Update

I would love to list the excuses for not updating sooner but I'm pretty sure it simply comes down to 3 kids, an addiction to reading and serious procrastination.  That sums it up rather well.  So now the amount of info and pictures I have accumulated in the last 4 months seems basically overwhelming.  We have been back in China for almost 7 weeks which is kinda crazy.  We had a great time in America, good visit at both parents and we topped it off with a vacation in San Diego with some awesome friends.  Here is a short recap of our 8 weeks in the States.

First in Wyoming:

Then in Iowa

 Then San Diego

 

San Diego was beautiful, I would have loved to see more of the city but with young kids you just cannot beat the beach!  The girls could spend weeks playing with sand, chasing birds, and digging like dogs without getting tired of it :) 

We flew out of LAX back on Shanghai in the middle of September.

Jet lag hit us real real hard when we got back.  We decided to take a nap a couple days after getting back, after we got up around 4:30 we tried to get the girls up.  This was the scene after about 30 minutes of us shaking them, walking them, propping them up, anything to try to get them awake.  At this point we gave up put them back in bed and greeted them about 2am when they were 'up' for the day.  So brutal.

About 4 days after returning Kenz started school.  The school is a local kindergarten that is part of our complex.  The Chinese do not get serious about school until about 2nd grade so it is pretty lax academically.  But that is a good thing for Kenz because this is a Chinese school.  They call it an Englond (not my misspelling) English school but they do not teach in English.  There is one Chinese teacher who is about 40% fluent and one teacher from Russia who speaks English, otherwise everything is in Chinese.  Our hope is that she will learn the language, our reality for the first couple weeks was that she was very against learning Mandarin.  However, things have improved greatly.  She now loves school, she has an afternoon art class once a week, she has made a lot of friends, she loves her teachers and she is starting to speak Chinese!  She doesn't let on to me at all that she has accepted the idea but in the morning when I drop her off I hear her responding to people in Chinese.  I do not have any idea what she is saying but it seems like a good thing.  

Most people in the urban areas of China would argue that they do not care if they have a boy or girl, that the idea that China is getting rid of their girls is old and outdated.  They argue that the educated people of China want girls as much as they want boys.  Interestingly I did a head count in Kenzie's class yesterday.  There were 13 boys and 7 girls including her, this is not unusual in the classes in her school.  Their are two classes for each age group from ages 3-6 years old.  Although the educated people here argue against gender selection the reality amongst the people here is not really changing that much.  It goes deeper than this, it is imbedded in the culture here.  Ideas like it is dangerous for little girls to have ice cream at night because girls should not eat anything cold after dinner.  As of October 1 no matter the temperature all little children should be wearing 4 layers.  I was scolded strongly by some old ladies the other day because Madi simply had on a T-shirt and pants.  It was October 24th, however it was 78 degrees outside!  The Chinese are very superstitious and definitely live their lives based on old wives tales and the idea of luck.  They prefer a son because it is their social security system along with a way to carry on the family name.  Girls marry and enter into the husbands family, the husbands parents move in and are taken care of for the rest of their lives.  The wives parents lose a daughter and have no one to care for them.  And actually because of the one child policy it is becoming worse.  A man and woman marry, they are from single children homes.  Even if they wanted to care for both parents that is 4 adults that they must take care of along with themselves and when the average salary is $7000.00 per year it makes it difficult to support that many people.

Interestingly our Chinese teacher recently told us that there is a new movement amongst the women in China.  Chinese women do not take their husband's family name when they marry and traditionally their children always get the husband's family name.  Women in China are seeking more status so they have started giving their children their family names.  I do not know if this will somehow empower women here but it is an interesting way of trying to gain some leverage.  

 This child puts herself down for a nap every day.  So weird but great for me! 

 Fireworks outside our window.  Someday I'm going to catch this on video, it is so crazy

 New Sheridan hotel on Tai Lake which is on the north side of Huzhou

 These duck are evidently from America and cost a lot of money.  My friend who was with us wondered if we put these in our lakes in America.  I thought it was hilarious :)  The girls loved it!  I have discovered in the last year that if my kids love something then it is most likely that Chinese people love it too...  bright blinking lights, flashy things, bathtub ducks in a lake, shiny big clothes, fireworks, glitter, and of course over the top crazy princess shoes :)

 Beware of the Chinese Imperial Navy :)  hahaha!  these are fake boats for your viewing pleasure.

 About a week after we got here they had the Mid Autumn Festival which is 3 days, then a week later they had the Fall Festival which is a 7 day holiday.  During this holiday we went to the lake with some of our friends from here in Huzhou.  This is a fake beach, the sand was trucked in from somwhere and it is pretty similar to the sand on a Iowa lake.  Pretty poor when you are coming from San Diego! :)  For about $10 they will set up a table and chair for you and even include an umbrella to keep the sun from ever touching your body.  The Chinese practice sun avoidance with a passion, but it has nothing to do with health and everything to do with beauty and affluence.

The girls had a good time anyway, they do love sand!  It was all great until the end when Madi got a bunch in her eye.  Actually it was a ton of sand and I couldn't get it out and she refused to cry.  Weird child.  So we had to go, when we got home we tried rinsing her eye out with some of my eye solution but it still took several tries during the evening to get it all out.  She still talks about her eye hurting and mama having to dig in it.  If only the child would cry like a normal person!  I have more but the internet is slowing to a crawl and I have to go pick up Kenz from school so I will add more next time.