Millers in Shanghai: February 2008

17 February 2008

Our friends the Wadley’s left this week. We had a great time with them and were very sad to see them go. We had looked forward to their visit for several months and now none of us can believe it’s already over. We are thankful that they took the time to come see us from China. We hadn’t seen their family for two years. Rachel, the oldest, used to baby-sit for us before we moved here. She is now 15. Mallory was in heaven being surrounded by three older, beautiful girls. She wishes they were still here. Jay and Eli were great additions to our three boys. Their family moved to China with Ford the same time we moved here. We were both in the same ward in Canton and spent several Thanksgivings together.

We met the Wadley’s in Bali and stayed for 5 days with them there. We enjoyed the Kecak / Fire Dance, Uluwatu temple, river rafting (which was a huge highlight), the Waterbom (water park), shopping, eating Krispy Kream donuts and Roti Boys and hanging out at the beach and the pool. One night in Bali the Wadley girls watched the younger kids for us while the adults enjoyed a seafood dinner on the beach at a nearby restaurant. In fact it was so close to the beach that we had to move tables twice to avoid the incoming high tide!

We then flew back here to Jakarta with the Wadleys and spent another 5 days together. We even cooked a turkey on Sunday and had a Thanksgiving dinner in February! We went to Taman Safari, did more shopping and went to some outlets. We enjoyed playing the Wii (by the way, Lonnie is a pro at Wii Bowling. She also killed Mike in Boxing. Look out!) and swimming and the kids put on a production in the pool for the parents. Nicole makes a great German lifeguard (tee hee) and Nash was the perfect David Hasselhoff…I’ll just let you use your imagination as to the rest of the production.

We were sad to see them go and hope to get together with them in the near future again…somewhere.

We celebrated Grant’s birthday on Monday while the Wadley’s were here. I can’t believe he’s 10! Where does the time go? He enjoyed having a few friends over yesterday to celebrate. Creed took them to the mall for dinner and then they came home and had cake. I splurged and bought him a Cold Stone Ice Cream cake. Yes, for those of you that don’t know, Cold Stone opened here in November at a nearby mall and we have been totally enjoying it! We are spoiled here.

Nash is practicing pretty hard for the middle school musical. It is called “Nights on Broadway” and they are doing several numbers from three or four musicals. Nash is in the Grease numbers and also Oliver. The performances are in March.

Luke is doing really well with his cello and piano. He’s very good at practicing and picks up new songs pretty easily. I realized this week that he’s got a talent for composing as I heard him making up several songs on the piano. His cello teacher said that Luke is progressing quicker than most students his age. The only bad thing is the cello we bought is terrible. It’s going through strings quickly and doesn’t stay in tune at all. We just want it to last through the next few months then we can sell it and buy a new one where ever we end up next.

Mallory is loving preschool. She is constantly singing the songs she’s learning and talks often about her new friends. It’s been a good thing for her. She now asks every morning if it’s a school day (she only goes 3 days a week).

We are still waiting to hear where we will be going. There are a few possibilities available in Europe, we just need to wait to see if it’s the right place for Creed and if the people want him. Who knows how long that will take? We were hoping we would know by now but we’ll just continue to wait….