Check out our NEW Blog

Hey all,

Due to the fact that our host country blocks this site often, Laurie has created a new blog. Please check it out at: http://lauriedubois.livejournal.com/
Love to you all,
The DuBois'

More Goodnersfest 1 pics

Goodnersfest 1

One of our first traditions here on the lake has officially had a successful beginning... A pile of guys who grew up together gathered up here on the lake to celebrate life, friendship, food, and fishing for a weekend.

Roll Call:
- Tim Wiste
- Troy McEldowney

- Ben, Isaac, Steve (briefly), and Riley DuBois

- Korey and Jeremy Greene,

- Dave and Juddy (resident K-9 security force)
- Mark Packard

- Eli Scripture
- Damon Knudson
- Jim Potthoff

- Kevin, Shannon, and Dustin Abbott

Arrivals began on Thursday night with Mac and Wiste. After taking Kieran out fishing for his birthday Friday morn. the others began to show up. Before I knew it, the ol' gang was back together and it felt as if we haven't been apart from each other ever...

We ended up with 3 boats. Abbott's brought 2 and Mac had his. During daylight hours, there ususally was at least 1 boat out fishing. The Abott boys had the best luck, catching a few good sized northerns, some bass, and other pan fish. I'm trying to negotiate a few hours of fishing on their boat next year though as it was tough to get on... :)

Korey nestled into a cozy spot on the deck, guitar in hand, and bottomless mug in the other, and proceeded to alternate between playing, practicing, and preachin' life to us. As always, it was great to spend time with him.

Jeremy and Mark came up together. I didn't notice any new gadgets in Jeremy's posession this time. This surprises me....

Jim (a recruit from my days at STMA), weathered the weekend well. I think he wishes he grew up down in Dodge County.

Catchin' up, catchin' fish, catchin' a bit o relaxation, and catchin' a few more calories was the plan of the day while we were all assembled. It was truly wonderful. And looking back, I'm proud to confidently and honestly state that, "we all behaved, and were good boys." No drama, no fools, no nothin'.

It's weekends such as this that a guy hangs onto when the rhythmn of life is disrupted, or not playing out the way he wants it to. These weekends are needed to right the ship, to re-calibrate, to get back to you, to cleanse the soul; if that makes sense.

Over the course of the weekend, I consciously paused at times and just tried to soak it all in. To remember the sounds, smell the great food on the grill, feel that peace within' knowing you are with your people. Those who have seen you at your worst, as well as at your finest.

So, as we go and write another chapter in each one of our lives over the course of the next year, I know we'll all pause from time to time to remember times like Goodnersfest. When all seemed "right."

Until next year!

It is not down in any map; true places never are. ~Herman Melville

Pics of Baia

Baia Lea DuBois!

It sure has been a while since our last post. So many things have happened so I am going to take it a bit at a time...


On May 18th, we were blessed with a daughter! Baia Lea DuBois arrived happy and healthy... Our wonderful doctors and nurses treated both Laurie and Baia wonderfully as well. However, the day was filled with memorable moments.


That morning, Laurie woke up feeling a bit different. She was beginning to have more frequent contractions that were yet bearable. As she did with Kellan, Laurie wanted to go to school that day. Now, I don't have the faintest idea what it felt like to have contractions or any of that stuff. But I knew that it was going to be a tough day for me to go to work and stay focused on my job. In fact, that day I was scheduled to be in some technology training for school. I can honestly say that there was not a whole lot retained as far as technology goes... Please don't tell my boss!


Throughout the day, Laurie and I exchanged emails detailing the latest change in her status. The contractions became irregular for a bit, then they came regularily and a bit stronger. I would respond to her that I had just finished my 6th cup of coffee and felt like I was in cardiac arrest. Not to mention that anything that had sugar on it and sat on the "treat table" was ingested by me within an hour of it's arrival. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out what I do when I have something on my mind. Those of you who are parents probably understand this all. If you're not a parent, you may be so lucky to go through this at an appropriate time someday.


