DeNeefs Abroad

We're Baaaaackkkk!

2010-02-21T01:45:00.000-08:00

A few brown bills and we are past the firewall and back in publication. All hail the VPN. Some pics from recent times (Christmas ish). It is the tail end of the CNY here. Back to work tomorrow. Have been watching a lot of olympics (thanks to the VPN). Weather was pretty crappy for most of the vacation - but has smartened up today. Kids are restless and need to get back to school - Mom and Dad; not so much. Hope all are well.

Chinese Vacation

2009-10-05T07:50:00.000-07:00

So we have 9 days off... Well kinda semi-off for me as I'm working on logistics for an ACAMIS volleyball tournament. The weather has been amazing in Shanghai so far. Tomorrow we are going to host those SCIS staff members who didn't get to go away for vacation for a Tuesday BBQ. Bought 20 chicken breasts and a whole bunch of different pork products today. The Dickers organized a kids and parents Karaoke party today. Jaden was able to sing along with all the Avril Lavigne songs while Dylan belted away at 'We Will Rock You'. I've got to download some recent pics for the blog - after this note I'll see what we've got. Sheri and I have been watching Friday Night Lights for our couch potatoe time. We've finished season two now and have vowed to watch some movies this week seeing as we don't have to be up early for work. Yesterday we watched Gran Torino and today Sunshine Cleaning. Sheri's getting ancy to paint - I imagine we will be doing the living room before the end of the week. Sheri thinks a bamboo green together with a rusty red. Should be fun. O.K. I think my 100 hits from teh 80's have downloaded now - tomorrows play list. Time for bed.

Disneyland

2009-04-05T19:34:00.001-07:00

Spring break in Shanghai -- we went to the HongKong Disneyland. The kids had a great time. Weather was so-so, but a lot of smiles and hugs to all the disney characters. Dylans favorite was a Stitch interactive movie, Jaden got a blast out of Space Mountain. Dad and mom liked the 3D movie.

We stayed at the Disneyland hotel -- quite a palace.

Dylan @ Soccer

2009-03-20T19:32:00.000-07:00

Dylan has been playing soccer on Sundays. He goes up against 8 & 9 year olds and consistently holds his own.

Harbin

2009-01-04T19:55:00.001-08:00

First stop: the Ice and Snow World. LED lights brighten up ice block sculptures of enormous proportions. J & D found the ice slides to be of the most fun. They also did some sliding on a tube down a mini-hill. The weather outside was 'frightful' but it was nice to feel the chill of winter once again.

Professional Basketball in Shanghai

2008-12-31T03:38:00.000-08:00

On boxing day I took the kids to the Shanghai Sharks (CBA) basketball game. (This is the team Yao Ming used to play for). It's not the NBA but it was a ton of fun. The great thing is that with our matching Nash jerseys we were in the Sharks colors; and we didn't even know it.

after-school activities

2008-12-31T03:09:00.000-08:00

What do the DeNeef's do in the afternoon in

Shanghai? Here is a sampling: Dylan and Jaden are both involved in afterschool activities -- Dylan does soccer, and Kung-Fu while Jaden does dance, yoga and tech. "Some afternoons/evenings we 'may' go to the local pub/restaurant and have a burger and a game of foosball. Other times we will be at home playing Wii. Daddy is often coaching. It's a busy time but we enjoy it.

X-mas in Shanghai

2008-12-28T05:05:00.000-08:00

Santa made it to Shanghai! Jaden got a Wii guitar and Dylan got a remote control car. Santa also threw in Nash jerseys; which was appropriate as Daddy had tickets to see the Shanghai Sharks the next night -- and their colors are purple and orange as well.

D1 Girls ACAMIS Moments

2008-12-02T15:56:00.001-08:00

D1 Girls Volleyball Team at SCIS

2008-10-11T06:03:00.000-07:00

These are the places in our neighborhood.

The local 'hole in the wall' noodle shop (lunch for 4 under 5$)

Old style village across the street from our complex (govt. is greening it up).

J and D in front of our apartment complex.
The little store (red awning) where I buy my beer (5$ Cdn for a 6 pack). A few different views of the neighboring village we walk through on our way to schooA view of the walking/biking tuck-tuking lane of the road to our school.

