Chinese Foot Massage

Your feet are supposed to be the map of your entire body, and where you hurt during the massage is where your body is not doing well. 

At the end of they lit an herb stick - smelled like marajuna to me, and held it close to my feet. It made my heart race like crazy.  It was very odd!

Go to the basement for the "good" stuff

I went shopping in BJ's silk market last week with a friend.  She told me all about asking them to see their basement merchandise. I got caught in the emotion and bought three bags....you have to know that I have had one black and one brown handbags that I have owned for 15 and 23 years.  So I am experiencing buyers remorse right now. 

A couple of things that I learned from the exprience.  Being in the basement far away from all the other hand bags is not a good way to decide which bag you like.  #2 lighting in the basement makes all of the colors look different. #3 They show you all of the expensive catalogues from Burberry, Gucci, etc., then they pull out the items - which by that time you are mentally in the mindset that you are bargaining on the real deal.  Instead you should be saying that these are all knock offs that I can buy from any of the 200 vendors upstairs.....I spent $500 on 3 bags - what was I thinking.  I got home and looked on the internet  - they are definitely knock offs!

Betsy, if you are reading this you will have to tell me how much knock offs sell on the streets of NYC.

Mom, I want to remeber this moment forever!

Here is to Gavin!

popular hair style

Never in America

You have to love China - This is what all the ward members were stepping in and breathing in all last Sunday.

Car Museum

When I told the teacher to take the boys to the car museum, I knew that they would like it....but when they asked to go 3 times in one week I started to get a little suspicious......I was right - there were rides there!

Olympics at the Bird's Nest

We took the boys to the Olympic Park in Beijing during the Olympics.  It was only because of Jack constantly asking to go to the Bird's Nest....for some reason he is really fixed on that building.  When we got their there were all kinds of TV's to watch the Olympics and fun sports for kids to do.....and even more surprising - hardly anyone was there! 

Gavin and Sam playing basket ball while China played basket ball in the Olympics.

New Veggies

It always surprises me how many different fruits/vegetables there are in the world, and Americans eat such a narrow variety.  Here is a plant and the raised circles are little peas that you can peel and eat. Both the boys enjoyed them.

Gavin Human Body School

Gavin wants to learn all about the human body, and has asked me to send him to human body school.  So on this day I took him to the science museum where he learned about MRIs, AIDS, nutrition, etc.  Here is Gavin in their MRI machine.

Gavin Pays Tithing

Gavin talked to me the other day and asked abou paying tithing.  He was so excited when I told him that he could - he was jumping up and down shouting - Yeah! I get to feel the spirit! He was talking about how he wanted to be a Bishop someday so that he could feel the spirit even stronger. 

As the day approached we talked about witholding 10% of his weeks wages he earned for speaking with his brothers in Chinese.  He was very excited to give the Bishop the money. 

Then he asked how much money would the Bishop give him.  I told him nothing - then he was really disapointed, and we talked about the spiritual blessings of tithig.  The day before Sunday he lost his weeks wages in a cab. So it was my 2 RMB in the envelope - but Gavin was super happy! 

Coffee Gum

Not sure that this is a big hit in China - as they do not drink coffee, but I thought it was interesting.

robot dinosaur rides

We went to a park that was featuring dinosaurs.  They had an area where you could ride around on your own ontop of a dinosaur. It was pretty cool actually, but it was 1.50 for  minutes - which is pretty pricey. Gavin and Jack decided it was worth it, and that is how they chose to spend their money.  Jack charmed the guys running the rides and the boys rode all of the dinosaurs for 2 hours for free! 

Funny Chinese Signs

.....there wasn't a line. Maybe they are onto something.

A little bit of  double entandra - as parks are for lovers.

Cockroach Sandwhich

The teacher caught a prey mantise, and we decided to see what he would do with one of our cockroaches (you can see the roach in the bottom right of the container).

He grabbed him, and ate a little cockroach sandwich!  After he was done we let him go. 

Up until now we were seeing 30-40 roaches a day. All of a sudden they disappeared - which is more alarming than the roaches, because you know it will give us cancer in 10 years.  I have only see 4-5 roaches in the past 3-4 days.

Most incredible day at the art museum

I took the boys to an art museum. The goal was to take pictures of the paintings that we liked the most, and then we would find some place to picnic and paint. But inside the museum you feel so much inspiration so we broke out the paints.  The boys absolutely loved it, and Gavin did such a great job replicating his favorite painting then we got to compare the original with his painting. 

Of course in the middle we got approached by  woman carrying a walkie talkie  -  I thought we were doomed, but she just asked us to clean up after ourselves.  It was a very surprising outcome!

Ever wanted to know what a 2 year old in a port o crib looks like.....

We have a ton of beds. We just can't get Jack to sleep in any of them.

Dress up - It doesn't get better!

The pillows are their shields....I think that this has vintage photo written all over it!  See you in 20 years!

Jack the Clown

We painted on this day, and Jack used his hands as the brush, and his face as the canvas....then he ate yoghurt. Still as cute as ever!

