Super Gross!

I don't even know if I should be posting these pictures, but I am still in shock that someone did this and thinks it is okay!! My driver, whom I am very fond of, has a little cold. I knew right away that he wasn't feeling well when he pulled up with a big box of kleenex in the front seat. I didn't think too much about it until I took a good look at him and saw kleenex pieces stuck up his nose. I was disturbed about this, but it got worse when I found the little pieces all over my grass and driveway. Yuck, yuck, yuck!

A Perfect Fit!!

Mei mei has turned out to be the perfect fit into our family!! We all love her to pieces and I'm pretty sure she feels the same way!! She enjoys lazy days of playing catch, learning to sit, playing Wii, learning the piano, and cuddling with all of us!! We have decided to crate train her because that is what we did with our other pups! Ayi did not like this practice, but now she is amazed that Mei rarely has an accident!! She explained to me that her dog has a pan in the bathroom that she uses - can you imagine how stinky that gets?!! But, ayi is a huge help and Mei seems to love her too!

I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about getting a dog while we are in China. First off, the buying process really scared me and then I was worried about the health of the dog we chose. I was also concerned about the travel we do, and about getting the puppy back to the US when it is time (it was heartbreaking to leave Jenni and I knew we couldn't do it again). Now, I am so thankful that we found our little Mei. She makes our house feel like a home. When we leave and then come back she is so eager for us to pick her up and cuddle. Ellie has possibly found her calling - she absolutely adores Mei mei. She takes her for walks, feeds her, and teaches her tricks - she is amazing with her!

Up high and freaking out!

On one of our beautiful days in Hong Kong, I got the great idea to take a cable car up into the mountains to see the Tian Tan Buddha Statue in Ngong Ping Village. We were at Disney and the weather was perfect - the sky was clear and there was no wind. I knew we had another day in Disney and I knew the weather wasn't guaranteed to be perfect again, so I convinced everyone that this was a good idea and off we went! Straight away I knew we may run into some issues. When we got to the ticket window the woman told us that the walk up to the Buddha closed at 5:30 - it was 4:30 at the time. I looked at her strangely because I thought the whole ride would only take about 15 minutes, not 45! But, we were there and we thought that we would at least see the Buddha (it was giant right?!!).

We first saw this sign as we were entering the cable car - we all kind of laughed it off - it was a beautiful day!

Here we are at the beginning of the journey - giddy with excitement.

And as the cable car climbed up the mountain, the wind began, the clouds came, and I began to freak out.

As you can see, we couldn't even see out the cable car because we were stuck in a cloud! It was so windy and freezing cold - what was I thinking?!! Then when we were about halfway up, the entire apparatus stopped and we watched as men in winter gear were running around yelling trying to fix something. Not exactly what I was hoping to see! I looked at Danny and told him that maybe this is what Everest is like (remember I was in complete panic mode!!)!

We did finally make it to the top and this was as close as we could get to the Buddha covered in layers of clouds!

We also got the opportunity to see wild oxen all over the place, which possibly made the trip worth it?!! I don't think so, but it was quite entertaining watching the locals try and chase them!

I will just chalk this ride up to another adventure to add to the many we have had while living in China. I can say if you come and visit us and want to ride the cable car in Hong Kong, I am going to have to pass - it was a bit too exciting for me!!

A Magical Day!!

One of the main reasons we go to Hong Kong is to enjoy Disneyland with the kids. After our first trip last December, we couldn't wait to come back! It is considerably smaller than Disney World, but the little touches are all still there and our kids love it. We love the fact that we can walk on almost all of the rides, and the kids think it is great that they can ride the same ride over and over and over again!! We also can walk around the entire park and do most attractions in 1/2 a day (of course, we always get a 2 day pass because I can't get enough!)! We love the fact that we can walk from our resort to the park and it is a beautiful walk. We also love that the characters really interact with the kids - they come to the hotel and they walk around the park and will stop and talk to you. This is not allowed in Disney World, so it is a nice little touch that makes you realize that sometimes bigger is not necessarily better!!

This trip we discovered that El's favorite ride is still Space Mountain, Eens is undecided between Jungle Cruise (even though he cried on it the first time, he begged to go on it again!) and Buzz Lightyear, and Coop's favorite is now Orbitron (a bit like Dumbo except you are in a spaceship!)! The kids also really enjoyed the parade, eating ice cream and drinking coke icees!

We started our day off with breakfast with the characters in our hotel. Eens, as usual, tortured them. (Remember this summer Steph?!!) Thank goodness he is charming or else I don't think they would be too happy! Doesn't he just look a bit naughty??!! I'm not sure what goes through his mind when he sees a person in a costume and a plastic head!!
After breakfast we went to the park and enjoyed 2 wonderful days together!!

Just trying to fit in with the locals!!

Aren't the signs great?! All signs have Mandarin, Cantonese, and English on them. Danny loved the fact that he should be sober before riding Winnie the Pooh! It actually might be more entertaining if you had a little something to drink!

Look, no lines!!

After our wonderful days at the park, we walked along the South China Sea, back to our hotel!

Once again, Disney exceeded all of our expectations!! Our next Disney stop is hopefully Tokyo Disney!

Sanity Break!

I realize it must appear that we travel quite a bit, but I call these mini holidays we take, our “sanity breaks”! We need these “sanity breaks” to help us stay positive and keep us appreciating the many different ways of life in Asia!

