I'm baaaack!

Yeah, I know...

Worst.

Blogger.

EVER!

But I am going to keep trying! :) My problem with blogging is that I tend to tell my stories in pictures and blogger does not make that very easy for me. Instead I have been putting most of my stories and all of my pictures on facebook but I would still like to blog so that when I am back home I can remember all of our adventures.

If I go missing and you want me to update just tell me! :)

Easter Eve 4-3-2010

The family and I had a fun family day today. =) We started off by checking out the new toys in the playroom. They got a cool new ball pit and some big kids set up a slide leading down to it. Mikayla and Declan had a ball (you know I had to do it) sliding into the pit over and over.

I had to get a few things to finish up the Easter baskets so I dragged everyone to the mall after we played. We were surprised to see a wedding fair taking place in front of the mall. Mikayla was so excited to see the "princesses" walking the catwalk in their beautiful dresses.



We got to enjoy some yummy Starbucks while shopping.

Mikayla and Daddy got to check out the fresh seafood while we were there. The prawns in the pile they are looking at were still moving and flopping all over the place. Talk about fresh!

Our friends, Ken and Jen, invited us over to color eggs. We all had so much fun! Mikayla and Declan love to do all sorts of arts and crafts so they were so excited.







Declan had to taste the paint as usual before getting to work. Mikayla is a serious artist and was the last kid coloring eggs! She stayed put until almost all the eggs were done.

We stayed and had some yummy pizza for dinner before having to come home so we could set out our eggs for the Easter Bunny to come and hide.


Mikayla wanted to put them on her stool by the door so the bunny would have no trouble finding them. She can't wait to find all of his great hiding spots!


After the munchkins were finally asleep mommy worked on their Easter Hats. I had no luck finding any baskets so I improvised and bought each kid a new hat and filled them with goodies. Daddy also haggled with a few people at the mall and managed to get some great Stitch and Mickey stuffed animals to finish off the hats. Lilo and Stitch is the current favorite movie in our house so I know the kids will flip over the dolls when they see them!Even daddy is getting an Easter Bowl (forgot to get him a hat!!) full of yummy treats. Some friends of ours just got home from one of their US trips and were so sweet to bring us a few Easter treats. Now that we have Peeps and Cadbury eggs our baskets are complete!!

Tomorrow we are going to an Easter Brunch and an Easter Egg hunt. If we are lucky we might also make it home in time to do the Egg hunt here at The Shama. What lucky kids we have!!

A day filled with learning.

I had a nice full day today. =-) The temporary apartment I live in is in a great building. It is a service apartment so not only does that include my much loved housekeeping 6 days a week but it also includes the "4th floor". The 4th floor rocks! They have a hot buffet breakfast there every morning which is soo yummy, an awesome playroom for the kids, they loan out books and movies, have a swimming pool, pool table, and gym, and even host events there.

Today they were having the first International Cooking Class there. As you all know I am the world's worst cook so anytime someone is having a class I need to be there! Declan and I made our way down to the 4th floor and he spent half his time in the playroom and half his time scoping out the food that was being cooked. He is one smart cookie and knew that eventually someone would feed him so he didn't want to wander far from the kitchen! Three different women demonstrated different dishes.

Yuri showed us how to make California rolls. Instead of just putting in Avocado, Crab and Cucumber she added different things to different rolls. Some of the things she used as fillings were: Tuna, Scrambled egg, teriyaki chicken, crab, cucumber and a few other things I can't remember right now. She also showed us how to roll the rolls with both the seaweed inside and outside the rice. She made it look so easy that I think even I can attempt to do it! I hope to find the ingredients over the next week and then give it a try. =-) Since there is not really anywhere to buy teriyaki sauce here she also gave us the recipe to make our own. I really look forward to giving that a try!

Sumi had several Indian dishes she was going to show us. We watched her make Rice Pulao, Chicken Curry, Pakodas, and a Sauce/Dip for the Pakodas that I did not catch the name for. Everything she made was so delicious! The rice had so much flavor in it but was still plain enough to eat with the curry. I usually do not like many currys because they tend to be too spicy for me. This one was just right and was oh so tasty! Declan ate about three small plates of the rice and even seemed to like the curry. The pakodas were interesting. She made a runny dough and then deep fried it and served it with the sauce/dip that she made. The cook thing about the pakodas is that although she made hers with cabbage as one of her main ingredients you could substitute just about anything for the cabbage and it still comes out great. Instead you could use potato, shrimp, fish, cauliflower, and much more! The possibilities seemed pretty endless. Yummy!

