The Next Einstein?

This week the Perimeter Institute (our local theoretical physics think tank) is holding a science festival called Q2C (Quantum to Cosmos).
http://www.q2cfestival.com/

Pat has gone to a few of the talks and last night we took Maeve to the "Physica Phantastica" exhibit. They had the Mars Rover prototype, face paint that glowed under UV light, a dark matter exhibit, a demonstration of superconductor levitation and lots of other stuff.

Maeve had a great time. Is it too soon to sign her up for a physics class?

Maeve and Pat on Mars.
Cool! It glows.
Hey it floats. How does it do that?
Oh, I can fix that for you daddy.
This is what facinated Maeve the most. She thought it looked fun, but didn't want to go on it. Nor did she want her daddy or mama to go on it.

Happy Thanksgiving

Summer is really over I guess. I managed to squeeze some fun in between the raindrops. Here's a picture of me and cousin Robyn dressing up at the Natural History Museum. We always have a lot of fun visiting, but she lives too far away to play with everyday.

Guess what? I'm going to be flying to China soon to meet my new mei mei Elspeth! She is just 15 months old now (16 months when I finally meet her). She is going to be pretty small compared to me! I'm going to teach her everything I've learned since I came to Canada. Then I'll have someone to play with every day.

We are leaving in 3 weeks. I thought I should come to Ottawa to visit my Popo and GungGung and some of my friends before I become too busy taking care of mei mei to spend any quality time with them.

Mom says we are supposed to say what we are thankful for today, so here's my list. I am thankful for my forever family, my grandparents, my aunts and uncles, my cousins, my xinyu sisters, my friends and my new mei mei. I am thankful she will be coming home in time for Christmas. I'll have to warn her about that Santa guy though...he's a little bit scary.

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving. And if you can, get outside and frolick in the leaves.

I want Summer!

Last year I got to play outside all the time and swim in my panda pool. What happened to my summer? I'm pretty sure we had less than 2 weeks of hot sunny weather so far. But we managed to stay busy.

I moved into the Preschool 2 class in May because I'm a big girl now. I even wear underwear most of the time now. But mommy says I don't get to go to big girl school until next year. Here are my School Photos.


I got a new cousin named Lochlann. He's much smaller than me so I have to be very gentle with him. He's even smaller than my new Mei Mei will be.


I found out about my new MeiMei Elspeth who will be joining our family around New Year's. And we celebrated her first birthday in June.


Popo and GungGung came to visit me!


And I went to visit Popo and GungGung in Ottawa while Mom and Dad went to Montreal for a Science Fiction convention...well Dad went to the convention... Mom went shopping.


We snuck in a trip to Parliment Hill



One day we took a trip to the Niagara Butterfly Conservatory and a hike in the Niagara Glen. There were too many cars on the highway, so it was a LONG drive. The cold air in the car wasn't working very well so I got too hot and very frustrated. Mommy kept saying to be patient, but I don't know what she means. But I had tonnes of fun when we finally got there.

No I don't want to hold the millipede!

I learned how to play soccer




I got my face painted at the Busker Festival




I tried on some frames when mommy was shopping for new glasses.


And sometimes we just hung out.

She's going to be a great Jie Jie

We got this email from Maeve's daycare today:

Hi Patrick & Kathleen,

We just wanted to let you know how much we enjoy having Maeve here.

{Maeve's teacher} came to tell me what a great friend Maeve is. She told me a super cute story about what Maeve did this morning. One of her friends got dropped off this morning and was really sad. Maeve got out some markers, paper and pulled out a chair and invited her friend to colour with her. It was really sweet to see how she was trying to make her friend feel better. What a mother hen. :-) {Maeve's teacher} also mentioned that Maeve has been working very hard at tracing her name. We are all so very proud of her. It has been so great to see her grow and develop.

Have a great day
{Daycare Manager}

That's our girl! She is going to take great care of her Mei Mei Elspeth.

Family Fun

Earlier this month we had visits from Popo and GungGung, and Aunty Evelyn and Cousin Robyn. Maeve was thrilled to spend time with relatives whom she doesn't get to see very often.

We also took a road trip up to Caledon to help Robyn's Oma Renate celebrate her 70th birthday. Maeve was her usual shy self with Evelyn's family, but she had a great time playing with Robyn.

Her favorite game? Pulling Robyn around in a wagon. No wonder her foster family nicknamed her zhuang zhuang (which means strong; robust).


Maybe giving them big mallets wasn't a great idea...but at least they didn't hit any people with them.
Hanging out with Popo and Gunggung
Let's dig down to China to find my Mei Mei
Uhhhh, you're braver...you go first.
If you look closely, there are 2 rainbows in this photo. They appeared to help us celebrate Oma Renate's birthday.

Catching up with Eli

On July 4th we took a little road trip to Toronto for the annual FOI picnic. It was wonderful to see Yulin and Bob again and catch up with other friends. The biggest treat was meeting up with Maeve's Xinyu sister Elizabeth, her sister Katie, Aggie and Rob. Maeve was a little shy at first, but soon she was following Eli everywhere.

It was great to see you guys! Hope you enjoyed the rest of your vacation.

The girls check out a princess bride.
Maeve, Eli, Kaelin (a friend from Katie's adoption group), Katie
The Xinyu sisters sharing a moment
Say cheese girls!

Quiet Canada Day

Ok, I know this little late... Here are some photos from our quiet Canada Day. It rained in the morning and then was overcast all afternoon. The local Canada Day celebrations are in a grassy field, so we decided against checking them out in case it was all wet and muddy.

So we took a nice walk to the local park and then on to Starbucks for a treat.

That night PoPo and GungGung arrived for a visit. Maeve got to stay up late and watch the fireworks display, which we can see from her bedroom window.

Happy 3rd Canada Day Maevey!



Look there's a spot on this plane for my new MeiMei!