Grandma & Grandpa!

Here are some pictures from their visit. It was really fun to have them and introduce them to our world.
Outside an aquarium, this guy takes his kite flying seriously.

Painters

The girls helped with the painting of their room, and they had a blast getting paint everywhere. The final color was a bright yellow.

Grammy!

Grammy came for a visit! It was so nice to have her and introduce her to our 'world' here. Our girls loved spending time with her and making memories.

A trip was taken to a park where they found a local artist. He let the girls practice their writing.
This girl is too cute. I'm assuming she's a girl based on the pink fringe and strawberry on the front. I could be wrong though.
At another park, the girls thoroughly enjoyed the giant floating hamster wheel. I got nauseous just watching them.
Our mother and son lunch date - a sweet time to chat, laugh, and catch up.
This was a very common scene at home.
Up on South Mountain Park with the view of our city in the background.
And then we had a rather exhilarating ride on the way down on a couple of these three-wheeled beauties.
Okay, these have nothing to do with Grammy except for I was with her when I gazed upon this wonderment in seamstressety. I was really tempted. Man those are good-lookin' pants.
Observing the above garment, I suppose this is a proper transition to another locale we visited. At our city zoo, this is my favorite picture of the afternoon.

An Early Start

Meg wins the prize for beginning to prepare for Christmas the earliest. When Meg revealed her creation to me, she made sure I noticed that two of the camels are very hairy.

To the Countryside

We rented a bus and driver to take us on a day trip out of town to see some of the local sights. Unfortunately, it rained until the very end of our day. Here are some shots of the countryside.
Buddhist prayer flags covered the hillside.
The opportunity couldn't be passed to ride these beasts. Lia is riding her first yak by herself - at age 8 - we're so proud. This particular yak looks thrilled to have a big red bow on its head.
I'm not too familiar with the peculiarities of the yak, but I'm willing to bet that this protruding tongue indicates a yak 'goofy face.'
Apparently no one got a shot of Val and I on our yak. I'm not bitter at all for missing out on preserving this very significant lifetime event. Not at all.

An Evening Out

In another part of town, we went out for a nice dinner with friends. The restaurant was close to a fancy apartment complex with a bunch of water features. The girls loved running around exploring. I had to interrupt their adventures with a few photos.

Much Needed Vacation

We boarded a plane and headed south, thus beginning a much welcomed vacation. While some friends were in the States, we stayed at their place. (Thanks A&K!) It was close to some great restaurants and had a pool in the complex. However, the week began with some rain so we found an indoor play place.
No pictures of Meg here - I think she's buried in the ball pit.

Most mornings were spent reading. So relaxing. This was their favorite reading spot.

Meg displays my favorite reading spot.

And sometimes Val would come visit me. Always glad to have her.

One morning, Meg and Val ventured outside to explore in the rain. They had fun catching rain in their mouths ... until someone parked their car in their spot.
The driver is definitely getting 'the look.'

Vacation is all about eating highly nutritious cereals.

And about having healthy snacks.

And about hanging out and being silly.

And about getting our fill of western food. Here's their mode of delivery. Nice.
Lia enjoys their hot, lemon water. Never mind the fact that it's 80+ degrees outside.

With all this healthy eating, a trip to the dentist doesn't seem necessary, but we went anyways.
Do dental hygienists in the States wear high heels?

The weather cleared, and we were off to the massive pool.

Meg giving it her best effort in the kiddie pool.

Val pauses for a sweet smile.

Smiles (clean ones at that) due to a very fun vacation.