This week is Xander's spring break and when we woke up in the morning we noticed it was white outside. The news said we got 7 inches of snow last night, so many school closed including Khai's. We looked out the window and saw our tree branches were so low because of the wet and heavy snow. It's spring break and we suppose to go out and play, not shoveling snow..
The snow in the drive way was very wet and heavy. I told boys to brush the snow off from the branches. The branches will jump high once you cleared the snow, really fun doing that. Kids would even hide under the bushes while I cleared the snow. We had a great snow day today.
Xander's class had a field trip at Chelsea and they planned to visit the Tree house, Jiffy Mix and Bear Factory, students got a teddy bear at the end of the tour (of course you have to pay for the bear and admission to the Tree house). It was Khai's spring break, so I decided to take Khai along with us.
We learned that Khai couldn't enter the Jiffy mix tour few days before the trip because he is under 6, so I told him ahead of time that he cannot attend the tour but we could walk around Chelsea down town. We pass Chelsea every Friday to go to Chinese school but only stopped there to visit its farmers' market few years ago. It would be nice to walk around there.
The Tree house was a indoor playground which is pretty similar to McDonald's except it sells pizza and expensive meals. Kids were having lots of fun running around and playing with their friends. They finished their pizza and lemonade, ready to visit Jiffy Mix cross street. Khai and I had 90 minutes break so we walked to Chelsea downtown and visited small shops. It was a nice day outside and so fun to walk around with Khai. We even stopped by a flower shop and looked at their fancy water fountains.
We still had 20 minutes before the class came to the Teddy Bear Factory, so I took Khai to visit the factory first. It wasn't the factory that I thought you make a wish and stuff inside your bear and get your hands on building your own bear. It just a store displayed many already finished teddy bears and you saw some people sewing the bears or stuffing cottons inside the bears through the glass.
A lady did gave us a tour and told about the history of the teddy bears, she then took us inside the factory and explained us how they made a teddy bear by showing us the patterns, plates and cutting machine. We ran out of time so we had to wrap up the tour and had each kid pick a teddy bear.
Xander said he had lots of fun at the Jiffy Mix and he picked up a Brownie mix from the factory, way to go Xander! It will be only 2 more years until Khai can visit Jiffy Mix. We had a long but fun field trip.
Every year Chinese school holds a Chinese speech contest. Students prepare their speech with parents' help (not too many ) and memorize them. The length of the speech is 45 seconds to 2 minutes. We like this event because it helps kids to be comfortable with speaking in the public.
This year Xander's topic is about our family trip to Chicago in February. He mentioned that our hotel was close to an airport and he didn't get enough sleep because many airplanes took off at night time. Then we went to the Fideld Meseum and saw many dinasour fossils and many mummies. That night we took kids to Medevel Times for dinner. They had fun cheering for the green knight while eating dinners with their fingers. We visited a Lego store the next day and Xander picked a Star Wars airplane.
p.s. Xander didn't do so many actions in his actual contest; otherwise the first place will be in his pocket easily. We still proud of him trying so hard though.
This is Khai's first time to attend the contest, so I make sure it's short and easy for him to memorize. Khai talked about his family and saying that daddy works very hard everyday and mommy stays home taking care of them. Xander is his best friend and he has 2 cats.
We knew that Xander would do a great job as usualy, but we were kind of nervous for Khai. Out of our surprise, Khai went to the stage confidently and gave his speech. He did forget some parts but recovered quickly. They both did such a good job and we are very proud of them.
Sean had been wanted a Wii Fit for a long time, I told him that he got lots of toys already and doesn't need one. Sean's coworker said it's really fun and a good way to exercise while you play. His birthday is coming so it would be a birthday surprise for him. Turned out Meijer (one of the big grocery stores) had 3 units available, so we got one.
I was at a church leadership meeting the next day and Sean told me that they had a great time playing with the Wii fit and kids really love it. Khai showed me his running and he was so cute. Running with his toes and so excited about the game (Khai usually got so upset when playing video games because he wasn't very coordinate) . We had Khai run 2 rounds and his cheeks was so red. Xander was very good at skiing. Both kids went to bed very easily that night. I tried few games after they went to bed and they are really fun. I'm glad that we got this game.
p.s. You can click on "HD" on the lower right, then the picture quality would be nicer.
I've seen so many nice video clips from family and friends' blogs, but our camera took really crapy videos and I never dare to put them on the blog. This Valentine Sean gave me a surprise present: a pocket HD video recorder (Sean found a great deal). It's small and light, but takes great videos, connects to computer easily and you can view the videos on the TV immediately. I took a try while kids were building a snow man with my neighbor. I love it and thanks a bunch to Sean. I was going to edit the video on my computer and wondering why it moves so slow. Figured out that my old crapy computer couldn't handle the video, so I'll post the videos later.
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