The Great Wall

When Tommy was here in May he took the boys to hike the Great Wall. Gavin had been asking me for a couple of months if we could go....but when the time came he had a very hard day.

Floating the Dragon Boats at Tshingua University

This is Gavin carrying all of the boats we made to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival. 

Their maiden voyage!

Asia Fashion

If you look at Fu Laoshi you will see that she is wearing a pink sleeve/shawl...I don't know what it is called in English - but you see people wearing these all over Beijing to protect their arms from the sun....or to prevent tanning. I am not quit sure.

Catching Butterfiles

Gavin was trying to catch a butterfly with his hands, and it wasn't working. On the way into the apartment he noticed an old window screen, and asked me if I could do something with it to help him catch a butterfly. So I stiched it together and around an old hoop and wooden spoon.....30 minutes later we had both a buttefly net and a butterfly. Gavin was very, very happy.

Dragon Boat Festival Boats

This weekend was Dragon Boat Festival. The boys have been sick with Hand/Foot/Mouth so we haven't really been able to take them anywhere to celebrate. So instead they made their own little boats and we took them to a pond at one of the local universities.

 

Sam refusing to model with his boat...

Gavin's creation

Fu Laoshi's (our teacher) boat

It is 80-100 degrees outside every day and Jack wants to put on a hat....not just any old hat, but winter hats.  Where I used to get lectured about not keeping my kids bundled, I now here complaints about Jack being too hot.  I figure that if he gets too hot he'll sacrifice fashion for comfort.  I will let him make that decision. Stay tuned for his favorite hat - a Santa Clause hat that gets a lot of chuckles....

100 Days of visa checks

100 days of visa checks foreigners started Middle of May.  It is pretty easy - they just stop everyone that does not look Chinese....and I do not look Chinese.  I have been stopped once already and they asked to see my passport and residency card....both which were at the Public Security Bureau at the time.  They asked me a bunch of questions, tested to see if I knew any Chinese (I am here on a student visa),  checked me on the computer - then let me go.....it still makes me nervous.