Home for the Holidays

We are within 24 hours of getting on a plane to come home.  We are super excited to see lots of friends and family!  Last year when we came home for the holidays the entire trip was pretty much a nightmare so we are hoping for the opposite tomorrow :)  

I decided to post one last time before we leave.  I have a bunch of random pictures to share...

 A friend of ours who works with Kyle wanted to go back to Mogan Mountain to do some hiking and wondered if we wanted to go along.  I'm pretty sure he later regretted that decision...  Needless to say we wanted to tag along.  We had a great time there when we went earlier this year.  So we loaded up the kids early on a Saturday morning and started out for an adventure.  First sign of a problem was when Kenz told us she wasn't feeling too good.  Our kids are notorious car pukers.  Unfortunately for everyone in the van I had switched bags that morning so their medicine was left at home.  I haven't been able to post about this trip mainly because the memories are a little too fresh.  Kyle and I tried to count later and we figured that at a minimum between Kenz and Kaylie they puked at least 8 times on the way up and down.  It is about a hour and a half each way.  Unpleasant.  But once we finally got there we had a nice hike :)

 Found some dirt.

 These signs are the BEST!

 They harvest a ton of bamboo up in the mountains.  Makes driving a little more tricky than normal.

 Rice fields ready for harvest.

These are the bamboo branches, pretty sure they use these for chop sticks.

 The girls wanted money to buy each other Christmas gifts so I taught them how to wash the dishes.  So far they love it, but I'm sure that will change soon.

 This is their favorite rock to play on, they are constantly stirring up some concoction.  Madi usually comes along every once in a while and tries to knock the whole thing off, which causes a riot.  I think that she is entertained my bothering her sisters as much as possible.

 We went walking one day and found this group of ducks that lived at the small house boat.  The girls were in heaven.  They wanted to stay and watch the ducks all day.

 The people on these little house boats usually do welding or some sort of repair for the big boats.  This guy was docked here for some sort of repair.

 Power lines to the house boat.

 They are expanding the river walk.  It was pretty interesting to watch these guys laying paver's this fall.

The little girl who lived there kept peeking out at us.

 When it gets cold here in Huzhou everyone, men, women and children change into this little number.  Couples often have matching sets.  It is fantastic.  Wildly popular.  This attire is acceptable in almost any situation, exercise, dinner, shopping, making out with your boyfriend.  All great activities in this version of what I like to call the Chinese Snuggy.  It really is hilarious to watch grown men walking around town in these things.  I thought they would make great gifts for our parents! :)

She was good at school that day, when a kid gets 10 stars in a row they get some nifty star thing made out of fuzzy wire.  They always put the stars on kids heads.  I guess so everyone knows who was good that day?

 Walking to the store

 On our way down into the store

 This my friends, is a plush toilet seat cover display.  Now I'm sure you can get these somewhere in America, but who the heck actually uses something like this?  Here it is very popular and the more plush the better.  My friend Angela has a 'my little kitty' one on her western toilet. It is real soft and nice on your buns, but oh so disturbing at the same time.

 Speaking of the store and disturbing, this is how I found my child one day.  I was shopping with our driver, Mr. Xing, he and his wife usually go shopping with the girls and I once a week.  While we are in the produce/meat area he usually takes Madi and they go peruse the area.  Kaylie and I go get everything we need and they meet back up with them.  On this particular day Madi had a small crowd gathered around her when I walked up and they were all laughing.  And this is what I found.  And yes, that is a raw chicken foot.  With the claw in her mouth.  Gross.  I mean super super gross!!  I wasn't sure what the proper move was at this point however, considering it is normal to be digging around in raw meat with your hands... luckily for me Mr. Xing's wife came up and grabbed it from her and proceeded to scold him.  Someone has to get some control over here!  Unbelievable.  You will notice I started taking pictures along with everyone else.  'Where is this kids mother anyway?  Just because she and I are the only foreigners here, doesn't mean she belongs to me!' 

haha!

 After that episode Mr Xing's wife decided that she wanted a fish.  So she told him to get in there.  Can I just say that I love going shopping with these two?  Always an adventure.  They can't speak English any better than I can speak Chinese so it is always super entertaining.  We somehow manage to get a lot said with few words.

 The girls were in heaven.  They got a front row seat and let me tell you, it was a show!

He caught one, but after carefully studying it, he tossed it back.  Then caught another, more studying, and again, threw it back.  This happened several times and the great thing was that while he was fishing a crowd gathered and started giving him advice.  This seems normal.  I often ask him to help me find something and he will find it and pick out a brand for me.  Then several women will stop and give him their opinion.  We usually go with whatever the last woman tells us to do.  It seems easier just to do what they say.  Anyway, finally he gets one that everyone is happy with.  Hands it to the meat guy who bags it and weighs it.  The meat guy hands it to Mr Xing.  Mr Xing sees the price and starts yelling at his wife.  Yelling is normal here, it is how they all talk to each other because they have to talk over everyone else.  Reminds me of a Gerber family get together.  Anyway, he is upset because it is too big.  Too much money.  He started handing it back to the meat guy but his wife yelled at him.  I think she was over it.  He gave her the fish and she put it in the cart.  Madi of course wanted to see it, so she gave the bag to Madi.  Madi held the bag and put her face down beside the fish the fish jumped.  Madi threw the bag and screamed.  Oh my word.  It was so funny.  Mr. Xing's wife put the fish back in the cart and every time we saw her throughout the store Madi approached her cart in a Kung Fu position, ready to attack.  And looked at me and yelled 'FISH'.  It was SO funny!  

 Saturday night movie night.  Our friend Jim always brings over popcorn from America for the girls.  They love it and so does their dad :)

We went to dinner with Kyle's Chinese language teacher and her family.  Both she and her husband teach English at the local college.  It was so much fun being able to have a conversation without trying to think of how to say something in Chinese.  They are both really funny so we had a lot of laughs!

Unfortunately for both Kenz and her parents, mainly me, she hurt her arm real bad on Tuesday night.  She fell over something in her room and landed wrong.  We aren't sure what is wrong with it yet, we will take her to get x-rays as soon as we get in the States.  In the meantime all doctors are advising that we keep it still and in a sling.  She is real unhappy because it is her right arm.  I am real unhappy because now I am her right arm.  Every time she wants to color she tells me where and what color to color on her picture.  Tonight she wanted to teach me how to draw.  Fortunately she has figured out how to eat and do basic things.  She is getting really bored though.  I'll be happy when we figure out what is wrong and how long until she can use her arm again!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  We hope to see many of you soon!!!!