Life on the Compound

We live on the Consulates' Compound.  It is surrounded by a wall and there are Chinese guards all around it on the outside.  There is barbed wire all around it also.  There are 2 gates, one for the Consulate, and one for where we live.  It is very secure, so we don't have to worry about the kids when they go to play outside.  There is a small playground with a swing set, monkey bars, slides and tunnels. The kids love riding their scooters around.  We also have a tennis court with 3 basketball hoops, all different sizes, so the kids can play.  And we have a swimming pool.  You can only get in by a locked gate and the guards are the ones with the key, so I don't have to worry about the kids getting into the pool area.  We are on the first floor, it is really dark in our apartment because there are trees and bars on our windows that block the light.  The other floors are much lighter.  But it is nice to be on the first floor, much easier to just let the kids outside by themselves, of course I don't let Mabel out without me.  There are 4 families in the building that go to our church.  2 with 3 kids, the other with 5 and then us.  The kids range from 9 and under.  So there are plenty of kids to play with.  The boys get home from school at 3:45, so they don't have time to do much but piano and homework (Sawer doesn't have any homework), but they do manage to play for a while outside when they get home.  It will be really nice to get our car, but we do live downtown, so we can walk to the movie theater and walk most places, it is just shopping for a lot of groceries that you need a car for.  And of course, getting out of the city.  

While the boys are in school, I just have the girls home.  It is amazing how much quieter it is.  Izzy is really happy most of the time to play with her little sister.  Mabel wants to do everything the big kids are doing.  They have these rams up and down the stairs, not too steep,  the kids love riding their scooters down the ramps.  Of course Mabel likes to do the same thing.  So I hold on to her little scooter while she goes down the ramp.  The other day I was talking to Kelly outside and neither of us noticed Mabel getting her scooter up the ramp, then down she flew!!!!  She was really excited at first, but then really scared, we didnt' catch her in time, so she crashed right into the building in front of the ramp.  She hit her forehead and got quite a bruise.  Hopefully that will keep her from doing that again.  For a while she wanted to tell everyone about her adventure.  She is so adorable, she just keeps talking and you don't know what she is saying, but she keeps going.