Birthday Fun!

Well I made this yummy chocolate cake ... but after dinner, we were TOO FULL to even eat it. So it looks like we will have a little birthday cake fun tomorrow too!

We went out for dinner at Chevy's, and after chips and salsa and a big meal ... plus birthday dessert sundae complete with singing, clapping and a sombreo to take home ... it was a good evening. We came home and opened birthday presents, and here are a few of Beverly's goodies ...






In case you can't see the pics very well ... Beverly got an orange polo shirt (and also some brown capris not pictured), two pairs of dangly earrings, and a Lake Forest Academy hoodie. That is the private school she will be attending when she returns to Illinois in August.

Happy Birthday Beverly!

Happy Birthday Beverly!

Today is Beverly's 16th birthday! We were up and out the door early for work and school ... but we'll have pictures later tonight!

THS Spring Concert

Last night Beverly took part in the Spring Concert for THS band and vocal groups.

Her group is the smallest, and mostly freshmen. They did two songs beautifully, and then we heard the other two vocal ensembles and the high school band. Abby enjoyed listening to the music and then before the concert was over, moved up to sit with Beverly and her group of friends.

The school year is really winding down now. Just four weeks left, after this week, and the kids will be finished on June 5. Beverly's flight home is scheduled for June 9, just 5 weeks from today!

THS Prom

Beverly looked beautiful as she headed off to Prom tonight ... she is joining a group of friends for dinner, dancing and fun! The school organizes a chaperoned all night event at a place where the kids can swim, play basketball, play games, watch movies, win prizes and all. Tomorrow morning another parent is picking her group up and the girls will go to church in their prom dresses. I'm sure she'll be exhausted by the time she gets home! Click on the pictures for a larger view.

THS Girls Track Team

Yesterday we went to see Beverly run in several track events at our school. As you can see from the pictures, it was not a very nice day outside! It was forecast to be sunny and nice, but the clouds hung around all day and by race time, a light mist of rain was falling and the wind was blowing ... not a pretty spring day, for sure!

It looks like Beverly is running alone in the above picture ... and it's a long story, but actually she is alone on the track in this relay at this moment due to "technical difficulties" of the runner ahead of her in the 4x200 relay ... by the time the baton was passed to Beverly, the race was nearly over! But she dug in her heels and ran hard, as if she was competing for first place anyway!

We also watched her run the 100 meter dash. It has been a great experience for her and between basketball and track conditioning, she should be in pretty good physical shape now!

Enjoying Nice Weather!

Beverly has been enjoying the change in our weather from winter to something that feels a little more like home, I think! She and Abby have been taking lots of bike rides and today they found some time to play basketball on the driveway.

Tuesday night is her last home track meet, so my plan is to leave work a bit early so I can take some pictures of her there. Hopefully that will work out and I can share some here for her family.

Easter in Tremont

Beverly enjoyed her first Easter in the U.S today! The kids started the fun with their Easter baskets, loaded with lots of goodies.

Then Grandma & Grandpa Scott arrived to join us for Easter Dinner. We had a full table, as you can see ... here is the whole family, minus mom the photographer, as we sat down to eat!

We chose to do smoked turkey over the traditional ham dinner, just a personal favorite. Even though we had turkey for Thanksgiving, we had a few different side dishes today like salad and roasted vegetables. But probably most families in the U.S. had ham today for dinner!

Beverly really liked Grandma's black cherry jello with pineapple and black cherries ... and did not like the green onions! Then she capped off her meal with some of Grandma's famous Special K bars, so all was good!

Then it was outdoors to hunt in the yard for plastic eggs that were filled with candy. It was lots of fun, and the kids all had a great time! So I think Beverly's first Easter experience was one that she really enjoyed!

This afternoon we were looking at the calendar and realized it's only about eight weeks until her scheduled flight back to China. So hard to believe how fast the school year has gone, and that her time here is winding down. But we are excited to know that she will be back in Illinois to attend boarding school in the fall!

Beverly's First Egg Hunt!

