Grad School

I just realized I never put anything on the blog about grad school! (I guess I've forgotten that this blog is about our whole family, not just Finley.) I found out a couple of weeks ago that I got accepted into the Masters of Arts in Education program at Michigan State University.

How, you might be wondering, will I attend MSU while living in Hong Kong? It's an online program, so all the work will be done via the internet, including my masters portfolio of work. I am going to have two concentration areas, Literacy and Special Education, so many of my classes will be in those two areas. I think being in an online program will be difficult and require a lot of discipline, but I also think it is the perfect option for me to be able to do my work from home and not have to leave Finley.

The program starts in January, and I'm already signed up for my first two classes. Here's hoping that a couple of years from now I'll have a masters degree!

On the Move

It's official, Finley is mobile. Exciting as this is, it does not bode well for the flights home for Christmas. Here are some photos of the little guy in action.

He's still trying to decide how to crawl, but he loves to go up on all fours, legs and arms straight.

Here's the traditional crawling stance. (I told him to make a surprised face for this photo.)

Back up and escaping off the rug.

Crawling is so fun!

Down into "commando style" crawling, which is what he usually reverts to eventually.

Halloween Photos & (Almost) 7 Mo. Stats

Okay, so I'm a little late getting these photos posted, but here goes. We dressed Finley up as a pumpkin for Halloween. He went to "Book-o-ween" (dress up as your favorite book character) at HKIS, but we didn't get any photos that day so we had to recreate the event at home. Finley was too busy visiting with people and nursing at Book-o-ween for photos. It was a pretty funny site, me nursing a pumpkin.

Finley thought the pumpkin was very interesting.

Trying to bite Daddy's nose

My little pumpkin

Don't you love how he holds the pumpkin with his hands and feet?

It was only a matter of time...

It tasted bad, but he couldn't help himself.

We had Finley weighed and measured this week. He's a whopping 28.25 inches long and exactly 19 pounds. So big! He's getting quite heavy to lug around. I need to go to the gym and build up my arm muscles, or else he needs to learn to walk!

In other exciting news, Finley rode in the child seat in the shopping cart today at the grocery store. I hadn't even thought about him being capable of doing that until my friend Sylvia was with me and asked if he was riding in the cart yet. So, I gave it a try, and it was the best shopping trip Finley has ever had! He loved it and didn't even need a toy to play with or anything!

Bali: Ubud

Here are the photos from Ubud, the first place we went in Bali. We stayed at a villa in the countryside. It was beautiful- rice growing everywhere and lush vegetation. Very hot and humid!

This is the first morning, having breakfast that consisted largely of things grown on the premises at their organic garden. Check out the lovely fruit smoothies.

Sate (satay), a staple food of Bali, over smoking charcoal-- yummy!

There are so many temples in Bali. I was blown away by how many beautiful temples there were. We went to a lot while we were there!

They put clothes on their statues. Need to do some research as to why.

Inside the large market, where you can shop and bargain to your heart's content

Just a pretty street

At the Blanco art museum, where they also had birds. Here's Tim holding a couple of them.

Marcia wasn't a huge fan of holding the birds.

Finley slept through it all while I tried not to sweat all over him.

The entrance to Blanco's former house, where his art is now displayed. He seems to have been a very eccentric person.

There were roosters EVERYWHERE in Ubud, just running around. I thought they mostly crowed in the morning, but apparently I am wrong; these roosters crowed ALL DAY.

Finley with a statue in the temple at the museum

Finley laughing his head off

The nice fruit basket they gave us, most of which was grown on the premises (and rice paddies in the background)

View of the owners' house from our villa

Going on a walk through the rice paddies

Back at our villa-- there were three separate bedrooms (on right), two outdoor bathrooms, and a separate sitting room (on left)

Our room, with Finley's Pack-n-Play set up in the corner, complete with mosquito net!

Our outdoor bathroom

The river at our villa, a little muddy from rain the night before. On the left, you can see where the owners carved out a pool from the rock, and it is spring-fed and crystal clear. Very refreshing in the heat!

Another great temple in Ubud

A final view from our villa

Bali: Nusa Dua

These photos are from the second place we went in Bali, Nusa Dua. Nusa Dua is on the beach, and there are quite a few resorts.

Our room

And our own private pool! (Free upgrade!)

Finley enjoyed playing in our cabana

On the beach

The water was warm and lovely, but the waves were a bit strong

Finley's favorite part of the entire trip was definitely swimming in the pool in his floatie ring

Balinese dancers at dinner

And the accompanying band of little boys

Visiting some sea-side temples

Black sand beaches

This part was only accessible when the tide was low. The stairs are carved out of the rock.

Rice paddies we passed on the way to the temple

There were monkeys at one of the temples. You have to watch out, or they'll take your hats and glasses.

Monkey with a view

We had to wear sarongs at this temple to cover our knees. Nate looked pretty Biblical in his skirt and sandals.

Photos of Ubud coming soon...