公园。快乐的时间总是过得很快，我们怀着愉快的心情，又飞回到奥克兰，在这里，哥哥和姐姐玩了高空蹦极跳，他们从192米的高空自由跳了下去，真是惊险又刺激。 我们第二天又开车去了荧光虫水洞，荧光虫就像天上的星星， 闪烁生辉，非常奇妙。在这里我们体验了在完全没有光亮的夜晚摸索前进的感觉。新西兰真是个美丽的国家， 风光绮丽。今天一大早回到家，然后各自上学，上班。安娜累坏了，下午在学校睡到了4点半，还是在老师叫了多次才醒的。爸爸晚上五点多去接她时，看见她还躺在自己的小床上。

We returned from a nine day trip in New Zealand this morning. First, we arrived in Auckland. The next day, we flew to Queenstown where we took the sky gondola to the top of the mountains. There we all had fun taking the luge rides. Anna was screaming and yelling while she was riding the luge with daddy. The next day, we then took a nine hour cruise along Doubtful sound to see its beautiful wilderness. After leaving Queenstown, we drove through the scenic west cost to Hokitika. We then drove across the south island through Arthur’s pass all the way to Christchurch on the east coast. We then flew back to Auckland. David and Leah went on the sky jump. They leaped off the famous Auckland Sky Tower and free-fell 192 meters straight down. What an unforgettable experience! We also visited the glowing worm caves 2 hours south of Auckland. New Zealand is such a beautiful country and we all had a wonderful time there.
Everyone was exhausted when we got home early early in the morning. We sent Anna to her preschool and she took a very long nap until 4:30 after her teacher tried to wake her up a few times. When daddy picked her up at about 5:30, she was still lying on her cot.

Happy birthday daddy!

今天是爸爸的生日！ 爸爸早上和姐姐滑完冰回到家，安娜就大声地说"哈皮波斯呆”， 然后又亲了爸爸好几大口。她还给爸爸做了个生日卡。 今年给爸爸的生日礼物是我们全家今天去新西兰旅游。小安娜等不及了，昨天就在她的小书包里装上各种小吃和玩具，到飞机上吃。中午爸爸吃了最喜欢的大龙虾。

Today is daddy's birthday! When daddy returned home from Leah's ice skating practice this morning, Anna said"Happy birthday daddy" followed by a big kiss. For daddy's birthday, we are going to New Zealand. Anna got so excited, she started packing her snacks and toys for the airplane ride. Daddy had his favorite lobster dish for lunch.

Synchronized ice skating

安娜星期日去看姐姐滑冰比赛。我们一大早6点半就出发了，开到迪斯尼冰场， 到晚上6点才回来。安娜平时经常看姐姐滑冰，但这是第一次看真正的比赛。她特别喜欢看姐姐穿上滑冰的衣服。姐姐滑冰队表演时，她也跟着观众大声呼叫，鼓掌。回来的路上，她累坏了，睡了一路。Anna went watching Leah’s team's ice skating competition on Sunday. We left early in the morning at 6:30 and drove all the way to Anaheim and didn't get back to home until 6 at night. Anna has seen Leah ice skating many times, but this was her first time to watch a real competition. She loved to see Leah in her ice skating dress and cheered up for their team. She was so exhausted and slept through on the way back.

Puzzle girl

安娜最近特别喜欢玩儿拼图游戏，几乎每次去学校接她时都看见在拼图。我于是给她买了几套，她整天都玩儿不够，拼得特好。32个的拼图板，她5分钟就可以搭好， 真是个动手能力强的孩子。
Anna enjoys playing with jigsaw puzzles recently. We see her working on solving puzzles almost everyday when we pick her up from school. I also bought her several sets and she likes them very much. What a smart girl!

Halloween Trick-or-treating

今年的万圣节完全可以用这两张照片总结。左边的照片是出发之前照的， 右边那张是晚上回来要到的糖果。安娜一边要糖一边吃，到家时我发现她的脸上都是巧克力， 两只手都粘糊糊的。Our Halloween can be summarized by these two pictures。The left picture was taken right before we went out and the picure on the right shows all the candies we got. Anna was eating her candies while trick-or-treating. I noticed that her face was covered with chocolates when we got home and her hands were sticky.

Halloween parade

安娜今天在学校里参加了第一次万圣节游行。她打扮成中国公主。她特别喜欢这套裙子，不愿意脱下来。游行后，他们学校又举行了各种游戏，她带了好多小东西回来。姐姐今天上学时装扮成海盗。Anna had her first Halloween parade at her preschool this morning. She was a Chinese princess and she loved her dress so much that she didn't want to take it off. Her preschool also had a carnival after the parade and she got a bunch of Halloween goodies from all kinds of games. Leah went to school as a pirate today.

