meet our home, part two

I realized that I neglected to post photos of the EXTERIOR of our apartment, and thought it might be fun to include a few.  Then you can definitely visualize where we live, and I'll have a good record for our family memory book too :)

The name of our apartment complex (roughly) translates to Flowing Brook Beautiful Garden.  [It sounds much better in Chinese.]  The developer took the flowing brook theme quite seriously, and there is plenty of water - it is pretty and provides lots of enjoyment for the kids as they love to dangle precariously close to the water's edge watching fish, and enjoy creating obstacle courses for themselves on the various bridges and stepping stones. 

There are twenty buildings in Flowing Brook Beautiful Gardens, all oriented around this center pavilion/courtyard area (home to the playground and a central gathering area for all the residents). 

We live in building #7 - it's perfect, one 'layer' of buildings removed from the central courtyard, but still an interior building (i.e. not facing the outside of the complex, so there is no noise from the surrounding roads).  You can see our van in this photo - at night this place is chock full of cars, but during the day time I have my pick of parking spots!

This white sedan belongs to a pilot who lives in the building across from us.  He and his wife are expecting their first baby, and I see him quite often.  We live very close to the airport and there are a number of pilots living in our complex (they are easy to recognize when I see them in uniform).  The buildings are six floors high, and there are two units on each landing - so 12 families share this stairwell entrance.  Our apartment is on the first floor on the right, so that's our yard and the sliding doors to our living room directly behind the car.

And from the rear our building looks like this:

Left to right in this photo - the girls' bedroom window, the utility porch (see the washer/dryer?) and our kitchen windows. 

Flowing Brook Beautiful Gardens is a great complex, and the more time I spend in this area the more I think it is the perfect one for us.  The best part is definitely the two families that we know living here with us.  N & J and their little girl (baby LeLe) live in the building facing our kitchen windows.  J & E (and their four little ones) live in a building facing the central courtyard.  I see these mommas and their kiddos almost every day. 

Last week when I was sick J was the one I called and said "please come take Isaac when you and LeLe head out for your morning walk".  And one rainy afternoon when the kids and I were all restless I glanced out our windows to see E and her little crew, all decked out in rain coats on an "adventure walk".  It took me less than five seconds to open the porch door and holler "hang on one minute, we're getting our coats and shoes and will be right there to join you!" 

Such sweet neighbors.  Lots of fish to watch and paths to explore and adventures to be had right here on our doorstep.  Good stuff here at Flowing Brook.  You're welcome any time :)