Induldging in Chinese Traditional Medicine

While we are in China Gavin is learning about Traditional Chinese Medicine. This day he learned about cupping, and then we went for a session.  To get the cups to stick on your back they dip a cotton ball in alcohol, set it on fire, insert it in a cup, and quickly put the cup and flame quickly on your back (or legs, arms, etc.).  It is supposed to increase circulation and help your body heal the affected area.

I couldn't believe Gavin was brave enough to try it!  I love how adventurous he is....you can see Sam in the back ground.  He wanted no part of it.

Legal sword fighting

I took the boys to a place where they could try fencing. It was awesome!  We might have to do this in the United States when we get back.....or install the equipment in our basement!

Good bye to classmates

Gavin and Sam's classes gave them a special good bye - they took a lot of photos, and everyone hugged.  Gavin and Sam gave stickers to everyone.  It has been a great experience for Gavin especially.  It will feel weird to send Sam to preschool next year for 2 1/2 hours - a big change from a 10 hour day.

Making Tofu - so easy!

Gavin looks great in an apron!  He is adding rehydrated soy beans and water into the manual grinder.

Jack and Sam both got involved....although Jack mainly just moved furniture around the room.

After the bean mush comes out of the grinder you squeeze out all of the bean juice. The bean juices is what is used to make both the tofu and the soy milk.

A liquid is added to make the bean juice currdle - citric acid maybe (all instruction was in Chinese).

You laddle the curds into the square.

You squeeze everything together.

Viola!

We have never been able to get Jack to drink milk, but he will chow down on tofu (seen above) and soy milk!

Jack doing his best Besty Impersonation

Beijing Taxis

The are notorious for being picky drivers.  It is not uncommon to have one stop and decide he does not like where you are going, and refuse to give you a ride.  The reason can be as simple as it requires him to do a U turn and head in the other direction...crazy!  BUT if you dial 96103 you can schedule a taxi to pick you up....and they offer service in nearly perfect English! The taxi usually arrives within 5 minutes unless it is rush hour/raining/etc.  If it is, they probably cannot find a driver for you.

A clean puddle...a golden opportunity

It rains a lot in Beijing during the Summer.....a complete flip from the bitter, dry cold of Beijing winters.  We found a clean puddle and the boys had a great time.  Jack stripped off all of his clothes and went for it.  The locals thought it was all pretty funny.  Our teacher told me that locals would never let their children play like this. 

Chaoyang Park and Sony Museum

The Sony Museum was great - a lot of music/sound experiements.  The museum is located inside Chaoyang Park which is the Central Park of Beijing.  We then rented an electric boat, and had a picnic and floated around a little.

We are out of school

Which means a lot of museums, local excursions, working at the local hutong (market), sample lessons....here the boys are at the aero space museum.  Not exactly well behaved....but it isn't church so I figured we are okay. No one was there anyway!

Testing the mood of the new turtles

Yes, we bought three new turtles....the other ones died and were left at parks.  I am not a big fan of the new turtles.  They really do not like the boys.  We put them on the iPad and ran them through a mood test.....

Mixed Emotions...hmmm.

Dinosaur Museum

Gavin's new favorite museum is the dinosaur museum....unfortunately it is an hour away in a cab.  We'll wait until we get to Utah. 

Was happy that know one freaked out when Jack jumped into one of the exhibits....it is hard to keep all three boys under control at the same time....not something people who have only one child understand!

Anyone sick of learning Chinese Character yet???

I think that everyone in the house is sick of this (okay - Sam is dying to learn).  We try to make it fun, but now we are at 525 characters, and they are getting harder and harder...but Gavin will start reading books instead of work books next week. We will see how he does!

Hands, Foot, Mouth....and Butt Disease

We got Hand/Foot/Mouth.  It struck Sam's butt.  Doesn't hurt or itch, but it has been 3 weeks and his poor little bum is still healing.

Guitars and Violins

Gavin wants to play both the guitar and the violin. When he finished book 5 of his Chinese Characters book (450 characters memorized now), I promised him a guitar.  He did it! His brothers are benefiting from Gavin's hard work. We went to the area of Beijing where they sell instruments.  Sam got a guitar and Jack got a violin (although he calls it "Jack Jack's guitar").

Jack and his "guitar"

Love how Jack wants to strap his violin to his back and take it everywhere!

This is the boys playing guitar with Tommy over FaceTime

Lego Robotics Class

We took a free trial Lego robotics class in Beijing.  It was awesome. Aftewards Gavin said that he wishes that he could go to Lego class every day.  We aren't signing him up. They want $1,000 US Dollars for 32 classes....not going to happen!  Note to self - get Gavin signed up for Lego camp next year! Found one at Thanksgiving Point for full days for one week - $135.  I love Utah!

Contest in a local mall

Gavin signed up for a contest in a local mall. There was hopscotch, some bean bag tosses, and hula hooping.  He got top prize....but not for his mad skills....probably only for being the only non Chinese person participating. It took him a while to muster the courage to get up on stage, but he was super jazzed about all of his new toys - a toy wind up frog, some legos, and some other trinkets.