This morning Beverly got to meet the Easter Bunny and see what U.S. Easter Egg Hunts are all about!

It was a little cool this morning, but it is starting to get nice and I think we are just about ready to put the winter coats away for the season! There are a few more pictures on our family blog.

The egg hunt is organized for kids through grade 5, so Beverly watched the action until the kids started to leave ... then she did find a few small chocolate eggs they had missed!

Tomorrow Grandma and Grandpa Scott are coming for Easter dinner, and we'll have another egg hunt here in our yard ... so watch for more pics!

Back in Tremont!

We arrived home about 10:00 pm Saturday night after a long day's drive. I think Beverly was pretty happy to see the highway sign that showed Tremont was the next exit! It is a very long time to be in the car.

We woke this morning to several inches of snow, which is kind of unusual for early spring season but does happen. Beverly is still sleeping so she has not seen it yet. Maybe the kids will get a chance to go out and do a little sledding before it all melts away!

Final Day in Destin

The rain continues to fall, but we are finding ways to have fun on vacation anyway!

Today we went bowling with the other Tremont family here in Destin, and Beverly had a good time.We will leave Florida early in the morning for the long drive home, the weather forecast for Destin is rain again tomorrow!

Looks like we will be heading back home to several inches of snow for Saturday night. That is kind of unusual for us for late March, but it happens!

We will post again Sunday and let you know we have arrived home safely!

Visiting Gator Beach

We had another good day in Destin!

The kids did swim in the morning on Wednesday, but it was a cloudy day and not many people were around the pool.

We went out for lunch and the restaurant has an area with small alligators, so the kid enjoyed looking at them and taking a few pictures.

Beverly is having a really good time and enjoying lots of different seafood. At lunch she had squid, and for dinner she had shrimp and scallops!

Great Day for Jumping Waves

Beverly wanted me to be sure and upload this video of her playing in the waves today. The waves were very big and they had fun ... can you tell she is having fun? ha ha ha



We laughed so hard tonight while watching this video and her attempts to get up. I told her that maybe I shouldn't load it and make her family think we have taken her to the most dangerous beach in the world, but she was sure that you would all get a good laugh!

It was a very beautiful day, and we are looking forward to more!

Sunday in Destin

We had a beautiful day at the pool and beach. Beverly had a very good time swimming and playing in the Gulf of Mexico! The building in the second photo is our condo complex.

We had a great seafood dinner again tonight and Beverly said it was probably her favorite meal yet of all the months she has been in the US!

Hello from Florida!

We arrived safely in Destin, Florida a little over 24 hours ago and have been relaxing and enjoying this beautiful part of the US!

We were pretty tired after making the long, long overnight drive (we made it here in 14 hours instead of the normal 15 hours it can take since we didn't have any delays due to road construction or heavy traffic in the larger cities). We walked into our condo about 5:30 am and everyone laid down for a few hours of more restful sleep than the car can offer. And Mitch had been up all night driving, so he really needed the rest!

Then it was up and off to the pool. We came back to the condo for a quick lunch and headed to the beach. It was a beautiful day, and Beverly really enjoyed the white sand and the pretty turquoise colored water. She said it was much prettier than what she had imagined it would be.

We came back to get everyone in the shower and dressed for dinner. We had dinner with another family from Tremont who is here with their 2 children. Their son is TJ's best friend and we will spend our days with them as well, so you will see their kids in some of our pictures this week too.

We had dinner at a neat seafood restaurant that is on the beach and offers a great sunset view. The picture is of all the kids right before the sun was about to set. We'll take some good beach pictures today and share them so you can see the beauty of this place and why we love it so much!

It's Sunday morning now and Mitch and Beverly are out on a walk/run. She is trying to keep up with some physical activity this week so that she won't be too out of shape for track practice when she returns.

Heading to Florida!

As soon as the kids get out of school this afternoon, it is time to hit the road for our spring break trip to Destin, Florida!