Dylan Takes Care of Blanky

2008-10-01T21:42:00.000-07:00

Heading Downtown

2008-09-28T06:54:00.000-07:00

We finally went 'downtownish'. We went up the Pearl Tower and took a look at this city we live in. It was about 30-40min from our house (taxi then subway). Most of these pictures were taken from 300m meters above the city streets. We were in the Pearl Tower (weird looking building).

Athletic Director

2008-09-26T21:41:00.000-07:00

These are two of the teams I'm responsible for organizing; Varsity Boy's and Girl's volleyball. Coaches Darby Davis and Tim Wilson. We are the Dragons!

People in our neighborhood.

2008-09-26T21:22:00.001-07:00

People in this set: Randy Girdner & Tracey Ramsey with children Abby and Hunter. Andrea Dethy, Michael Dethy and little one Kai (sp?!?) Andrew Lowman, Kirsten Lowman with Cloe and her little brother. Laird and Kelly Macdonald with their little guy Fisher. Karen Togneri and son Ty. Venues: the Girdner house and the school.

Hereditary Art

2008-09-26T21:17:00.000-07:00

Jaden's first picture on her chalkboard in Shanghai. Reminds me of our house in Mclure with Grandma's painting.

Shanghai In Uniform

2008-09-26T21:04:00.000-07:00

Dylan and Jaden need to wear a uniform for school. The also have a uniform for Kungfu class. I think Jaden is showing you the monkey pose and Dylan is showing you his own personal Kungfu Panda imitation.

For the BLOG of it!

2008-09-19T02:00:00.000-07:00

First full day of conference -- highlights: FINALLY created a class moodle site on the SCIS moodle page. Should hyperdrive my comp gov. class. Good unofficial 'unconference' with Jon/David/Matt/Lisa/Bonnie and Sheri. Jeff U was thought provoking as usual. Nice atmosphere; lots of sharing and congenial talk/action. Interesting concept; cr8 your own conference in many ways. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Mike

2.008 Conference

2008-09-18T05:45:00.000-07:00

Sitting near the back row of a 500 seat auditorium with the rest of the SCIS crowd. Wonder what the world will be like for J and D by the time they are in college. Will they look back and ask; remember the days when Dad used to blog? It is conferences like this that keep us young --- full of wonder and awe.

Early transportation

2008-08-17T05:58:00.000-07:00

As you can see we got new bikes this weekend. Dylan's bike is being shipped so he got a little scooter. Fun for the whole family. Tomorrow Sheri and I bike to school.

Dinner Out Shanghai

2008-08-16T18:50:00.001-07:00

Bon appetit! This was dinner a few blocks down the road put on by the school. Funny thing is the restaurant is really good; if you know what to order (not the bird heads). Kelly took us there for lunch earlier and we had great eats; this meal was more like: "Fun with poultry body parts". Good times. Good news is that it doesn't phase the kids at all; they are eating fine.

Shanghai apartment

2008-08-15T08:44:00.000-07:00

These are all taken in our apartment complex in Shanghai (Pudong). As you hopefully can see there is a fair bit of green, unfortunately it is like an old person's garden: pretty to look at but not very usable. The school however is a short walk away and hopefully we can utilize that space.

Shanghai it is.

2008-08-15T00:13:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are here and alive. Haven't figured out how to get pics on to my new Mac Book -- so this will have to do. Cheers all; thanks for a great summer.

2008-05-30T19:22:00.000-07:00

As we pack; going through some 'clothing' to see if it fits. You'll recognize some of it Nana.

Our Trip

2008-05-12T03:47:00.000-07:00

We were at Ilan.We went there for a hash.The first picture is us walking on a small wall in a rice field. The second picture is us at a waterfall . The last picture is us walking on a rope bridge . It was scary.

By Jaden

2008-05-11T06:24:00.000-07:00

2008-05-11T06:12:00.000-07:00

Sing a little song.

2008-05-11T05:49:00.000-07:00

Clap your hands and stomp your feet.