Anabelle finished us off with Filipino Leche Flan. I have had flan here and there but never remember being overly impressed with it. My mind was changed about flan today! The flan she made was so tasty and rich that I fantasized about grabbing the dish, putting my face in it and eating the whole thing up. =P Dream big ya'll! I will definitely be adding this to my favorite dessert lists!

I think they are going to try and do the cooking class once a month. I look forward to seeing what they do next! I think my hatred for cooking is mostly because I feel so lost in the kitchen. Watching people cook these dishes with confidence and seeing how easy they make it look makes me really want to try it out! Who knows...maybe they will make a cook out of me yet!

With our tummies full Declan and I came home and took a nap. I had to rest up for my next learning adventure...I was scheduled to take my first Yoga class later. Shama has arranged to do Yoga classes on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. I have heard such fantastic things about yoga so was eager to give it a shot. Whoooo Weeee....let me tell you! I knew it would not be easy but I was not expecting to feel so out of shape either! I was lucky that this was the very 1st class so not many people were able to make it today. There were only three of us. Thankfully I did not have a huge audience for my yoga debut! I managed to follow along and try to put my body into the poses the teacher (Theresa) did. She made it look so easy and effortless and I would love if one day I could make it look the same. I made it through the whole class without embarrassing myself too bad (almost tipped over onto my face or butt a few times) so I was pretty happy about how it went. I will see how my body reacts tomorrow...as long as I can get out of bed and still move around I will be happy.

Oh yeah...only one other thing of note happened today...We found out that our move in date to Haifu has been postponed. Huge bummer but we are not too upset because it is only postponed a few days. Cross your fingers for us that we still get to move in sometime next week!!!!

Easter is this Sunday??? Oh no!

Okay I am done making this blogging thing harder then it really is. I'm just going to ramble and if you like it you can keep reading. =-)

This week my goal has been to try and get ready for Easter. I just realized that Easter was coming a few days ago. My shipment which has all my Easter decorations, baskets, etc in it has not arrived yet so getting ready will not be as easy as it could have been. The bummer about it is that my shipment will arrive on Tuesday! Two days AFTER Easter. Grrr!

I had been dying to spend time looking at kids clothes in a few of the local malls. I wandered around one on Monday and ended up getting Mikayla a dress, Declan a shirt, and then went to a place where you can get sweaters made and got her a sweater, and him a matching vest made to order. They will be ready on Friday and I can't wait to see how they come out. I am still trying to figure out how the sizing works! Back home Mikayla is a 3 or 4T and here she seems to be either a 100 or a 110. The shirt I got Declan had no size in it so I have no idea what he would be.

Tomorrow a friend and I are going to try and find dye for the eggs. I am not sure how egg dying will go here since we eat brown eggs here. I hope dying them works because Mikayla and Declan will totally love it if it does. I am also going to try and get my driver to help me find a few small baskets and a few little toys to put in them. Wish me luck!

On a fun note...Some of the girls here are putting together a girls cruise for August. It is a 4 day cruise which stops in Korea and Japan. I am so excited and can't wait!

"Dragon Lifting Head" Haircuts

So yesterday I mentioned to my driver that Declan and Ken needed haircuts. He got very excited and said he needed one too and that he was going tomorrow. He spoke to me in Chinese and then tried to translate to me what he was saying. All I got from him was Tomorrow...February 2nd...Dragon and Haircut. To say I was confused would be a huge understatement. When he or I confuse each other our habit seems to be to just not and smile and say Ok!! Which is what I did.

A few hours later the kids and I were at home when he went to pick up Ken from work. I had not talked to Ken so it is pretty funny timing that on his drive home he asked Mr. Zhang to take him for a haircut. Mr. Zhang told him No, No, No! and that he had to go tomorrow. He apparently did the same thing he did with me and Ken got the same thing I did. Tomorrow...February 2nd...Dragon...and Haircut. But since they communicate better he also found out that he was calling tomorrow February 2nd because that is what it was on the old Chinese Calendar and that Good Luck was involved.