My beautiful bride walked into the training at about 2 pm and informed me that we should head to the hospital. Any and all unused caffiene and/or sugar I had previously ingested released it's energy once she arrived. I promptly executed a perfect layout backflip outta my seat, stuck the landing, grabbed my backpack, and was out the door quicker than Usain Bolt.


Other than the health of Laurie and baby, I had one major worry about this whole pregnancy. You see, Kellan arrived 57 minutes after we walked into the hospital in Waconia 2 years ago. The drives to the respective hospitals is roughly the same distance. However, the traffic from Delano to Waconia isn't remotely similar to that of Beijing. Unless a Shunyi area shepard loses track of a rogue sheep, and a Scandanavian farmer (with a name ending in son) has a dairy cow who decides to make a break for it, we have COMPLETELY different driving conditions. I was worried about the traffic that we could encounter in Beijing.


We set off for the hospital in our 1990's era Jeep Wagoneer. Laurie was in a pretty good state and traffic was not bad, so life was good. We arrived at the hospital and were ready for this baby to come! As we arrived, we both had our body temperatures taken, just to be sure that we didn't have the H1N1 virus. I wonder what they'd do if we did??? I'll just keep wondering about that one.

Dr. Farzai checked Laurie over and promptly told her that she wasn't ready to have the baby. Then the dreaded words that we had been lucky enough not to hear with either Kieran or Kellan's entrance to this world, "Go home and let's see if anything progresses from here," were spoken by her. Now all along, I had a hunch that we were going to have a girl this time around. As I heard those, a few more gray hairs developed upon my head, and I said to myself that this baby is DEFINITELY a girl. She's causing daddy fits already...

We set out to set back home. Please note that this is about 5:00 pm too. Rush hour..... We must have found a vein of traffic where the traffic wasn't too bad, so I made my move and began to pray. Suddenly, right in front of us, a taxi decided to swerve over into the far right lane and stop. This is the lane that we were in. I promptly slammed on my brakes. Please know that these brakes are not anti-lock. We began about a 20 foot slide that stopped about a quarter of a millimeter from the taxi's rear bumper. I was not able to swerve into the center lane as there were other cars. I'm not proud to say that I took it upon myself to teach that taxi driver (and any other people in the general vicinity), some of the choicest foul American words at the top of my lungs. Then we headed home. I had those tingly and shaking hands and feet. Laurie had a few more contractions. Life was great....

Upon getting home, we ate, went for a walk, watched the boys eat, and relaxed a bit. At about 8 pm, Laurie's contractions were coming hard and fast, so we got the boys situated with our wonderful ayi and took off again for Drive to Beijing United Hospital Part II.

We arrived for our encore and made our way up to the second floor again. A midwife checked on Laurie and said that it's time to deliver!!! Amen!!!! They moved us into a nice room where Baia would arrive. Big and comfortable, and nurses who make it to your room in about 7.5 seconds on average once the call button is pushed.

Soon after settling in, Laurie's pain became intense enough for her to call for the epidural. Doc came in and began to do the procedure in between contractions. Right in the middle of it, Laurie's water broke and the midwife said that she has to push... The plot thickens. So, with a half epidural in place she began to push...

We were informed a month or two before Baia's arrival that her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. Although we were told that this is not an uncommon thing, it weighs on the mind and is not forgotten about. At least it was on my mind... And definitely was once she began to push...

As Laurie pushed, I noticed the doc, midwife, and nurses continuing to look at the monitor strapped to Laurie's stomach that measured Baia's heartbeat. So I began to watch it as well. After about 10 minutes of pushing, I could see that Baia's heart rate was dropping, and that the med staff were getting concerned. After consulting with one another in Mandarin, they told Laurie that she had to get the baby out of her, or else they were going to get it... Laurie found it within herself to bear down and really push.

