April highlights:
  • Jadon's first international trip! We spent three weeks in China (01 April - 22 April) visiting Julie's parents in Changsha, Hunan province, China. We all had a wonderful time. Jadon loved all the attention he got from having at least five people (mom, dad, garndma, grandpa, and aunt) around him constantly. Julie's family loved having him there, too. It was hard for us to leave when the time came.
  • Jadon got a visit from his great-great-aunt in China. She and her son took the train from Henan province to visit for several days.
  • Jadon learned to say the names of his relatives in China. He calls them:
    • Grandma is DAO-dao (his version of the Chinese word "lao lao" for "Grandmother-on-mother's-side")
    • Grandpa is EEE-deee (his version of the Chinese word "ye ye" for "Grandfather-on-mother's-side")
    • His aunt is EEE-meee (his version of the Chinese "yi Ma" for "auntie Ma")
    • His uncle is OHHH-booo (his version of the Chinese "yi fu" for "aunt's husband")
    • His cousin is "DEEE-dee" (his version of the Chinese word "ge ge" for "big brother". His version is especially amusing since what he says happens to be the Chinese word for "little brother", so he ends up calling his 10 year old cousin "little brother". This coincidence provided no end of amusement for everyone who heard him use it.)
  • Although we did not do much travelling (we chose to let Jadon and his relatives in China visit as much as possible), we did take a one-day trip to a famous Buddhist shrine on Hengshan, a mountain several hours from Changsha. We also stayed in Shanghai one night going to Changsha, and one night coming home.
Note that you must have QuickTime installed to view this 61 slide, 2.8 MB slide show.

A free QuickTime player can be downloaded from here.

Use the "Refresh" button in your web browser if you wish to view the slideshow again after it finishes.

Slide show of our trip to China (April 2002), when Jadon was 17 months old.
© Tim Bienz