Congratulations Steph and Jeff!!!

We are so excited that our little Steph (my youngest sister!) will be getting married next summer!! We can't wait for the big day!!

Guitars and Gangsters!

We had a fun filled weekend spent eating a delicious Brazilian meal and mingling at the annual PFO fundraiser!!

Looking back over the past 9 months (can you believe we have been here that long??) it is amazing how quickly we have become part of the international community. We love learning about all of the different places that our friends come from, their families and most of all, we are truly enjoying making memories and being a part of their lives!

Danny enjoyed showing John how to play Guitar Hero...

The PFO Ball was themed the Roaring 20's! A few of us in our compound had our dresses made for the big event!! It was so much fun getting dressed up!! We had a great time and there may have been a little dancing on a speaker, but no worm!!

Good times and good friends, who knew when we were in China for our look and see exactly a year ago that we would find such an open and inviting community!!

Where's the Road??

I just had to take these pictures last week as Coop and I were leaving school. They have been working and developing the area by the school all year. They have blocked one of our entrances to the school, and now, this is what the road looks like to go into the entrance that is opened. There are no barricades in sight, despite the fact that there are about 20 foot deep holes all over. I'm always worried we are going to tip in...ahhhhh!!

Newest American Idol, or should I say, Chinese Idol?!

Ellie, my shy little daughter, shocked both Danny and I when she announced that she would be entering the Chinese singing competition at school!! She practiced her two songs that she had to sing, day and night, so much so that Eens and Coop now can sing them!! She was very proud of herself for getting up in front of her peers and singing in a language that 7 months ago she knew nothing about!!

On Friday I went to the morning assembly because they were distributing awards. She came home with a bronze medal!! Now, there were several other students who got bronze with her, but we were all quite proud of her! Yeah Ellie!!

McLazy!!

We have discovered one of the greatest things about China...McDonald's delivers!! Yes, we cannot be bothered to physically go there to eat, so we were so excited when our neighbor brought over the delivery menu and told us to press 2 for English!! You have got to be kidding...just to make sure it really worked, we orderd Friday night for dinner and Saturday morning for breakfast!! It worked like a charm and we had hot food on the table in about 15 minutes!!

This gentleman road his bike with this contraption on his back. It is pretty cool, it keeps the drinks upright and cold on the top and then the bottom keeps the food warm!! We appreciate anything that makes our lives easier!!

Pre K Celebration!!

Yesterday in Ethan's class, his teachers decided to throw a multi purpose party for the kids!! We did an egg hunt, had loads of snacks, iced cakes, played games, and really got to enjoy the pure joy of a beautiful spring day with our favorite 4 year olds!!

Miss Ann and her lovely chicken who lost her eggs!!
Eens searching for the eggs - he takes it very seriously!!

The pre-k class recently changed rooms at our school because of the growing enrollment in the nursery class (Coop's class). Before, the nursery and pre-k shared three connecting rooms, but with over 30 little ones spread out between the rooms, it was too much. Now, the pre-k have taken over the "playroom" that was used by all of the elementary students during the winter months for recess. The teachers ordered new furniture and rugs to make the room look fantastic. They have worked really hard over the past couple of weeks trying to prepare the room and now there efforts have paid off greatly! They have a huge, kid friendly, bright space to teach in and there own private little outside garden to let the kids roam freely!! Just one more reason why we love the teachers so much...they always go the extra mile, even though it requires tons of their free time!!I asked Eens this little girls name and he said, "Her name is Jamie and she has really soft cheeks!". And how does he know this??!!!

Precious!!

Should I be worried???

I'm a bit concerned that my littlest one has taken to wearing fluffy, pink, high heels, a Buzz Lightyear costume and "rocking out" (as he says) on the guitar!! Look out American Idol!!

A Journey to the Past - Day 2

Our second day in Xi'an was not nearly as exciting as our first when we got to see the warriors, but it was still fun!! I enjoyed seeing the sights of this "ancient city" (as Betty would say!!)!

