Springtime!

Since the last post on January 29, Tess celebrated her first birthday on February 15, 2007. We celebrated with our families by making a trip to Newport on the Sunday prior. It was great to see everyone, especially Jack, Danielle and Jackson who met Tess for the first time.

In addition to celebrating Tess's birthday, we managed to get two small ski trips in this winter at Okemo and Mount Tremlant. Tess also got to spend time up in VT being spoiled by her aunt, uncle and cousin.

Baxter and Shampoo continue to adjust and Shampoo has settled into our family nicely. She is still a fatty, but I've been taking her more regularly on my runs with Baxter. She can usually make it 15-20 minutes. Hopefully she'll shed more weight soon.

Tess continues to amaze us. We've discovered she's a foodie. We haven't found any foods that she won't eat. Some nights she eats more than Mitch! She starts every morning by helping me with my cereal and banana which is before Tracy makes her an egg or oatmeal. She's also making great progress catching up. We have early intervention 4 times a week working with her.

Tracy started back at work the this month. In addition, she started up her running and despite the cold winter managed to complete the MORE Half-Marathon this past weekend in Central Park. She did great, finishing 2:02:57.

Mitch has been keeping busy as well. We've taken up rock climbing at the rock gym in New Rochelle and he passed his test for his Orange belt in Tae Kwon Do and Little League begins in two weeks.

If all goes well we will visit San Francisco in May to have Tess meet Vilma and our friends.

Our summer will be busy with Jack and Danielle's wedding in Maine and the usual summer activities. Hopefully, my posts will come more regularly.

Sharing

The theme of this post is sharing. We've been preparing Mitch for Tess for so long that he has no problem sharing his parents with Tess. It's the rest of the house that needs to remember how to share, particularly me (Tom) and Baxter!

Tracy's been itching to get back to running but there was always something. When our friend Jerri Lynn told Tracy about the More Womens Half Marathon in March, Tracy decided to sign up. Little did I realize, it would mean thatI'd have to share the road with Tracy! My "regular" Saturday run will now become Tracy's and we'll have to alternate during the week.

Baxter, too must learn to share, since we came home on Friday with another dog, Shampoo, a 4 1/2 year old female, Yellow Labrador Retriever! Shampoo ( we are open to suggestions for a modified evolution of this name--currently in play: Shamu and Shamp) was one of 7 dogs caught in the middle of a divorce. Until Friday night, Shamp lived in Greenwich, but when we answered the phone on Friday morning and heard her story, we decided, Why not?

Shamp, like Tess, is extremely low maintenence! She seems happy to have landed in such a good set up. Shamp, like Tess, also needs so additional TLC and attention, as Shamp is a very chubby dog! Living with Baxter will no doubt help Shamp to lose those unwanted pounds.

So the moral of this post, the boys need to learn how to share with the girls!

Summer In January and The Pats!

So Tess still hasn't experienced the winter we've been preparing her for this year! Kunming's weather was like San Francisco and Guangzhou's weather was even warmer. Mamaroneck, as well, has been unseasonably warm. Yesterday, January 6, 2007 we set a record with a 70 degree high! Today was a bit cooler, but still warm.

Global warming aside, it's been great to be outside. Today we took advantage of the weather and enjoyed an outdoor activity that we all love-- hiking! All of us, including Tess and Baxter, went for a hike in Saxon Woods. It was muddy and wet so Baxter loved the hike.

Yesterday Mitch and I spent the afternoon at the Rock Gym in New Rochelle, an indoor rock climbing gym. While Mitch spent his time climbing with a staff member, I prepared for a test so that I could belay for Mitch anytime we want to go. Yesterday was a great day to golf, but I simply ran out of time.

After our hike today we treated Tess to her first "puppy" from Walter's Hot Dogs. You know what, she likes hot dogs! We went home and did some chores and watched the Patriots/Jets game.

The first half was hard fought, but then we put the Brady jersey on Tess and the Pats began to turn it on and the outcome was never in doubt after the Brady jersey. Thanks for the good karma, Mike Mitchell! It's funny, when Mitch was a baby, he had a Bledsoe jersey--but like Bledsoe, Mitch always puked while wearing it! The Brady jersey is a different animal!

I am also attaching a picture of Mitch from last week on the roof of our house...he was brave enough to go up the ladder and get Baxter's toy off the roof.

Kunming: Cigarettes and Tobacco

Today is a big day for Tracy and Tess as Caroline Alter is hosting a coffee and tea get together this moring for all of the neighbors to meet Tess. Although, I think everyone in Taylors Estates has met Tess at least once.

Now that the holiday's have passed we have settled into a nice little routine that we hope will continue for some time to come.


I was just reading an article in the WSJ this morning about smoking in China and it reminded me of how many people I noticed smoking while we were in China.

The cigarette and tobacco industry in China is state run and maintains a monopoly effectively excluding all foreign brands. According to the article, smoking related deaths and illness are on the rise as 35% of the adult population in China smikes, compared to 21% in the US.

What's more companies are targeting the youth market and as a result China estimates that 1/3 of all Chinese, 29 or younger will die because of a smoking related illness.

On the flip side, tobacco is really fueling development and growth in rural places like Yunnan province and Kunming. Kunming's sports complex, which I remember seeing, was funded entirely by money from Chinese tobacco, and the highway heading south of Kunming was built with tobacco money. 50% of Yunnan Province's tax base comes from tobacco taxes. So it's really hard to criticize the tobacco industry given all it does for development in rural China, but hopefully other less damaging industries will flourish in China. But that's the magic bullet aropund the world. Don't even get me started on the environment....