Since we are eager to try just about everything here and wanted to try and figure out what was going on the kids and I went to Intel with Mr. Zhang to pick him up for work. We figured we would go get the Good Luck haircuts afterwards. Ken decided to ask Mr. Zhang to take him to a new salon to go get his haircut because he did not like his last haircut. Mr. Zhang offered to take him to the salon he goes to in his neighborhood so off we went. Ok...the salon...it was the smallest little salon ever. One place to wash hair, three haircut stations, and get this...a cell phone store! I love China! The boys got their hair cut (they both look so handsome!!) while Mikayla and I watched. I think Ken got a much better haircut this time because Mr. Zhang helped translate what he wanted. When it was Declan's turn we just pointed to Ken's head and said to do the same. =-) It helps having the two of them look like twins!

After the haircuts Mr. Zhang wanted to take us out to dinner at one of his favorite restaurants. It was oh so yummy and fun. =-) It was a very small place and Mikayla was her usual popular self. She made friends with many people and had people asking to have their picture taken with her. For some reason here in China people love to take pictures with her like she is famous. They all smile big and put their fingers into a peace sign. Mikayla cracked us up today by automatically putting her two fingers up today as well. I love that little girl!

So even though I should be asleep it was driving me crazy that I did not know why today was a special haircut day. I googled a few things with the date but got nothing. Then I googled China Dragon Haircut and Voila! Below is the answer for you to enjoy. =-)

March 17, 2010 "Just a month after the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations began, here comes another tradition, to have a haircut on the second day of the second month, or Er Yue Er, to hope for good luck for the whole year.

China's barber shops are seeing one of their busiest days of the year Wednesday, Er Yue Er, also known as Longtaitou (dragon raises head) day on the lunar calendar this year.

Many Chinese hold the superstitious belief that getting a haircut when the "dragon also raises its head" means they will have a vigorous start to the new year, but if a person has a haircut during the first month of the lunar year, his maternal uncle will die.

As a result, barbershops stay open almost 18 hours a day in the pre-Lunar New Year rush for haircuts that last for at least two weeks.

While women like to spruce up for the holiday, even men with short hair like to get a trim up before the new years begins lest their hair grows too long before their next haircut, scheduled on the second day of the second lunar month.

A Chinese legend goes that a poor barber loved his uncle dearly but could not afford a decent new year's gift for him. So he gave his uncle a nice haircut that made the old man look many years younger. His uncle said it was the best gift he had ever had and wished to get a haircut every year from him.

After his uncle died the barber missed him very much and cried every new year. Over the years, his "thinking of his uncle" (si jiu) was interpreted as "death of uncle" because in Chinese, their pronunciations are almost the same.

Cao Baoming, vice chief of China Society for the study of Fold Literature and Art says the lucky haircut tradition comes from the Chinese's worship of the dragon, as people believe it symbolizes luck.

"the lucky tradition which goes back thousand of years reflects people's wish to have a happy life," Cao said. "

Now I can finally get some sleep! I only wish I would have thought to take the camera today! Hope to write more SOON!!

Bad, Bad, Blogger!

Okay for everyone who knows me you know I SUCK at returning emails and phone calls. So I guess it is no surprise that I am not very good at keeping up my blog either. I will defend myself by saying I have started about 10 blogs but never get a chance to do much on them because of the kids so I usually just delete them! =P I have one started about my trips to the Traditional Chinese Medical Center which I will try and post right after this one! I am going to attempt again to keep this up because I really do want my friends and family to see what we are up to and get to enjoy our adventure along with us.

Miss you all!!!!

How many stores did you shop at to get stuff for dinner?

I really do love China. =-) I love the fact that I get to get out of the house every day and have an adventure. I love that just getting supplies for dinner counts as an adventure! I love that almost every store I go into is full of new, exciting, and fun things to look at.

