a sweltering Saturday....

by 8am this morning the thermostat read 87 degrees Fahrenheit....and it got up to 100 degrees at the peak of the afternoon. yea, Summer (xia-tian = 夏天) is officially here! Our city definitely fluctuates between the 2 extremes (freezing winters & sweltering summers) with some nice breaks in between. We love the weekends though - as we get some time to relax, lounge in our jammies, get errands done, and hang out as a family. Most of the weekdays are filled with lots of class, tutoring and language study...so the weekends are a welcome relief to unwind and be mellow....OR get out with the kids. Because of the heat though - its hard to find much to do outside that is worth the sweat.

But this morning, around 9:30am - Asia exclaimed with such excitement, "Mom - I have to get dressed and go outside! It's *VERY* special! The sprinklers are on!!" Special INDEED. :) So Justin took the girls out to run around the courtyard/walkways while the sprinklers watered the grass. They all had a great time getting wet, and frolicking in the spray (as you can tell by the picture). She was drenched!! Poor Asia fell and scraped her knees pretty good. She came inside crying....and the nurse-side of me kicked in, as I scrubbed and washed her little knees while she screamed. I vaguely remember my mom doing the same thing when I was little. Luckily - my mom (a real nurse = hu shi = 护士) equipped us with some great medical supplies before we came back. We had everything to doctor up her tiny scrapes. She's a trooper...and she loves Neosporin and band-aids. Eden is the goofiest kid in the clan. She will always pose for a silly pict as you can see. Thanks for reading and remembering us! We feel so privileged to be living out here, and love to share about our daily lives. I bet its not-so-different from yours. :)