Fall? Maybe?

It is soooo hot here. It seems like we never had winter, only heat and humidity! I do recall a time when I needed to wear several layers, and being so cold I couldn't remember what it was like to be warm. I remember blogging about how cold it was..... Well now, all of it is a distant memory, something from a lifetime ago and we are longing for it to come again, at least for the moment.

Sadly there are only a few truly beautiful days here a year, where you can just enjoy being outside in the evenings and not sweat or feel like the humidity will swallow you. Only a few beautiful fall days a year. And, this evening was one of them. We went outside to enjoy the evening for a few hours. We walked down to the local place where we buy our school supplies and talked with the ladies there for a few minutes, then we walked to the center of town and stopped in at our favorite drink shop....MTR!! The kids got a fruit slushie and I had a coffee milk tea (YUM!). Then we hopped in a cab and rode to our friends apartment complex where they have a great play area. We had a fun evening playing with their little girls and enjoying the beautiful fall evening.

What is a fun evening without sidewalk chalk?

Baby T is getting BIG!!Hannah cheesing it up for the camera while posing on the park equipment.
And there I am enjoying the park equipment.This picture is from 2 nights ago, but I didn't have any pictures of Hudson, so I stuck this one in. Here he is sending up a paper lantern into the sky!

Working Moms

The last few days my heart has been torn. There is an apartment building going up right behind ours and it is close to being finished. A new crew has arrived this week. A crew mostly made up of women, working all hours of the day, sleeping, eating, and breaking in the unfinished building. What has torn my heart is the fact that several of them have their babies strapped to their backs as they work shoveling, scraping, lifting, etc...all day long. Little bitty babies with their heads bobbing back and forth in the heat. During lunch yesterday one mom had her 2 year old eating lunch on the 6th floor of the unfinished building, with no walls, doors, or anything keeping that baby from running out the unfinished wall.


I wonder about these babies and how they are developing. I wonder how sore and tired the moms must be not only working construction but doing it with their child strapped to them. I wonder how these moms can continue to work so hard day after day. I wonder what their background and life situations are. I am amazed sometimes at how different my life is than theirs, and we live just a few feet apart. I wonder how hard it would be to ask them to drop off their babies at my house every morning.....

School Days

I thought today I would post some random photos of some school days we have had so far. That way you can see our classroom!! We LOVE our classroom! It is so great to have bookshelves, desks, and stuff....but the great part is to have this wonderful PLACE to have school!! We have spent many hours in there already and we love it!

Here is one of the amazing teachers at our school. He is doing a history review game involving connect 4.Hudson answered correctly! He is quickly placing his circle into the connect four game. The eager students.Hannah presenting her report on Queen Victoria. My little corner. Coffee is a must!

Labor Day Weekend

I realize that Labor Day was 2 weeks ago, but I am a little behind in my blogging. And when I take the time to actually take pictures, I feel the need to show them off.

So, Labor Day, we went to the beach town about 5 hours away from where we currently live. We took all of our friends who live here in town with us and we worked a while, then we played the rest of the time! It was a very relaxing weekend with good friends!! So here is a small pictorial recap of our weekend.

Yes, your eyes do not deceive you, that is my brother, Ryan, in the Texas Rangers hat, the morning after he arrived here in our town. He is living in our small town for a year as a language student, living in the dorms with 5 other guys....he is quite adventurous! He and Rob, and the rest of us were waiting at KFC for our bus to leave. Hannah and her little buddy.The view of the hotel from our window. Hooray for clean swimming pools!!There is one western restaurant in this beach town. It is owned and operated by an Australian. The food here is pretty good, well, so good we ate here almost every day. The girls playing a game.While others played a game while waiting for their food, G and I played "take pictures of our funny faces". You will notice only G's pictures are here on the blog, because she is still young and is proud of her funny face, mine and her mama's pictures.....locked away. What is better than a weekend in a hotel with a good book?
And, for my mom, here is Ryan, playing Hannah's guitar! He made it and is alive and well!

All of the girls went out to the night market one evening, then ended up at McDonalds for McFlurries, which just arrived in our part of the world this year. This is our friend who is enjoying her first McFlurry EVER!! She loved it.Fun girl night!! Me and my buddy! Don't know what I would do without her!!

Settling In

Is September flying by for anyone else besides me??

We are finally settling into a good routine here in our new home. We are in our 3rd week of homeschooling and are doing great so far. I love watching how the kids work to incorporate new vocab words naturally into dinner conversation and how the kitchen can become a laboratory at a moment's notice. We are really having a good time!

I am still working on posting a video of our new home, but until then here are a few pics of Hudson's room, complete with a basketball goal and lane. He is enjoying spending time playing horse and two on two with anyone he can drag into his room! He says this is his favorite room he has ever had.

Rob hard at work on the floor! Hudson dunking...I feel like there are so many pictures just like this one. A little two on two.. The full room view.

First Day of School

Today was a big day here at the O Fam house because school started!! It was extra special today because we started home school for the first time. We had a great day and are having a fun time doing this together. Here are some pictures of our morning. I am sure there will be many many blog posts to come on this subject.

The 6th grader on her way to class with her coffee in hand.

The obligatory picture by the door into the classroom.The students eager to sit down and dad to stop taking pictures!!Hard(ly) at work! Let the school year begin!!!

Lazy Hazy Days of Summer

Today we started school!!! I think we are all very excited about this. But….that is my next post.
We took the opportunity at the beginning of the week to do some final “last days of summer” activities as a family. On Saturday we explored the pool in our area. And when I say the pool I mean “the one and only pool”. Our only other swimming option is the river…..no thanks. This pool is in a little town next to the town we live in now. It is a naturally spring fed pool that has been tiled and is rather large. Sadly, I didn’t take my camera with me. They drain the water and refill it often, so you could see all the way to the bottom of the pool. These are things we can’t take for granted. On Saturday, when we went swimming, we were the only ones at the pool because the weather was a little cooler than scorching and it was naptime. We had a huge pool all to ourselves. It was very fun!!

On Monday Hudson and Rob had a “boys day” so Hannah and I decided to have a “girls day”! The boys decided to explore some of the hills/mountains around our area. They had a great time sweating, climbing, and taking some beautiful pictures of the area where we live.
Hannah and I also had a great time. Doing this…….
We decided to pick out something different and a little FUN for our toes. We spent a very enjoyable 2 hours at the nail salon. Not bad for $5, huh? (mine are the yellow, hannah's the striped w/stars) After that we shopped, had a coffee milk tea from our favorite drink place, and then headed home. It was a great day!