Fabulous Girls

The girls have had a great start to their new school year. For the first month, masks were still required, but everything else was back to normal. Then, in September, masks were made optional at school. They're still required on transportation, but it definitely brings a collective sigh of relief to not have to force children to wear masks as they're running around, being kids.  About half of the students have chosen to keep masks on, but both our girls took them off as soon as they were allowed to.

All performances are up and running again too, which means our performing artist had a very busy fall.  First up was the talent show where she performed with the choir and sang a solo cover of an Adele song with another student playing on the piano.  She managed to take some time out of her performing schedule for photographs with her biggest fan.

There was no rest for the talented though. The next day she was off on her first international trip without the rest of us. She left for a choir exchange at the International School of Bangkok.

We all got a kick out of the fact that her first trip was to ISB. She didn't see anyone she knew, but she loved the food. All the pandemic use of technology has also facilitated remote communication, so we were able to watch the final concert being live-streamed from Bangkok to our living room.

Elena has been keeping busy too. She passed her karate test and now has her yellow belt.

She also has no problem assembling various costumes for whatever creative idea she currently has.

She really wanted special nail colors though for her planned Halloween costume, so I took her to my favorite nail place.  She had no hesitations about occupying the big armchair and thoughtfully looking through her color choices.

She was very pleased with the shades of black and red that she picked and that will go with her "Little Devil" costume.

Viv and I put in some mall time too, but for a slightly less glamorous purpose. Her next travelling adventure after Bangkok was her GAP (Global Action Program) trip.  This is an annual trip that high schoolers take to learn more about the region and do some volunteer work.  Viv needed a few more pairs of pants that she could work in and get dirty.

Before she went off on her trip though, she performed in her first high school play, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.  Since we're all members of the Vivi fan club, we got her some fancy flowers to celebrate her awesome performance.

Elena also made a flower offering out of playdough.

She has rediscovered the joy of playdough.

She also discovered the fun of crocheting, so back to the mall we went to try and find her some crochet supplies.

They had a big Harry Potter display, so we took some time to check it out and take pictures.

There was also a pop up stand selling fancy, sparkly dresses, so Elena spent the rest of the weekend dressed like a princess and crocheting her heart out.

She often needs a calm weekend to recover from all the fun at school. Recently they had a field day, which I got down to watch for a bit. There was plenty of running and jumping, and she was worn out by the end of it.

We've all been keeping busy and enjoying ourselves. Life is starting to feel pretty much normal again, which is a gift we don't take for granted.