This weekend we were able to spend four days in one of our favorite places, Hong Kong! I love Hong Kong because there is something for everyone...shopping for mommy, eating for daddy, and playing for the kiddos! We were blessed with beautiful weather and, thankfully, healthy children!

Not too many things are straight forward in China, so when I went to book the tickets on a Chinese website, I should have known that what appeared to be so easy would somehow turn into a bit of a nightmare! I booked our tickets directly to Hong Kong from Tianjin, which is great because the airport is 15 minutes away from the Disneyland Resort Hotel where we stay! After many phone calls with C-trip (the internet site!), I had all the tickets ready. (When you fly to Hong Kong, it is considered international still). The Thursday before we were scheduled to leave I received another call from C-trip - our flight to Hong Kong had been cancelled by the airline and could we just go on Friday. Danny and I really wanted to have 2 full days exploring, so we decided that we would just fly to Shenzhen (city close to HK border in mainland China) and take a bus across the border to Hong Kong. One would think this would be easy enough to change, but I ended up on the phone about 20 more times, had my credit card denied due to so many charges and refunds being put on it by this company, and in the end, Danny's co-worker booked the tickets for me!! So much for my independence in China!!

In the end, things actually went smoothly and our trip to Shenzhen was just fine!! I was so excited that we were going to ride a bus across the border. I kept telling Danny that I was really becoming a "local". He was not quite as amused by the whole thing. We were both picturing a very crowded bus, and in the end, he was very happy, and maybe I was a bit disappointed. After we bought our tickets for the bus, we were led into a VIP area for about 10 minutes while we waited for our bus. Then we were escorted to the awaiting bus, which was air conditioned and very nice. After that we were taken to the border crossing where we unloaded, walked through security, got our passports stamped, walked out and boarded a bus for Hong Kong. It was just too civilized for me!! I guess maybe I will just have to get on a Tianjin bus and ride it's route to get a true China bus experience!!

This was very interesting...this man came on and videotaped all of us on the bus. We later found out that they do this in case you get robbed so you could possibly identify who it was!!

The journey did take up a good part of our day, but after we checked into our hotel, we made time for some shopping. My dear Brits have gotten us hooked on one of their large department stores, Marks and Spencer. I love their food items and have decided that their cookies are my new Girl Scout cookies for the time being!! I buy boxes and yet, they are still gone within days!! To get around Hong Kong this trip, we decided to be like the locals and take the marvelous public transportation system called the MTR. At most of the stations, you walk right out and there is a huge mall - can you imagine just jumping off the train, having a shop and then going to the next station to shop some more. You can understand how happy I was and how irritated Danny became as the night went on!!

This was one of the malls we visited! I believe it had 13 floors of food and retail!!Even though we weren't on the "mainland" anymore, they still had plenty of fakes. I thought this guy was great with his rolling purse store!! I'm assuming he needs to move quite frequently to assure he doesn't get into trouble!
After a long day on public transportation, Eens still had energy to smile for his mommy!!

A day in the life of kindy!

Today I was able to spend the day with my dear, sweet, rambunctious Eens! Every morning the children present the "Today Show", which is a very detailed, student run circle time. They each have a certain day of the week and each week they have a different role to play. It is a fantastic way for the children to improve their oral communication skills and it has really given Eens confidence to speak in front of others! I wish my teachers would have done something like this starting in Kindergarten. I used to be so shy speaking in front of others (now, not so much!)!

Today Eens was the host of the show, so I was very excited to get to watch him! The different segments for today were weather and calendar, Mr. Bear, what number am I?, topic talk, and something special. The kids all take it very seriously and each week they are given a score on their performance. It has been very fun to watch Ethan's scores improve as the year goes on. He went from speaking very soft and mumbling the way Eens does, to now lifting his head and speaking loud and clearly!

After the "Today Show" we boarded the bus and went to the Tianjin Planning Museum. We could not bring our cameras in, which is unfortunate because there was a very cool model of the city of Tianjin. It gave me a much better perspective of how big this city of 10 million really is. The kids all seemed to enjoy looking at all the models of city, while getting in trouble every so often for trying to pick up the miniature cars!!

We went to McDonald's for lunch and the kids couldn't have been happier. Especially when they were given money to buy their own ice cream. Yum!!

Next stop was Ancient Culture Street where we could take pictures, but my battery pack died!! It figures because I really wanted to take pictures of all the lanterns that were still up from Lantern Festival and Eens, of course! The kids were given a picture treasure hunt while we were walking down the street. It is always fun to see places through a child's eyes!

A new place to play

Recently, a very good friend introduced us to a new place to play inside and have birthday parties! I do not have high expectations of kids play places here in China due to the fact that most of the ones we have went to are dirty, not functional, or so busy that it is impossible for the children to play! This new place actually makes the kids use sanitizer before they can play and they must also take off their shoes straight away. This puts my mind at ease a bit! It also has plenty of room for the children and they provide supervision!

Last Saturday we went to a birthday party there. All of the kids had a ball running around, riding in the cozy coupes, playing the computers, and eating the yummy food that they serve! I had to giggle when Tigger came out carrying our friend's birthday cake!! Such a China thing to do since they love cartoon characters!! But, I must admit, my kids were very enthralled with the whole thing!!