November 4th I officially hit the midway point of my thirties. Yep, I am now closer to 40 than 30, not that I'm going to dwell on that... My wonderful family made sure I had a fabulous birthday, which started with breakfast in bed and a gift from each of the kids that they picked out for me by themselves. I also got two beautiful handmade cards. We ended the night by celebrating at our favorite Western place, The Blue Frog, The night before Lucas and I had a quiet dinner at Din Tai Fung, a Taiwanese chain with excellent dim sum and caught the new Bourne movie.
Tuesday Lucas and I visited Dulwich College, an international school, that we are considering for the kids next fall. While I love the Montessori that Lily is enrolled in, the school only goes to age 6, and we thought it best if she goes to one of the larger international schools next fall. Dulwich is amazing and I know both kids will be very happy there. The school covers kids from age 2 up to high school, but toddlers to year 2 (first grade) are in a separate and much smaller building so it is not so intimidating. These international schools are absolutely amazing and although Lily will be put in year 1 (5-6 year olds) because of her birthday they will teach her at what ever year level she is at so I don't have to worry about here being bored in class. With these schools, because the education is top notch, kids often end up ahead of their classmates when they move back home. I only wish we could afford this kind of education when we move back home! It is easy to see how the wealthy have such a leg up in education. I guess Lucas is going to have to get another delegation before Lily starts high school...
Friday, Lucas had dinner out with co-workers to celebrate a friends promotion. Since it was just me and the kids I made homemade macaroni and cheese followed by chocolate cake that the kids helped with. The kids were great about taking turns pouring in ingredients and stirring so I rewarded them each with a beater to lick clean. Charlie did manage to get some in him but I think he wore most of it :-)
Saturday night our Chinese teacher and friend Eric, invited us to his home for a traditional Chinese dinner, family style. His wife's two friends and our driver, Chem, also joined us. Good food, good wine, and good company, a great way to spend an evening! I've invited everyone over to our place after our vacation for a big Italian dinner since I know Italian is a favorite of Eric's and according to him difficult to make. I've tried to tell him it's not but he doesn't believe me, so I look like a wiz in the kitchen to him and I'm okay with that!
You have to make Alton's meatballs when you do that Italian dinner... Giada's sauce, homemade garlic bread sprinkled with Parmesan... yum! If I remember correctly, that wine I bought while I was there is also an Italian wine... should go great with the dinner!
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