Tonight the family and I had Tacos. Back home that would mean a trip to Bashas or Frys. Here that means so much more! This is what I had to do to make Tacos:

Go to butcher (AKA "Meat Shop" according to my driver).
Pick out piece of beef to have ground. Butcher either grinds chunk of meat once or twice depending on what you ask for.
Wait for butcher to find calculator so that he can show you how much the meat costs since I still do not know my Chinese numbers! I swear I am working on it. =-)
Go to indoor vegetable market (I really need to take my camera so I can show this place off) I also LOVE the outdoor veggie market but I was in a "rush".
Once inside the market pick from the dozen or so vendors to buy from.
Pick out what you want (lettuce and tomato), how much of it you want, and then barter price.
Go to Jin Ma (AKA Stinky Market by all the Expats...If you walked in you would know why!)
Once in Jin Ma Mall (Sp?) go to the basement where the food is sold. Hunt down import booth and find frozen tortillas (This was my first time trying them...they rocked and were only 15 RMB for 12 tortillas).
Go to Sunny's Imports (black olives and refried beans)
Now with all of that plus things I had on hand (Taco seasoning from the USA, Whipping Cream from a store called Metro, and white vinegar from a store called Tesco) I can finally make dinner!

All I had to do when I came home was cook and season the meat, soak the veggies in veggie wash and then cut it up, make sour cream, and warm up the beans and tortillas.

The whipping cream and vinegar are used to make sour cream which is impossible to get here. You take a cup of the cream and a tablespoon of vinegar and magically have sour cream. =-) Next I want to learn how to make ricotta cheese.

I am off to plan dinner for tomorrow now...I wonder how many stores I will have to go to.

Yummi kiwi and the most evil game on the planet!

I feel like I never have a spare minute to write here. =-( Declan is totally in his terrible two's and keeps me busier then I have ever been in my life! I have much to write about but will start at the most recent and attempt to work backwards as I have time.

Last night the family and I just hung out at home. It was nice to just relax at home for a change. I had run out the to store, the bakery, and the butcher earlier in the day in order to get supplies for hanbaobaos (hamburgers) which were totally yummy. While shopping I stopped at an outdoor vendor I had been dying to try and got the kids a yummy treat. Several vendors sell fruit on a stick which has been dipped in a sugar dip which makes the fruit super shiny like glass. They almost look too pretty to eat. I decided to get the kids a Kiwi stick and gave it to them before bathtime since I knew they would get super sticky. The treat was a huge hit with all of us and I look forward to trying other fruits in the future.

After the sugar high wore off and the kids went to sleep Ken and I decided to play the new game I had bought while shopping. I bought Monopoly China Edition and challenged him to a game. I have no idea what possesed me to buy Monopoly since I had not played it in several years and used to leave almost every game in tears (yes Jimmy you know why!). So Ken and I started playing and I was lucky to start off with a great lead! I was broke but owned like two thirds of the properties. Ken offered me a trade that I stupidly gave him which gave him a whole set of properties that he immediately built up into houses and hotels. Next thing I know I am out of money and all my properties were mortgaged. Whoops. Even though we did discover that Monopoly brings out the ugly in people I still want a rematch. =P Wish me luck because I think I will need it!

I will pop on soon to try and update what has been going on the last two weeks and add pictures of our recent trip to the Great Wall as well as pictures from Chinese New Year which is STILL being celebrated. =-)

Family Field Trip - Haibin Road and Dalian Museum of Natural History

So the munchkins and I were feeling kind of stir crazy since we have been housebound due to bronchitis. Ken came up with the idea of taking a scenic drive so that we could get out of the house but still stay nice and warm. We decided to check out Haibin (Costal) Road. It was a beautiful road along the sea with a ton to look at. I didn't take many pictures this time because we are totally going to do the drive when it is warmer and we can get out an many stops to have a closer look.

We did get out of the car once at the Tiger Statue. Mikayla wanted to see the water and the rest of us just wanted to explore. We did not last long out of the car because it was C-C-C-COLD! It was very beautiful though which made it worth the chill. I was very amused because Ken and Declan were wandering around and had stopped to look at the water and the view. There were not many people out at the statues but within a minute the few who were there surrounded Ken to get a look at Declan. Declan is our little star and has fans everywhere he goes. People love to try and hold his hand or pet his hair. He loves to stick his tongue out at them or try to give high fives. Little monkey!

Daddy and Declan checking out the view:


Declan's fans:

After checking out the statues we drove the rest of the road. Mikayla crashed out but Declan still enjoyed the ride. He loves to point out the things he knows the names of. So far he points out cars, trucks, buses, trees, and water. Pretty soon he will be chatting our ears off like his sister!






