Fourth of July!

I love celebrating July 4th, no matter where we are. People ask if we have " July 4th" in East Asia. Alan always says, "they have July 4th they just don't do anything on it." :))

The last time we were in the States during the summer, in 2011, we were in North Carolina. This year we were here as well and it was so memorable. We began the day by going to watch a parade , then swimming in the afternoon followed by yummy hotdogs, hamburgers and ice cream sundaes, then watchng fireworks outside together with my parents. I'm not sure which was more delightful, being with my parents and seeing amazing fireworks from the safety of a hill on a golf course on a clear summer night, or watching the kids run in the grass and play with lots of other kids before the fireworks. William got into the fireworks as well, which was not surprising since he oohs and aahs at every light he sees. He was a little shocked at first I think, not by the noise , but the sheer vastness of the fireworks as he covered his eyes.

I love how William and Granddad are having a little conversation together while waiting for the sun to go down and the fireworks to begin. William LOVES his granddad!!

Cameron looks about 15 here...it will happen before we know it :(

Perfect night

sweet kiddos enjoying a summer night on the grass

what a joyful, easy-going guy!

at the  parade downtown in my parents' town; we were actually here, in the same spot in 2011, right before William was born.  What a fun time!

Laura Cate showing off a fun American flag painted on  her hand

 

Well, that is all the fun for this Fourth of July!

Add photos from Alan

Memorial Day

We had a wonderful time with BOTH sets of grandparents!! This doesn't happen very often, but since we just arrived, my parents were anxious to see us. They drove from North Carolina to Birmingham to come see us. Alan's brother Jeff and his family, Alan's sister, Amanda, and grandmother Head came too. We enjoyed playing outside (watching) the kids on the slip and slide and Papa even put a pool at the bottom of the swing set and slide.. So fun Papa! We definitely couldn't do any of this back home in our apartment :)

I tried to explain what Memorial Day was to Cameron, basically a time to say a big THANK YOU to our military, past, and present, especially to Uncle Steve and his family!

slip and slide!

Gran C and Papa put a kiddie pool at the bottom of the slide...super fun!

 sweet cousins enjoying fruit pops 

Grandma and William 

so thankful for these friendships!
(right to left) Cameron 7.5 years old, Laura Cate 4, Molly almost 8, Andrew  5

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Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to three wonderful dad..Alan Head, Ralph Head (Alan's dad), and Ed Duffy (my dad). This year we had the privilege to spend Father's Day in the States celebrating Alan and his dad! We had a wonderful time being with these great men who give so much to their children.

We let daddy rest well today since he had a migraine yesterday, then we enjoyed a wonderful dinner of barbecue at one of our favorite restaurants, with some of our favorite people...our family, GranC, Pap, and Alan's brother, Jeff, and his family.

My dad - he is my calm, level-headed, hard-working daddy who would do anything for me. I love you! He's taught me so much about perseverance. I wouldn't not be who I am today without him modeling that to me. He has a great sense of humor too :) and a really good hand at tennis and golf...watch out!

I am so thankful for Alan and the role that he plays in our kids lives. It is incredible to see how the Lord is molding and shaping him to be like our Heavenly Father... Alan is compassionate, loving, wise, funny, generous, thoughtful, and prayerful. I am soo blessed to be on this parenting adventure with you Alan!! I love you so much and as Cameron and Laura Cate say, "I love you more."

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swimming with Papa

fishing with daddy

Special times with Grandma and Granddad

The kids got to go spend 9 days with Grandma and Granddad in North Carolina this week. They were soo excited. What a special time for all of them. They go on long walks, play Rumikub, read lots, and Granddad loves to have their help picking up pinecones...they do live in Pinehurst, so there are always some to pick up. William has learned how to do it now too. They went to Discovery Place in Rockingham, which they all LOVED! Thanks Grandma and Granddad!


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Their favorite thing to do is swing in the hammock out back. Laura Cate even fell asleep one day, oh the life of a four year old :) 

Dog park

We all went to a dog park today. I was not sure what I pictured but it was fun going. We took Shadow and the kids loved running around with him, watching other dogs, and throwing balls at him. There was also a fun kids park nearby that we enjoyed as well.


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What is new with William

For those of you who were wondering, William finally started walking at 21 months!! Crazy. Not much has changed inside the house, he still prefers crawling sometime, but now he tries to open doors and run outside...he has discovered there is a big world out there waiting for him. He continues to be a delightful, busy toddler which I wouldn't change a thing. Bath times are still highlights of his day...if only this tired momma could do that every day. The water was a little cold for his liking outside on Memorial Day, but it will warm up soon I am sure of that and then our little fish can really swim.


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He loves to swim in the bathtub!

William feels very loved by his big brother, Cameron, as he  helps him  run!

Surprise for the kids

We are life-time tourists according to our visas, so that entails we need to leave the country after a certain period of time. We usually don't mind, as it gives us a little break from the culture, but I will admit it is getting a little bit harder with  more kids to look forward to hotel rooms, planes, trains, and automobiles. Unfortunately, Alan has also needed to see a doctor regularly for his migraines and to get prescriptions refilled, so we need to leave anyways.  This trip we were in desperate need of some family fun, so we decided to surprise the kids with a day trip to Hong Kong DisneyLand!!

It was soo much fun. They had never been before and didn't even have a box to put it in...a big park with lots of rides and princesses?!? Nontheless, they loved EVERY single minute. They never complained about waits in line (the longest was only 10 minutes) and every ride was "the best!" It was really fun for us to watch them enjoy it so much. We are really thankful for that time together. We were there from Saturday at 10:30 a.m. 9:30 , including fireworks at the end. It was a delightful day, we only wished it lasted longer. The next day as we traveled back home Alan had a migraine, which was super hard,  so we would kind of like to not remember that day, and just remember DisneyLand.