Here is a map of our 1,000 mile driving route! If you click on "View Larger Map" under the map picture, you can see the route in better relation to the entire U.S. map:


View Larger Map

It takes about 15 hours of driving to make the trip. After we leave Illinois, we travel through the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and into Florida. Destin is located on the Gulf of Mexico, and a beautiful combination of turquoise waters and white sand!

We will stay in a 3 bedroom condo, so the kids all have plenty of space to relax. We will have lots of great pictures on this blog and our family blog this coming week, so keep watching! We will arrive in Destin the morning of Saturday, March 21 and head for home in the afternoon of Saturday, March 28!

Congratulations, Beverly!!

After weeks of writing essays and filling out application forms and waiting, waiting, waiting for news ... Beverly received her first acceptance letter for one of the boarding schools she has applied to for next year!

We are still waiting to hear on a couple other school decisions, but she has been accepted at a school near Chicago and would be close enough to Tremont for an occasional visit! Hopefully we can get her to campus soon for a tour and look at what life on campus would be like there!

Another Busy Week!

And another post with no new pictures! But it seems we are running around so busy between work, school, basketball and other kid activities that there isn't much time to take pictures!

Beverly had another busy week with practices for the school play, and this afternoon spent several hours at the school with student council for a fundraiser event. As busy as she has been ... this week will be even busier for her, with going to school, then straight to track practice, and then on to play practice. That pace will continue for 2 weeks until the play is over, and then she'll "only" have track practices and meets to run to and from after school. Her activities outside of school really keep her going.

This is a very busy week for me at work too, so there might not be any other news here this week! But as soon as we have some track meets and the winter weather starts to turn to spring, we'll have more reasons to take pictures. And of course we will have lots of pretty pictures from the beach when we head to Florida for spring break on March 20. By the time we return from that trip, winter will be over and spring will be underway!

Happy Valentine's Day

Well this week Beverly got to see a little bit of what Valentine's Day is in the U.S. At school there were flowers sent back and forth as a fundraiser for student council ... and the younger kids exchange small cards with candy in them. Beverly got into the action with TJ and Abby and took some of their style valentine cards to her friends. And she enjoyed a little heart shaped box of candy here at home too.

Yesterday we went to TJ's basketball game ... then to dinner and to a college basketball game nearby. Beverly is sleeping late this morning, and will have a day off school tomorrow due to a holiday, President's Day, where we celebrate the birthdays of our former U.S. Presidents. Mitch is off with the kids, but I have to work ... so no holiday for me!

High school girls basketball is over now, and Beverly would like to join the girls track team when they start their practices in about a week. So it looks like she will soon be busy again with practices 5 days a week and some sporting events!

Happy New Year!

We celebrated with a Chinese New Year dinner one evening late ... Beverly had a basketball game last night and was not home. But tonight we decided to take the kids out to eat at a Chinese restaurant.

Chinese food here is definitely "Westernized" even though the owners and cooks in the restaurants are from China. Many of the dishes were things that Beverly did not recognize or seem familiar with. She did enjoy eating some sliced cucumbers, along with some traditional Chinese/American dishes.

It's a busy week for her with 3 basketball games this week. Tomorrow night is the last game in our home gym, and basketball is over for the season late next week. It has been hard work, a good team experience, and fun for her, I think.

Next up on her evening activity list are rehearsals for the school musical!

Last week Mitch and I were out of town, so Beverly got to spend the week here at our house with Grandma and Grandpa Scott. They had a good time getting to know each other!

It's Cold Here!!

Yes, you are reading that thermometer right. It is at least
-27C here!

Beverly is warm and sleeping comfortably in her bed right now, because school is cancelled today due to the extreme cold. It is just too dangerous to get kids outside on days like this. Tonight will be just as cold, maybe a little colder, so chances are there will be no school tomorrow as well. We are supposed to get back to our more normal winter temperatures over the weekend. This is very unusual for us and we have not seen termperatures this cold for about 5 years.

School and basketball are going well, but Beverly did miss some practices and a game this week due to not feeling well. These days off due to the weather will give her a chance to get rested up and ready to go again!