A Polar Vortex, Winter Hike and Ice Skating

Maliana ~

With the super freezing temperatures of the polar vortex at the beginning of the week (think Minnesota kind of cold here), we were all a little stir crazy inside so by Wednesday, Brooklyn and Braycen came over to play. It was so nice to see these kids again, their antics and laughing crack me up. I will be sad when they eventually move, but so thankful that we have had them as neighbors at all.

painting with Brooklyn

3 musketeers

And as for stir crazy...or perhaps just plain crazy...this was my Facebook post from Thursday:

Third day in a row that I've taken Mali's boots off and turned them upside down and these melty bead critters have fallen out. No clue why they're in there. I think she has a future in smuggling.

My book club also happened to fall on this Thursday night and since it was a special book club (honoring a fellow Fu mama and friend who will be moving to Cleveland this month), our gathering was at Ms. Christina's house which meant that kids got to come too. You were super stoked and glad to hang out with some of your Fu friends. For myself, it is always so comforting to be around such strong, smart, open, and supportive women. This week, it was a bonus to also sporadically hear and see you silly kids sneaking down to spy on us as well. I love that you are growing up knowing these children and hope to continue all of us being in each others' lives as you grow older. It means a lot to me. The older I get, the more I appreciate how rare and precious truly good friends and solidly positive influences are in all of our lives. I am so thankful for the ladies of Fu (and their children and daddies)!

Friday began with a few tears, I'm sorry to say. I unfortunately had been hit hard and fast by a nasty bug and was up all Thursday night puking and doing other unpleasant things. You (and I) look so forward to our special Friday mornings together and so you were thus crushed when Daddy ended up taking you to school instead. I simply did not have enough strength to do our normal routine. I threw up a few more times throughout Friday and didn't even have enough strength to pick you up that afternoon. Thankfully, Aunt Tina and Uncle Joe came to the rescue, picked you up, and took you to their house until Daddy got off of work. Now, what was I just saying about how much I appreciate how rare and precious truly good friends and solidly positive influences are in all of our lives? Yeah. You can definitely count these two angels among them. When I called you at school that day to tell you that Aunt Tina was picking you up, you didn't even bat an eye and were just excited to see them. I love that these guys are almost like extensions of mom and dad. Makes me feel so much better.

When you and Daddy finally came home that night, Aunt Tina had already been here to drop off a bag of groceries to help me feel better, while you and Daddy had your own bag of groceries to help me feel better as well. You had even hand-written me a get well card. You were so concerned about your mama, acting like a little adult. It was endearing. Love that about you.

home-made anything makes me feel so much better!

When Daddy thanked Aunt Tina (once again) for all that she had done to help out, her reply was, "It takes a village, Shawn-Shawn. It takes a village." ...Well, I definitely feel like there was a whole village looking out for all of us that day. So, so grateful.

Daddy took you to Chinese class on Saturday morning so I could scrape together just a bit more sleep to get my body feeling better. I was thankfully able to rally enough strength for our big event of the day, ice skating with a friend of yours (and her family) from school! Jocelyn, her parents (Chase and Kristy), and her brother Dylan all met us at the Chiller where we attempted to ice skate for the first time for many of us. Fortunately, there were no broken bones and we all survived. It was fun to watch each of you little ones progress and get more confident on the ice. We decided to have dinner at Logan's afterward (since you were so sad to have the fun end) and ended up getting to know their family a little bit better. They are all very nice and down-to-earth people and we look forward to more outings and play-dates for you kids.

skates are on!

with your bud, Jocelyn

on the ice!

attempting to keep us both up...Jocelyn was
really getting the hang of it!

"the wall is my friend"

these skate trams rock!

look at all three of you zipping around the rink now!

Sunday was a wet and chilly day but you, Lao Lao and I braved the metro parks and hit one of their annual winter hikes at Prairie Oaks. We met my friends Pam and Heidi there and while they went on and did the 3 miler, I was so proud of you for sticking it out to finish the 1 miler all on your own, cold, biting weather and all. These hikes are really good for us; the fresh air and exercise, nature and gorgeous scenery all around us, and time spent together. We get to see different metro parks each time and of course there is the warm and delicious soups and treats at the finish line. Chicken and noodles with cocoa and marshmallows after this hike was a big hit for you. Not much else tastes better than a steaming bowl of stew after a cold walk through the woods.

you were so into looking at all of the
footprints in the mud

now you've got a stick and are drawing us a map

getting muddy

walking the prairie

obligatory selfie of the day

our explorer

you were a little miffed here that I am making
you take a photo instead of eating the
yummy chicken and noodles

roasting marshmallows

mmmm ~ marshmallows

Along with the fun of the hike, we also had a chuckle from this as we pulled into the park before the hike:
~ driving Daddy's stick shift today and almost stalled...
Me: "Aggh! I'm so not used to stick shifts anymore!"
Mali: "I love dip shifts!"

Never a dull moment with you, child.
Love,
Mama