2008-05-11T05:25:00.000-07:00

Spring Concert Dylan 2

2008-05-11T05:03:00.000-07:00

Spring Concert Dylan

Daddy's 38th

2008-04-02T06:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I turned 38 in Kuala Lumpur this year. That's the great thing about having the EARCOS teacher's conference on my birthday every year; I get to have a birthday in a different country all the time. KL was great, had an early dinner and bevy's at the hard-rock cafe; but as this was a working vacation (it was a great conference) we were in bed by 10ish so we could hit the key note speaker in the morning.

I had a 2nd birthday when I got back to Taiwan. Jade and Dylan took me out golfing (a pitch and putt in Tainan). They even beat me on some of the holes; and nothing could make me happier. It was a great day.

Visiting G'pa

2008-02-02T04:28:00.000-08:00

For one week during Christmas Vacation we went to visit Gpa Dallas in the Phillipines. Gpa Dal lives in the small village of Waterfalls in the Southern Phillipines..it is in the heart of the Phillipine mountains.

Gpa Dal has a house...with no doors. It was a lot of fun sharing our bedroom with the wandering toads that came in and out!

Dole has a banana plantation in this village and we go to watch the bananas being prepared for export.

Gpa got to visit a lot with his grandchildren and there was a lot of talking going on.

Jaden got to know g'pas pets really well. We spent a lot of time in Jeepney's -- one day travelling a few hours to go to a popular local beach.

The best thing was that the kids were NEVER bored although there was no T.V. or toys of any kind. They played all sorts of games with the local kids and had a great time.

Dad and mom had a good time too, even if we were doing a family sleep over every night with all of the DeNeef's in one bed.

At least Ping's store had lots of big "NA" beer!

X-mas Day

2007-12-23T21:41:00.000-08:00

7:05 is when the kids woke us up. There was strange white powder; snowy footprints perhaps, leading from the empty plate of brownies to .... the washing machine. This must be how Santa came in. Thank-you for all of the presents: From G'ma Lori and G'pa Tom -- Synthesizer/Guitar Combo for Jaden and Transformer pack for Dylan, From Nana --- I-DOG Music Master for Jaden, Crash 'Em Up Hotwheels track for Dylan, From G'pa Mike and G'ma Darlene --- Princess Book/Song/Movie Pack for Jaden, Cars Book/Song/Movie Pack for Dylan, From Great G'ma: Connect Four Jaden, Spider Bump 'n Go Bike for Dylan and from The Fidanza's --- Voice Disguiser for Jaden, Thomas puzzle for Dylan. Hope you all have a great day.

Pre-Xmas

2007-12-23T17:35:00.001-08:00

Best of the season all.

We spent the day as we have many others in Taiwan--potato pancakes with friends. The festivities began when cousin Robyn brought chocolate a day countdown to Christmas boxes for J and D. This year we had
Keith, Dale and Robyn over to share yuletide cheer. The girls were a little late as it seems they were celebrating the holiday season in fine fashion--until the wee

hours of the a.m. We had eggs, breakfast sausages, maple bacon and of course the tradition de jour....potato pancakes. Jaden and Dylan opened their first presents from the visitors; Dylan received a semi-truck to carry all of his

hot-wheel cars in and Jaden got some fancy clothes. After the brunch Yoli came over to baby-sit as mommy and daddy did some last minute
shopping.

More tomorrow with X-mas pics.

American Thanksgiving

2007-11-30T23:19:00.001-08:00

For the 2nd or 3rd year in a row we spent the AMERICAN Thanksgiving break (gotta love those yanks sometimes) in balmy Kenting at Le Chateau. It was a bit windy but the kids enjoyed the big waves (gave mommy and daddy fits tho) and found a friend to play with. Hope you all had a good week.

Jaden turns 7

2007-11-22T17:33:00.000-08:00

As usual, Jaden's birthday was a multi-day affair. It began at school on Nov. 18 as there was a class party for all of the November birthdays. Clowns, balloons and cake were the order of the day. Then the actual birthday began with a group rendition of 'Happy Birthday' to a still sleeping Jaden; then a series of phone calls. The surprise of the morning was a call from Grampa Dallas, then Nana phoned, although it was about something other than Jaden's birthday she made a quick change in focus when the importance of the day was revealed. The picture is of Dylan talking with Nana. That night clan DeNeef went out for a birthday dinner to TGIF's. While we were gone the Victoria branch of our family called (are they all still living in the same house we wonder?) along with Grandpa Mike and left messages. Jaden opened gifts from afar (thank-you all) and we got to bed a bit late. The final scene in the birthday parade was a mini-party with her friends on the first day of our 4 day American Thanksgiving holiday. The kids made mini-pizzas, watched "Hannah Montana", practiced their cheerleading routine and made birthday tiaras.