Near the end of the road was the Dalian Museum of Natural History so we decided to stop there as well. Declan LOVED this place. He was so excited and in awe of just about everything. Mikayla enjoyed it as well and really seemed to be facinated by the fish they had displayed. I don't know if the museum is free every day or if we just got lucky but we were not charged to go in. Our driver was with us and spoke to the people at the desk but when he told us what they said he said it in Chinese so I am still clueless. I really need to start taking my chinese lessons!!! I found it crazy that while we were touring the museum they had areas that they were working on not blocked off. There was a guy who had sparks flying from his tools right above where we were looking at an elephant display. Declan and Mikayla found it very cool and were excited by it. =P

Applesauce

I made my first homemade applesauce last night. It was one of the easiest things I have ever made so I don't know why I am so proud of myself. =P

A friend of mine was given a huge box of apples and gave me a few bags full. I don't have the supplies yet to make apple pie and I didn't want them to go bad so I decided to try making applesauce. All I had to do was peel them, cut them, boil them, and smoosh them and TADA applesauce. I didn't even need to add sugar. The kids love it and I felt like a good housewife. Now if I can just learn to cook dinner!

Static and Scales

So as everyone knows I am not a cold weather person. I like the heat and summer hence living in Arizona! So can someone tell me if this crazy static is a cold weather thing?? It is so bad here! Poor Mikayla and I have hair that stands up on end many days. Also our clothes are very clingy and when the kids walk in their jammies in the dark I can see sparks flying from them! It doesn't help that we can't dry things with a dryer sheet to help out with this! Any tips? Do I just have to wait this out until spring??

I think we are also growing scales. Within the first few days our skin dried out and we ran out to buy lotion. I think we need to make another trip to the store because we are almost out. Poor sensitive Declan has patches on his cheeks that even Vaseline hasn't been able to cure. Who knew winter came with such odd treats?? I might have to start sleeping with Vaseline and gloves on my hands so they can stop hurting!

Happy Birthday Little Princess!

I can't believe Mikayla has only been in my life three years! It has been so amazing watching her grow up. At 3 she has so much personality and keeps her daddy and I on our toes.

I knew that we would want to celebrate her day somehow but I didn't even know where we would be living when her birthday came around. I was told we would move into our new house 3 days before her birthday so I did not think a party was possible. When our move in date got pushed back and we found out we would still be in the hotel Ken and I quickly planned a party for her so that she could enjoy the day with friends. We have been very lucky to meet some amazing families here already. The kids have also been lucky because almost everyone we have met here has kids so they already have met many playmates.

Mikayla went to bed on Friday night so excited because we told her that Saturday was her birthday and that her friends were coming over to celebrate with her. She woke up asking if it was her Birthday Party yet. =-) Her friends arrived and since Daddy had found a local Pizza Hut (yes, an actual Pizza Hut) everyone enjoyed a pizza lunch. We have tried pizza at a few places the last few trips to Dalian and although some were good they were not quite what we were used to so it was awesome to find out that Pizza Hut tasted the same. After lunch we took all the kids down to our playground and they got to run and jump and scream off some energy before returning to the room for cake and gifts. I was thrilled when we opened the cakes because they were just about perfect. I was even more thrilled when we tasted the cake and it was actually yummy. The cakes ended up being yellow cake with whipped cream frosting. They were not as sweet as cakes back home but they were still very tasty. Mikayla made me laugh because as soon as Ken lit the candles we all started to sing Happy Birthday to her. We had only sang the first line and she blew out the candles! She has been waiting since the last birthday party she went to for it to be her turn to blow out candles so she just went for it. After everyone went home she got to skip nap and watch "Princess and the Frog" twice while playing with all of her new toys. I dozed off while she watched the movie and played but was woken up several times to help her change a Barbie or bear outfit, put on her new jewelry, put stickers on a toy elephant, or help her put marker caps back on. I think she was eager to play with all the toys by herself before Brother woke up and she had to share!

Getting cheesy with her cake:

Yummy!

All in all it was a great day for us all. Mikayla enjoyed herself and loved her party and being the Birthday Girl. Thank you to everyone who came out to help us celebrate.

The birthday girl posing with her gifts:

The Cakes: