January 2, 2011
Ni hao friends and family,
2010 has been a busy year for the Tebos of the Far East. We are in the middle of our 6th year in Beijing, and are planning on several more. I am still teaching 7th grade math and science and Cara is still a High School counselor. Gabby started school this year in our school’s Early Childhood 3 classroom. She spends half a day engaged in active learning with songs, games, stories, crafts, etc. We are able to stop in her classroom from time to time to visit which completely makes my day when I can get down there. Gabby has grown quickly in the last year and is now 107cm (42in) tall making her taller than many kids a year older than her. Her speech is improving and is a bit of a chatterbox at times, asking questions about everything. One of my favorite things she said a couple weeks ago was about the moon. We were walking to the swimming pool at night and she looked up at the moon and said, “Mr. Moon is following us, but he has no feet!” It took Cara and I back to when we were kids and first noticed that no matter where you went in the car the moon seemed to follow us. Gabby is also getting very excited about her soon-to-be arriving sibling. Cara is due January 10th so we have been spending our Winter Break in Beijing preparing for the birth. My Honey-Do list has been quite long but I am nearly done with all of them. Tomorrow I put the crib together and we pack a bag so we are completely ready for the newest Tebo.
It really is wonderful how much can change in a year. We started last year off by visiting my brother Toby and his family Debbie, Stuart, and Wesley in Dubai during our Chinese New Year break. It was a welcome change to the bitter cold of the winter. We spent our time going for walks to the nearby park, going to the beach, and hanging out with family. The adults were able to get away one afternoon for a 4 wheel drive “Dune Bashing” trip into the desert. Several times it felt like we were going to roll over but the Toyota Prado would then slide sideways down the hill and regain traction. It was far better than any roller coaster I have ever been on. Gabby and Stuart enjoyed hanging out and dressing up in costumes, swimming, and generally being buddies. Other highlights from Dubai included the amazing fountains at the Dubai mall coordinated to music, the incredible site of the Burj Khalifa – the world's tallest building, and the Burj al arab - a 7 star hotel that looks like a sail boat on the beach, the mouth watering food, and of course all the times we spent as one big Tebo family.
In March we went to the Philippines for a teacher's conference in Manila. Before the conference we were able to spend a few days on a beach on the island of Boracay at the Blue Mango Resort. We were lucky enough to get an double room with a balcony facing the water just 30 seconds from the water's edge. We spent our evenings watching the sun set with the sail boats going by. It was a really nice family run resort with decent food, the most amazing thing to eat were the mangoes which were beyond description. The kitchen was even able to make Gabby's meals gluten free which was a tremendous thing to have on vacation. We went on a harrowing sail boat ride one day that I still have nightmares about. If you want the full details check out my re-telling on our blog. Manila itself was a nice enough city but we didn't get the chance to properly see it. We spent most of our time at the conference, which was hosted at the International School of Manila. The Philippines are definitely a place we want to visit again and possibly work in the future.
We went back to Bremerton, Washington for the summer of 2010, which was busy travelling over several states. We spent the first part on an extended road trip by flying to Los Angeles and visiting Disneyland, which coincided with Gabby's 3rd birthday. Staying within walking distance of the front gates to Disney allowed us to go home for a much needed break from time to time. Gabby absolutely loved the atmosphere of Disneyland and California Adventure. On her birthday she had a princess makeover at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. She was able to choose any of the princess dresses, accessories, hairstyle and makeup. She chose to be Snow White and spent the whole day being treated like a princess everywhere we went. Cara and I also had a great time at Disney; we took turns riding the big rides while the other one watched Gabby. After our Disney magic was through we headed to Oregon.
Driving up I-5 to San Francisco, we stopped and visited our friends Cliff and Rachael Funkhouser. Although we only stayed one night with them it was so much fun we wish we could have stayed longer. We spent one morning exploring San Francisco using an itinerary suggested by Rachael and Cliff. We saw so much in one morning, thanks to our GPS we only got lost a couple times. After San Francisco we made our way up the coast to the Redwoods only having enough time to pull over and go for a walk in one of the immense groves. It was well worth the detour to see the trees and Gabby’s amazement by everything since she hadn't had the chance to be in any real forests much less one with giant trees.
The goal of our road trip was to get to Bend Oregon. Our friends and colleagues Kirsten and Mark McGarigal who are from Bend but work with us in Beijing helped arrange for us to house sit with one of their friends. Our buddies, Beth and Josh Zarling and their daughter Harper from Tacoma, met us in Bend and we all stayed together for a week in the amazing house. Bend is a great city with so many things to do outdoors. We went for a couple hikes together, one of them into a lava tube that was almost freezing inside. Cara and Beth floated down the river running through town and Josh and I were able to go fly fishing with my friend Tom Lence who also lives in Bend. We spent some time with Tom and Tami Lence and their daughters, Hannah and Halle, who we hadn't seen for a long time. Our visit was so nice in Bend we hope to make it back there every other year or so. I am looking forward to our next road trip with the Zarlings, maybe the southwest in 2011?
Of the time in the States this summer we only spent about three weeks in Bremerton. We tried to fill that time with family activities as much as we could. We stayed with my parents and had several gatherings with my sister Tahnee and her husband Geoff and kids Emerson and Langston, and Toby's family as well. It made for a full house but it was nice to have everyone together in one place. We were also able to have a family BBQ and “camp out” one night at Kitsap Memorial Park in a cabin that Tahnee arranged to rent. We hope to make that a summer tradition for years to come.
At the end of our summer we flew to Boston in order to see Cara's brother Todd and his family Annarita and their new baby, Mikayla. She was about two weeks old and so incredibly cute. In Boston, we stayed about a 15 minute drive away from Todd’s house so we were able to visit nearly every day we were there. One evening we were fortunate enough to have a wonderful BBQ dinner at my cousin Don’s house just outside of Worcester, MA. It was great to have the chance to visit with Don and his wife Loan and their two girls who helped to entertain Gabby with their Barbie’s. The biggest reason to be in Boston was to celebrate Cara's parents 50th Anniversary. We threw an intimate party at a wonderful Italian restaurant in the North End. Friends and family that hadn't seen Francine and Charlie for a long time were in attendance making it a very special anniversary celebration.
In our limited time on the East Coast we were able to cram in a short stay with our friends, Hayes and Carlie, and their son Kai in Long Island, New York. Hayes and Carlie worked in Beijing with us but are now teaching near where Carlie grew up. We made our way into New York City a couple times and were able to have lunch and dinner with Kamara, who we worked with in Beijing as well. Having time to catch up with everyone in a place like New York was magical. We walked through Central Park and Times Square. Considering the short time we had we did about as much as you could do with a three year old and eight hours. Our final week in the states was spent packing and doing last minute restaurant runs to all our favorite places. It was so action packed trip. We truly needed a vacation from our vacation.
Since the summer, we have settled back into the groove of work and life in Beijing. Things have gotten easier and easier here over the past six years. Getting Gluten free food for Gabby is not a problem at all and there are more and more choices every time we go to the store. We have been fortunate enough to be a part of a new Celiac Disease support group that is sponsored by Beijing United Hospital. We have met several times to share stories, challenges, and tips on living gluten free. Cara and I hosted what may have been China’s first Gluten Free Thanksgiving. We provided a turkey and everyone else brought side-dishes. About 30 people were in attendance between kids and adults. It was one of the most memorable Thanksgiving feasts I have had. I have been taking Gabby swimming a lot in the last three months. She can swim more than 10 yards by herself and loves to swim on my back underwater on “dolphin rides”. She has a little learning breakthrough nearly every time we go. It has been fun watching her progress from tentative to completely confident in the water. I hope to have a proper snorkeling buddy in a couple years.
I’m still in the teacher band “Take the Highway.” I play saxophone with is still going strong. We are currently working on some new songs during our weekly practice session to liven up our sets. The last couple years playing with this group has been great. Just before Christmas I went down to a music market in Beijing and bought a soprano sax. I have wanted one for about 20 years so I figured it was finally time to get myself one. It sounds fantastic, I can’t wait to try it out with my band in the coming weeks.
Cara is the official historian for our family. She has done a wonderful job keeping an up to date blog for us over the past couple years. In addition, over the past three months she has been a scrapbooking machine. She had several years of past-due scrapbooks to put together and has been steadily getting them done. Her goal was to be completely caught up before baby #2 arrives and I think she just made it this week.
There is so much more that happened over 2010, if you want to see it all you can go to our blog. www.tebo-family.blogspot.com. It is also a good way to check up on our lives here in Beijing when you have the chance. Cara includes stories as well as pictures of our family and activities. We wish you a wonderful new year in 2011.
Warm Wishes,
Travis, Cara, Gabriella and Baby #2
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