Betty was devasted that we told her we didn't want to start our day until 9:30 - she obviously doesn't have 3 children that need to be dressed and fed after a borderline sleepless night!! She reluctantly agreed, so we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the hotel before starting the tour! I have found that the breakfasts at most of the hotels we stay in are by far the best meals of the day!

After our yummy breakfast we asked Betty to take us to Starbucks. I really thought she was going to cry - we were obviously ruining the plans for the day. We explained that we are collecting Starbucks mugs from all the cities we visit and she felt a little better! Plus, we also explained that the kids would probably be a bit more irritable and less tolerant of the historical sights today so it would benefit us all if we loaded up on some caffeine!!

After our lattes, we headed down a walking street in the Muslim residential area that houses a Grand Mosque. These are some of the things we witnessed on our walk to the mosque...

Yes, there is a small building on the back of this bike!!! It's truly amazing what one can put on a bike!!

The mosque was built during the Tang dynasty, which was about 1,250 years ago! The buildings have been restored!! Below is the prayer hall with the rugs laid out.This is outside of the prayer hall! Danny is getting an ear full!!The next stop was the ancient Ancient City Wall. The wall is in the middle of the city, and really it is just a cool, ancient wall!! Eens was excited to climb all the stairs, so he thought he would help Betty along with purchasing the tickets!!The kids on top of the wall!! And below we are at a drawbridge in front of the wall!!Our last stop in Xi'an was to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. This was previously used by Buddhists, but now it is primarily a tourist sight with a lovely garden.

My only issue at this final stop was this...I'm not sure why this poor cat is in a bird cage up in a tree!

We had a great time, but savored the quiet after we passed through security at the airport!!

Sleeping St. Martin's

Ahh...peace at last!! I couldn't resist taking these pictures after the kids finally were asleep last night!! While travelling in Asia, we have found that most of the time we need to get two connecting rooms because the rooms are very small and they usually offer 2 twin beds or 1 double bed. We stayed at a Sofitel (which I would highly recommend if you plan on going to Xi'an!!) that did not offer connecting rooms, so we decided to deal with fitting all of us into 1 room for 1 night! Thankfully, the wonderful people at the hotel decided to upgrade us to a premier room so we would have more space! This is what I found after I came back from a massage...

Good night and sleep tight!!

Betty, our tour guide!

This mini vacation was the first that we decided to hire an English speaking tour guide, and it may well have been our last!! We, or I, thought that we should really try and understand the history of Xi'an since it was so long. I am also intrigued by the terra cotta warriors, so I wanted to learn as much as I could.

Betty was the name of our guide, or we could call her YeYe if we wanted because that is her Chinese name and that is what her mom calls her!! She was a very perky girl who really told you what she was thinking every second we were with her! She had a vast knowledge of Xi'an and really appeared to love "our city"!

The problem was the fact that she didn't stop talking. The kids would be fighting and hitting each other in the back of the van and she kept going. I would have to stop for a moment while we were walking to get something out of my bag and she would keep talking and leave me behind (which now I realize was a blessing!!). Even Ethan today said, "Is Betty going to talk all day today?"! He was completely serious!!

During her random talking, she also thought it would be a good idea to comment on how handsome my husband is. She told him he looked like a movie star or a model, while I'm sitting right there. Then she told me how lucky I am, as I'm turned around yelling at the kids, and Dan is just sitting there soaking up all of the complements!! Of course, I am a very lucky girl, but I really don't appreciate someone I am paying to tell me that over and over!!!

In all honesty, she was a very nice person, who was obviously very passionate about her city! We did learn a lot because she told us alot of the facts more than once, and she did take us to places that we probably would not have visited otherwise! We will not forget Betty anytime soon!!

A Journey to the Past - Day 1!

