Jin Family

It turns out that we only live about fifteen minutes away from the zoo. It also turns out that I don't really like the zoo. But I try not to dwell on that part. Okay but seriously, with the zoo only fifteen minutes away, you can go on a whim.

On the one hand, it feels like it was just yesterday that we met him for the first time and the on the other hand it feels like he's been in our family forever. I love this picture because everyone is looking at G. Except for K, who knows what's

You know, I've started to notice that all the popular hikes seem to have similar names. What a view! Can you believe this trail only started ten minutes from our house?I'd really like to go hiking here once a month. I'm trying not to hold us to that very

At some point I decided that we're going to have king cake no matter where we live. Mine has a basic brown sugar, cinnamon and pecan filling inside.I'm not sure when it was, but several years ago I decided I was tired of missing Mardi Gras. And since I

...mostly so we could go to Costco. Any car would look great with that little guy in it.We really did not intend to get a car when we moved here. In fact, not having a car was one of the things we were looking forward to! But H "

When did he get so big?! His teacher celebrated his birthday even though it was only his second day of school!Well, I suppose you have to take life as it comes! On G's second day of school here, he turned 6. I don't usually feel bad about sending kids

We are so happy to be back in the mountains! It's really different than the mountains we were in before (rainforest versus high desert...) but it's even better for hiking! The hike was light enough that I even brought along my coffee.In general, we have done very little hiking

After two years of full-time home school in two languages, I am happy to say that we are back in "regular" school! Notice the smiley faces at the bottom of the sign. They alternate between excited (representing E) and nervous (representing M).Don't get me wrong, I love

Some new friends of ours were going to the museum over the school holiday, and they invited us along! This was his favorite part.In typical me style, I was planning to take the kids to the art museum as soon as possible. Especially because art museums need to be

Even though we were still settling into our new house, we went out on the first day of the Lunar New Year to see a lion dance at a hotel in town. Wow, it was amazing! M getting ready for the show.Okay, I thought I had seen lion dances

After two years of always feeling like we were in someone else's house, it has been so great to have a place we can settle for a bit! Signing the lease!Of course, if we had known we would be in the States for two years, we would have settled

After two years of having to weigh risks, it was so much fun to just be able to go out and not worry about getting sick! Our kids enjoying the kids' reading room in a library.In between ALL of the logistical things associated with moving to a new country,

After two weeks of being inside, it felt so amazing to just walk down the street! E helping me pick some oranges. We were really happy to be able to buy fresh fruit again after two weeks of eating restaurant delivery!If you've never stayed inside for two straight weeks,

We did a pretty good job making it festive! And of course, there were still presents, so the kids hardly had anything to complain about. After decorating the hotel room.Well, Christmas in quarantine. I certainly never thought I'd do that. M said they were lucky because she doesn't know

Summary: It was rough. But we had a lot of things going for us, and I have to say that if you allow for the circumstances, it was actually a pretty good time. Board games were a major factor in our surviving quarantine. This is Ice Cool, which I highly

So, as I mentioned in the last post, by some miracle, we got visas to move back to Asia, although not back to our old home. We picked up the visas the week after Thanksgiving and we were on a plane three weeks later. It was a serious whirlwind! A

We had an early Christmas with my siblings and parents before we moved back to Asia! H made me some (late) birthday Belgian waffles!Well, just after Thanksgiving, we got visas to move back to Asia. Not to our old home, but to another place that seemed like it might

Well, on the day of K's first birthday, we finally got on a plane and flew back to Asia. But to prevent anyone from missing out on the birthday, we celebrated it four days early with my family when we all got together to exchange Christmas gifts. They really took

Well, after four years of missing Thanksgiving because we were overseas and then one year of missing it because of COVID, we were all very happy to finally get to join my extended family in Louisiana this time! We stopped by and saw my grandma on the way! The nurses

The fact that they had just gotten a new cousin earlier in the year did not dampen the kids' excitement when another one came along in October! He looks like a giant compared to her.Another of my siblings started having kids! I suppose maybe because for so long M

We started listening to the first Redwall book on audio during our drive to the Smoky Mountains last year on November 1, 2020. M finished up reading the series about halfway through November 2021. So all dressing up as Redwall characters for Halloween this past year was the perfect culmination

When did she get so big? I just can't take it! She looks so grown up!!Well, my oldest child is halfway through childhood. I don't know quite how I feel about it. Well, I feel old, that's one thing. But on the one hand, I feel like the time

Well, one thing is definitely true about 2021, and it's that I did a much better job celebrating Asian holidays. When we're in Asia, I don't have to try very hard because it's all around me. And in 2020, I just kept thinking we would celebrate them the next year

I'm going to tell you why you should have a large family. It's so that when your kids grow up and your little granddaughter wants a tea party and your daughter doesn't have the energy to think about all that, and even if she did her tea set is stuck

Right after we got back from Arizona, E had her seventh birthday! Such a little lady.E turned seven at the end of the summer, and we celebrated mostly with family. Since we told her she still can't have a phone, she settled on a few other gifts, the biggest