Jaden is 7 and already looking forward to being 8.

KAS Fun Fair

2007-11-18T01:59:00.000-08:00

It was a busy Saturday at KAS yesterday (17th Nov). Mommy ran a stall that sold CANADIAN kool aid and Daddy ran the sumo challenge pit. Jaden was in the cheerleading group and Dylan...he was busy all day.

1/2 marathon loot

2007-11-18T01:44:00.001-08:00

To the victor go the spoils...or to the participant anyway. 21k in 2 and 1/2 hours. Pretty darn impressive.

1/2 marathoner

2007-11-10T20:14:00.000-08:00

After almost 300 km of training Mrs. Sheri DeNeef completed her first half marathon in 2 and 1/2 hours. Jaden, Dylan and Daddy are so proud of our super mommy. Well done. On On to the Taipei marathon in December.

Sheri and the half marathon challenge

2007-10-13T01:13:00.001-07:00

Check out the link below to see how Sheri is doing on her training for the half marathon in Taroko. To date she's put in more than 250km.

http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/v1/html/milestones/print_certif.html?id=212640356&region=ca&language=en&locale=en_ca&dateFormat=MM/DD/YY

2007-09-23T08:22:00.000-07:00

2007-08-30T03:02:00.001-07:00

Cousin Robynn came over for dinner. We had spaghetti and cake on soccer shirt plates.

Dylan Turns 4

2007-08-25T06:10:00.000-07:00

Here we have a collection of photos of our new 4 year old. Some shots of his first day of school and school materials along with pictures of him opening presents. The crown is from Dylan's first day of school. He is in PreK-2 and his teacher is Mrs. Ortega. There are I think, 10 students in his class. One of his classmates lives in the building with us, his parents are also teachers at the school.

It was a good but tiring b'day. Mommy and daddy were at a staff dinner the night before and got home quite late. Yoli babysat and we had some other kids from other school teachers staying over. The kids ended up falling asleep quite late. We opened presents later in the day after Simon (he's in class with Dylan...his mom and dad work in the secondary school) was picked up. Jaden went out on a sleep-over tonight with a friend who was in her class last year, but is going to Chinese school this year. So Dylan, mommy and daddy went out to the movie theater to see Rattitouille. Dylan enjoyed it.

So thanks for all of the presents and phone calls today.

First Fish

2007-08-21T04:52:00.000-07:00

It went a little something like this;

We purchased pocket fishing rods for the kids: Barbie for Jaden and Scooby Doo for Dylan. We spent the first night practicing in the back-yard with dummy hooks. As usual Dylan was a natural at something athletic. Soon they were casting across the back-yard. So Gpa took us to the fishing creek the next day. We had no idea what to use or where to cast, but we were there to have fun. It was good for awhile, but then the kids started getting bored. I told Jaden 3 more casts. On the LAST CAST I hear; "Daddy, daddy...I need some help". I'm of course like " You are stuck on some weeds?"..... Then Jaden landed her almost 2lb Northern Pike...and daddy learned a lesson...those guys have sharp teeth. Next year it's Dylan's turn (he lost one when the fish jumped in the air and twisted). The kids of course are both avid fisher persons know (and that Pike went down well with a cold Kokanee...(O.K. the kids had Kool-Aid)

Lake Friends

2007-08-11T07:04:00.000-07:00

We would like to give a shout out to all of you who were able to make it to the lake this summer. You helped us have what was truly one of the best summers we've had in years. Those of you who couldn't make it this year, we look forward to hosting you in the summer of 2008.

