Friday Favorites | Our 10th Week in China

We have officially arrived in the double digits!! We have now been in China for 10 weeks :).  I wish I could say that it gets easier every week, but this week was particularly challenging as far as a schedule goes.  One morning it took me two(ish) hours to get to work after Emma's student led conference and I had a major major major meltdown and might have uttered the words "I hate living here" when really what would have been more accurate is "I am still having a really difficult time with the loss of freedom that comes with not being able to drive my own vehicle".  Luckily, my husband put it all in perspective for me and I have been good ever since.  Sometimes you just need a good cry ;).  I am planning a post of the challenging aspects of moving abroad, but in the meantime, I really do like to focus on all of the good parts of living in China! And without further ado, here are a few of my favorite moments from this week :).

I don't want to post too many pictures from our vacation (planning on lots of posts next week if I can get my act together), but here are just a few sneak peeks.  These girls riding on an airplane - definitely a favorite. 1 hour and 45 minutes goes alarmingly fast compared to 19 hours and they rocked it ;).

Hiking up Moon Hill was my most favorite activity - more next week on how Everly made it up, over 800 steps to the top and knowing when to push your child versus when to let them climb back down (spoiler alert - Emma only made it 75% of the way to the top before heading back down).  Seeing the sense of accomplishment on Ev's face was definitely a favorite.

Another favorite - this coffee that Wes and I ordered in the small town of Xinping, China.  It has been our two favorite cups of coffee that we have had to date in China :). The prettiness factor definitely helped!

The minute we landed we found ourselves at Starbucks - and splurged and got the girls a brownie.  Emma had the best time cutting it up, pretend singing Happy Birthday to Everly and giving us all our share.  Seeing her be a leader (or really, the boss) in a controlled environment is definitely my favorite.

Even though the traffic was a horrible aftermath, going to Emma's student led conference was definitely a favorite.  Emma and her bestie had the same time slot so it was fun to see them interact and look at their pictures together.  A student led conference is where the kiddo has some one-on-one time with their parents and teacher to walk them around their classroom and show them their portfolio (basically their artwork).  I love how they save it all in this book rather than sending it home everyday.  If you are interested, I can snap some pics of Emma's portfolio.

My favorite picture on the wall was the emotion that Emma and her friend chose - frightened.  I would say that Emma nailed it!

Emma's favorite - getting to climb up this apparatus after showing us around.  They are not allowed to climb on here during recess so she loved getting a chance to climb.  This girl has no fear.

Emma lucked out on Wednesday night when we ventured down to the park, her bestie was already there playing.  They were both elated to see each other and played for quite awhile before we headed home (them, hand in hand).

Another favorite- Emma also had her end of year concert this week (full recap to come) and I loved getting to see my little girl 'shine'.

She really loves her school and I know she is going to have a tough time taking two months off for summer break (their last day is next week).

Their Mr. Golden Sun song must have worked magic because there were crystal clear blue skies yesterday afternoon.  The sunshine is really good for our soul!! And our Texas bodies ;).

We took full advantage and the girls played on the playground - soaking up all the vitamin D we could stand :).

I am not sure what we are up to this weekend, but I hope it involves our favorite pizza place :).  I hope you have a great weekend! See you back here Monday for a recap of our boat ride down the Yulong River.