This weekend we travelled to Xi'an in central China for a glimpse into thousands of years of history! I booked this trip with a local travel agent who speaks lovely English and was able to get us an English speaking guide for the two days we were there! Our dear guide deserves an entry devoted soley to her, so I won't go into much detail, I will only say that she definitely made an impression and we learned more than we ever really wanted to know about Xi'an!!

Here we are leaving bright and early on Saturday morning. We took the 8:00am flight which meant a wake up call at 5:00am!! I think frozen yogurt is appropriate when you have to wake up that early, plus we are almost positive it was really TCBY!!

We arrived in Xi'an in about 1 1/2 hours and were met by our guide and our driver (travel agent also reserved car and driver for the weekend!!). We were promptly whisked away to see the Banpo Village which is outside of the city center. This site was basically some dirt that possibly showed an outline of an old village - but they may have been pushing it!! The biggest excitement there was that Ellie and Ethan had to be rushed to a very dirty squatty potty to go #2. This was El's first time, so by the end, we basically had all of her clothes off and then she was able to go!! Thank goodness!!

Our next visit was to the factory where they produce the replicas of the famed Terra Cotta Warriors! It was very interesting. They use special clay supplied by the government, place them in molds, carve the details, and then put them in the kiln for a few days to a week depending on their size. There are five different poses, the archer, the infantry soldier, the general, and two others that I can't think of right now!! We bought all five poses of 1 1/2 foot soldiers - where they are going to go, I have no idea!! But I do have 40 days to figure it out while I wait for them to arrive!!

Thankfully the kids did not talk us into buying this horse!! Can you imagine what the packers would think when we move back??!!

After the factory we finally got to go and visit the Terra Cotta Warriors - I was extremely excited!! This was the main reason why we came to Xi'an, to see one of the 8 wonders of the world!! These soldiers, apparently there were 6,000 made and only 2,000 have been discovered thus far, were found by a farmer looking for water in 1974!! The government has covered four huge pits that house the warriors. This is the original site where they were found and according to our guide, a robber helped the archeologists know where to dig. Now, he could only find the sites at night because that is when he would typically do his robbing - duh, we all should know that!!

This is pit 1 and it is the largest of the 4!
This is us at the other end of pit 1!

Every one of the 6,000 warriors has a different face. When they were made to protect Emperor Qin in the afterlife, they were all painted, but now when the archeologists unbury the pieces, the paint comes off within three days of being exposed. One can only imagine how magnificently real these soldiers must have looked when they were originally made. The generals are a towering 6 feet tall and the rest of the soldiers were a bit smaller!!

Here you can see a little bit of color that for some reason or another did not disappear!

They are still working at the sites and typically come in after 6:00 when the museum closes. Here are some of the pictures from different work areas. You can see that the soldiers are discovered in pieces and then put back together!

All of the pieces of the puzzle...

Almost done!

It was an amazing site and the kids even seemed to enjoy the 3 hours we spent there!! The rain came towards the end of the afternoon, so we decided to call it a day!!

Do I have a green thumb?

Only time will tell!! Over the past two weeks I have been spending time at the local flower market testing out my Chinese speaking ability and trying to figure out which plants will grow in this extremely dry climate!!

The plant market we have been going to is huge. I'm not sure how many buildings there are, but on Wednesday we also discovered there is a huge outside market behind one of the buildings! You can buy almost any type of plant, flower, cut flowers, or vases that you can imagine. You can also check out some genetically altered pink frogs if you fancy!!! It is fun to walk around, but very overwhelming. Both times I have been, I have made my "big" purchases from the vendors right by the door who are, of course, more expensive, but also much more convenient!!

This is part of the outside stalls that were selling vases!!

I purchased all of these plants, plus two huge planters for about $30!! I would love to go back and get more, but my front porch and balcony are being overrun by flowers and bikes, so I'm not sure if I have room!!

I have two of these on pillars.

I bought two of these planters and two sets of all the flowers!

The lemon plants are the two big ones in the back! I have no idea what the other flowers are called!!

For now I'll enjoy the fresh scent of lemons everytime I walk to the front door!!