The DeNeef's

Jaden's Underwater Story

2007-05-29T04:27:00.000-07:00

in a deep blue sea the anmuls wr playene ol day and strefish wr hiden shrckes wr fideen good food to eet the dolphins wr splashen ol day

In a deep blue sea the animals were playing and starfish were hiding. Sharks were finding good food to eat. The dolphins were splashing all day.

Jaden's Graduation

2007-05-10T07:05:00.000-07:00

Hi folks. Next year Jaden will be in grade 1. Today they were taking graduation pictures at school. We took a few at home before.

Dylan Hair

2007-05-03T05:24:00.000-07:00

Dylan tried to cut his own hair. He now knows not to do that. The first picture is the hair Dylan cut in the sink. The second and third pictures are of Dylan with his new haircut, helped by Daddy. Doesn't he look cool.

Weekend Adventure

2007-04-30T03:06:00.000-07:00

We went on an adventure on Sunday. We had a vague idea where we were going (Meinong..but hadn't been before) and it's always an adventure when we are travelling any differences in our car!
We tried to follow the 'brown' signs to somewhere of import.....but ended up just stopping where we saw a bunch of other cars parked and took a trek up the river.

It was a great day. The scenery on the drive up was amazing. We were a little worried about getting lost...but didn't. Thankfully we don't have a big vehicle as the roads got pretty small and windy. The river...well the paths reminded me a lot of my motorbike trails in Mclure. The river (creek) reminded me a bit of Sooke potholes. It was clear water...we could see to the bottom (and all of the fish life in it).

Can't wait for the cabin and some more 'nature'.

Saturday April 16

2007-04-14T02:07:00.000-07:00

Weekend update:

Mariana stayed over at our house last night and Dylan stayed at Flors. This morning Daddy went to school for grade 8 basketball practice. Mariana and Jaden went to yoga class for kids. In the afternoon daddy and Dylan went to the park. As you can see it was mostly kites and soccer. That's what the pics are from. Not sure what the evenening holds, but I need a rest now.

Chef Dylan

2007-04-12T07:52:00.000-07:00

Dylan was helping Mom and Dad cook dinner (Jaden was at Chinese class). Conversation:

What's this Dylan?
Jam.
Actually no it's an onion.
Oh yeah, I forgot!

Sounds a lot like his sister did at that age.

Egg Coloring

2007-04-07T05:47:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter Eve everyone. We had a great day today. We talked to G'pa Mike and Auntie Shana earier in the day. Then we went to the art museum to listen to the KAS Cadenza group perform; this is a student initiated musical group that performs for donations and gives all of their money to the lukemia ward at the local hospital.

Then we came home and painted eggs. After the egg painting was done, Dyland and Jaden used Q-Tips and the colored water to paint pictures on paper-towel; Dylan painted a horse and Jaden painted a picture for the Easter Bunny. We ended the evening by doing a little 'house' dancing.

Hope everyone's Easter Eve is as fun as ours.

2007-04-06T00:30:00.000-07:00

Nana asked for some pics of mommy and daddy. I was scouring our pics on the computer earlier and unfortunately could not find any of the WHOLE FAMILY together. We'll rectify that shortly. As it is I'll put these up. One is a good pic of Sheri with Dylan on the balcony that we are using a lot lately. The other is me with my Sr. Girls V.ball team (I ran two teams this year) I think it's the most recent we have of us. Sorry. The battery for the camera is being charged as we speak (it ran out in Thailand and that's why no pics from there). So here's what I have for now Nana.

Mike

Thanks Lily

2007-04-05T21:21:00.000-07:00

thek you for the crd lily i mis you love jaden and dylan

1st Blog

2007-04-05T19:59:00.000-07:00

Hello all. This is Daddy DeNeef here in Taiwan. Mommy and Daddy DeNeef just got back from a working vacation in Thailand where I was inspired to start a BLOG. Ian Jukes from Canada talked about how kids are changing due to the hyper fast advent of technology (actually hard wired differences in the brain) and Sheri and I are committed to helping the kids use technology appropriately.

Also in recent weeks Sheri has finished her Masters program and we feel it is important that we do a better job of keeping family connected to our lives here. Thus the idea of a family blog was born. We are still in a test stage at the moment, but hopefully soon we will be able to see how powerful this communication tool really is.