Pumpkin patch

安娜的幼儿园今天去南瓜园玩儿了。爸爸请了半天假义务开车和照看孩子们。安娜玩儿得很开心，在南瓜堆里跑来跑去，坐了各种各样的游乐设施，一直玩不够。 这是我们第一次看见她跟所有的同班小朋友在一起， 她大部分时候都讲英语，可有时也说中文。爸爸听见她大声地跟老师说中文“我们下面去哪？”， 把爸爸笑得够呛。今天下班去接她时，老师说她下午睡了一大觉， 大概是玩得太累了。

Anna's preschool went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch today. Daddy took the morning off from work and volunteered to drive the kids there. Anna had so much fun playing with the pumpkins and enjoyed all kinds of rides. It was our first time to really see her with all of her classmates. She was talking in English most of the time. But sometimes, she also speaks Chinese. Daddy heard her asking the teacher in Chinese loudly"What are we doing next?". Her teacher smiled at her and asked "Are you speaking Chinese?". It was pretty funny. When we picked her up after work, the teacher told us that she took a very long nap. I guess she must be exhausted.

Daddy's girl

安娜特别喜欢吃海产品， 这一点她跟爸爸一样。爸爸太爱吃海鲜了，以至于吃出了高胆固醇。安娜知道如何吃整螃蟹。看着她高超的吃螃蟹技术，令人惊叹。

Anna likes sea food very much, just like her daddy. She knows the tricks how to eat a whole crab. It is amazing to see how skillful she is.

Happy 60th anniversery, China!

今天是10月1日，是祖国60周年大庆。我们在网上观看了盛大的游行，我们感到如此自豪。安娜特别喜欢看扛枪的战士。 Today is October 1 and it is the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. We watched the amazing parade and feel so proud. Anna especially enjoyed watching the parade by the fully armed soldiers.

Gotcha for six months

六个月前的今天，我们在浙江民政部第一次见到了安娜。我还清楚的记得那天一大早三点我就醒了，当然也有时差的关系，既兴奋又紧张。见到安娜并把她抱在怀里的时刻，永远在我心中成了定格。 第一眼见到她就是爱的喜悦，爱的泪水。

这六个月，小家伙变化好大。刚开始时，在出门之前，她都会把玩具藏在沙发缝里。 她饭量惊人，而且什么都爱吃，吃得都吃不下了，最后一口饭就含在嘴里，可以含一两个小时。记得有一天，我们一起吃晚饭，她突然看着我们说“我撑着了！”，然后就一口把喝的牛奶都吐了出来。 那时她也很任性，如果不满足她的要求， 她会大叫，偶尔还会咬人，爸爸和姐姐都被她咬过。 今天，还是这个小丫头，她不再在乎玩具了，谁玩都行，她也不像以前那么热衷于食品了，现在吃东西有选择性了。每次吃的差不多时，就会指着自己的肚子说“我吃饱了”。 现在时不时还会发脾气，但是只要跟她讲清道理，一会儿就好了。这小家伙嘴甜，认错快，而且总是高高兴兴的。能得到这么个宝贝女儿真是我们的福气。
Six months ago today on March 23, we met Anna at the Zhejiang Civil Affairs Office. I was nervous and excited that morning that I woke up at 3’oclock. Everything became history when we met her and held her in our arms. It was love and joy at first sight.

Six months later, this same little girl has come a long way. At the beginning, she would hide all her toys in the cracks when she left the hotel or the house, she would eat anything and eat so much, and stuff the last bite in her mouth and kept it there for a long time. One day, when we were having dinner and all in a sudden, she stared at us and said:” I am too stuffed” and then she vomited all the milk she drank. She would scream if she didn’t get her way of doing things and occasionally she would hit or bite. Today, this same little girl doesn’t care much about the toys, anyone can play with them. She is no longer addicted to food, actually she is getting pickier about food, and she will point to her tummy and tell us that she is full. She still occasionally throws tantrums, but only for very short moments. Despite all these things, she is such a happy and sweet girl. She is just perfect for our family!

Sisters (姐俩好）

每当看到安娜和姐姐在一起， 我心里就暖洋洋的，这姐俩真是好啊！姐姐宠爱妹妹，妹妹崇拜姐姐。很多时候姐姐都是无微不至的照看妹妹。姐姐经常给妹妹做饭，洗澡，讲故事，并领着她睡觉。安娜非常保护姐姐，有时爸爸故意对姐姐不好，她就会大声说，“不行，这是我的姐姐！”。当然了，有的时候姐姐也会嫌妹妹烦，但是都很短暂。It has been amazing how well Anna gets along with her big sister Leah. Leah simply adores Anna and Anna just loves Leah. It is very heartwarming to see how Leah treats Anna. A lot of the time, Leah takes cares of Anna. She cooks for her, takes a bath for her, reads her stories, and puts her into bed. Anna is also very protective of Leah. If we do something “mean” to Leah, she will say very loudly “No, it is my Leah”. Of course, there are times that Leah gets annoyed by Anna, but those are very short moments.

March 2009

April 2009

May 2009

June 2009

July 2009

August 2009

September 2009