Dear hannah, hudson, mimi, G, pappy, gigi, and everyone else who wants to know about my birthday:
Did you know that I just turned 3? I've been telling everyone that for about a week. Even samantha started singing the happy birthday song. At first, it made me really happy because she was singing to me. But then she started singing "happy birthday to emma and mantha" and it made me kind of mad. It's not her birthday yet.
Mommy and daddy tell me that I'm a big girl who gets to do lots of big girl things. We sure did some special things when I turned 3.
The first thing I did was ride the bus to a playpark down the street from my house. Mommy and daddy and mantha and I all went together. The playpark has lots of slides and balls and even a big trampoline. When we got there, daddy was acting kind of weird telling me I coudln't play on this one slide. I didn't like that very much because that slide was shaped like a caterpillar and I thought it seemed fun, but he kept pushing me away. He kept telling mommy something about how some kids peepee in the playpark. I didn't know what they were talking about.
I did have lots of fun playing in the balls. Mommy buried me in the balls and then I tried to get up all by myself. She kept telling me to smile for the camera, but I thought we went to the playpark to play and I didn't want to take very many pictures.
Everyone told me that I could choose whatever I wanted for lunch. I thought about it for a minute, but I knew right away what I wanted and I told them so: cucumber and rice. Mommy kept asking me if I was sure I didn't want pizza or macaroni and cheese or something like that, so I told her again: cucumber and rice. I was glad they listened to me, because it sure was good.
At lunch, everyone said lots of things that they like about me. Mommy said she likes it when I hold her hand and when I'm friendly to new children. Daddy said he likes it when I help mantha do things and when I play games with him. Xiaoyi said she likes it that I always ask her lots of questions and try to learn new things. Even mantha said she likes to play with me. I smiled really big when they all said those nice things about me.
After lunch, mommy made us special Molten Chocolate Cakes. She said that's her most favorite dessert when she goes to Chili's. I didn't know what Chili's was; maybe it was something when mommy gets cold. Anyway, I had three candles on my birthday cake and I blew them out all by myself! I also got to eat my cake on the special birthday plate our family has. When someone has a birthday, they get to eat their cake on the birthday plate. You can see that I ate every single bite of my cake. It was almost as good as my cucumber and rice.
My friend xiaoyi also made a special banner for my birthday. It says Happy Birthday in chinese. I read it a lot for mommy and daddy.
Even though it was my birthday, I still had to take a nap. But it turned out ok because I got to stay up extra late. After dinner, mommy and daddy gave me a bunch of new presents! Even though it wasn't mantha's bithday, they gave her some presents too. Our first presents were butterfly wings and wands! I thought mantha and I looked so pretty. I asked mommy and daddy if I could wear my butterfly all night, and they said I could. 
I also got a new princess dress, a Cars book, some new markers and a fun new game. We had fun playing with that Cars book. It made sounds when you push its buttons.
But after the presents came the best part of all! This year for my birthday, the whole city gave me a fireworks show*! I coudln't believe it! It started right after dinner and it was like everyone wanted me to have a special day! We walked over to the window and sat down on our bean bag chairs and right outside our window were all colors of fireworks going off before my eyes. Usually, the fireworks I've seen before only last five or six minutes. But these lasted five or six hours and it was more than I have ever, ever seen! After a while, mommy and daddy let me sit high on the window so I could see them better. I remember last year I was afraid of the fireworks, but this year I wasn't.
I think I had a pretty special birthday. Now that I'm three, I also get to go to preschool! I dont' have to take a nap there, I get to come home for that. But today was my first day. My preschool's name is Little Dolphin preschool, so now I'm a little dolphin. My teacher gave me a little dolphin as I was leaving so now I have my own little dolphin.
Mommy says there's lots of people who love me and are excited that I turned three. Well, that's my story of my third birthday. I'm going to bed now.
love,
Emma
* The Lunar Calendar has a special festival, the lantern festival, that marks the ending of the celebration of the Lunar New Year. The six million people in our city usually celebrate by simultaneously setting off fireworks in every possible place you can imagine. Imagine the best july 4th show that lasts for about 5 hours, and you get a vague idea of this holiday. It's the hardest thing ever to describe, but the coolest thing ever to watch! Next year, emma's birthday will not fall on the lantern festival day, so we'll have to find another way to help her celebrate!
Later that evening, we had a 5 hour layover in Hong Kong airport. Five hours in an airport might seem like a nightmare to you, but if it's Hong Kong airport, you don't know how lucky you are! HK airport has to be one of the best airports in the entire world. It is a model of efficency, good planning, friendliness, and is stocked with great places to spend your money - bookstores, krispy kreme, ben& Jerry's. They also have free wifi all over and a kids play area - truly the place where everyone is happy!
Finally after a full day of travel, we made it to bangkok about midnight. The girls were wide awake, so we put on their matching Gap jammies and they played around on the bed. A big day was ahead...
...most notably, Toys R Us! Emma did a good job at practicing the "wai", a common thai greeting, but mantha had trouble. Some of the birthday presents emma opened yesterday were hidden in that bag she's holding!
Two days of shopping in bangkok, then we headed out to our vacation spot (that was not the original vacation spot, if you'll remember from previous posts!) The girls loved playing in the super clean and beautifully landscaped pools. Emma's "jumping in" was more of a hesitant lean, and her feet stayed on the edge until she felt someone's arms around her!
High on samantha's list of favorite vacation activities must have been walking across this wall that seperated the kiddie pool from the big pool. She happily would walk back and forth for an hour! Her floaties make her look like such a big girl, don't you think?
Emma was much more confident in the pool than last year, the difference a year makes, I guess! This sea turtle was one of the hotly contested items during pool time...
...but mantha found other ways to stay occupied while emma was floating around by herself!
She surprised us all by being very comfortable in the water. With her little floaties, she could "swim" all by herself and make pretty good time, too!
I think this was one of the most relaxing vacations I've perhaps ever taken, even though the girls were with us. By coincidence, our room was located right off the lobby; in fact, it was part of the same building. The lobby of our hotel was an arched, open-air pavilion that allowed the breezes to lazily linger in. There were also several nice tables and super-comfy rocking chairs and so.....when the girls were napping, we would go out to the lobby (since we were only a few steps away), grab a book and settle in the rocking chairs while the rhythm of the waves kept time. This picture doesn't show it so clearly, but all that white just past the trees is the ocean...literally only 20 steps away from our dominoes table! Here's daddy, emma and mantha playing a quick game of Dora dominoes after naptime.
