A Few Things of Note This Week

 We got out to our Chinese classes again - and discovered that Aiden needs a bigger bike, we've been learning online long enough for him to nearly grow out of his bike!

Aiden close to finishing the year's school work - that what comes of lots of time at home uninterrupted but lots of outings....

Dreaming of some time away - all of us have mentioned the desire to get away for a holiday just as soon as we can. It is tantalizing that some states have begun to allow for cross border travel, but not yet Penang.

Marble jars - We packed up a marble machine box and handed it off to a younger friend this week. She's super pleased, and we've rediscovered the beauty of a jar full of marbles. We're scheming about how we can hang them safely where the light will shine through.

"cable knit" crochet - Mom started a new crochet project after messing around with snowflakes since Christmas. It is a somewhat challenging project: Celtic knot squares for a blanket. It took at least 4 remakes before this square was satisfyingly correct. Since she's using crochet cotton and not yarn, it might take a long time to get enough squares to make a useful blanket!

Everyday pool time - Since the pool has reopened this week, Aiden is getting nearly everyday pool time with his friend even though his friend is now back to school in person.

Jasmin's first time seeing someone other than family in nearly 2 months - the girls got to visit a friend yesterday afternoon, and we were shocked to realize it is Jasmin's first time seeing someone other than family in such a long time!

It has been very dry here, unnaturally so as the rainy season was late and quite short. Then today we've had very stormy weather. It is much needed rain for the area and will break the heat and dry streak we've been having.

Aiden and Mom were caught out totally unprepared though, and even after prudently waiting until the rain stopped, it didn't stop them from getting soaked on the way home as it was simply a pause in the storm rather than the storm being over! Mom was as wet as if she'd jumped in for a swim in her clothes rather than simply biked home. Aiden was fortunate enough to have an emergency raincoat bag for him, but even then he was pretty wet.