By and large, Chinese people are much smaller in stature than Laurie or I. This was the case with the nurse who was holding Laurie's right leg when she began to push. Upon finding that extra gear and pushing with all she had, she launched the poor nurse manning her right leg nearly across the room. To the nurse's credit, she clung onto Laurie's foot keeping herself from crashing into the wall on the other side of the room. And, being the industrious nurse that she is, she wedged herself between the stirrup and Laurie's leg. For the next two rounds of pushes, she was crushed into the stirrup by Laurie's brutal force... I wonder if this hero loves her job.

Baia Lea arrived shortly thereafter. The cord was wrapped, but they promptly unwound it, cut it, and got her going. After a few moments, all was well, and she's been extremely healthy since then....

Laurie and Baia stayed in the hospital for 3 nights and were treated like royalty. Although we missed our Cheryl from back in Waconia, we couldn't be happier with the way everyone was treated. For example, Laurie had a manicure, Baia was oogled over constantly, and we were treated to a candle-light lunch.... Royalty....

Upon being discharged from the hospital, we went straight to the U.S. Embassy to process the paperwork for Baia's passport. This all went smoothly, and Ada from ISB got us our visa so that we could get home to friends and family this summer.
A few weeks later, Baia took her first flight. a 12.5 hour, over 6,000 mile flight over the top o the world to the U.S.! I was almost out of high school before getting into an airplane! She flew at 3 weeks! Amazing!
More blogs to come as we reflect on our amazing summer... We are truly blessed and very thankful for these blessings!

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. ~St. Augustine

India!

A few weeks ago, I (Riley) had the opportunity to travel to Bombay, India as part of a group from ISB travelling to The American School of Bombay to check out their utilization of technology. Being only a month from our due date, I was a bit apprehensive about going when first asked. However, Laurie was fully supportive of me being part of this and urged me to go for it. So I did. I kept thinking to myself, "China and India all in a year! Amazing!"
We left from Beijing early on Wednesday the 15th of April and flew to Dubai UAE. If you are well versed in geography, you've realized that Dubai is overshooting Bombay. You're correct. We flew 2.5 hours past our final destination and then had to fly back to get there. But personally, it was nice to go back to Dubai, a place that I have pulled into so many times while in the Navy. Even if we didn't leave the airport, it was nice to look down at the place as we flew in and out. It's grown so rediculously much since I was last there in 1996.
We arrived in Bombay later that day. Upon our arrival, the sensory overload began. The blast of heat that we felt was actually very nice after leaving the brisk Beijing morning. Included in this heat however was a mixture of smells that I have never before smelled. This is something that I notice at nearly any new place I've visited though.
Another piece of sensory overload was the noise immediately noticable. Rarely would I not hear a horn honking or a person talking to us. Whether it was to exchange money, buy something to drink, or rent a taxi, we were targets. Luckily, we had a driver waiting for us to take us to the hotel. Little did I realize that the overload was just beginning. We had an hour and a half ride to our hotel. And the traffic situation that we were about to enter for the next 4 days makes Beijing traffic seem calm. I'm serious about that too! NEVER again will I complain about the bottleneck on I-94 in Eden Prairie....
On our drive to the hotel, we all basically stared out the windows the whole way. The abject poverty is truly in a person's face. Those conditions that a person sees on TV of scenes in India are 100% true. And, there are people everywhere! Everywhere!
Please don't get me wrong though, India was and is an amazingly intriguing place. There is an amazingly diverse mix of culture and class there. And, in the midst of all the chaos, things seem to go... It's hard to explain.
We settled into our hotel and set out to eat some authentic Indian food. Walking around, we quickly attracted young children who begged us for food. We walked around a corner and I was shocked to see a baby laying on the sidewalk who couldn't have been more than a few months old. My heart immediately melted when I saw this. I quickly saw a few other kids who were older who must be this newborn's siblings. They must have been keeping an eye on the baby while they were begging. And, I'm sure that the infant helped their cause. Regardless, my heart melts each time I witness something such as this.
We found a small place to dine and went in. The food ended up being great! A perfect meal for our first night there. Chicken tika masala, indian fried bread, some sort of beef whose name I cannot remember, and Kingfisher beer was what we partook of. However, to top all of this off, another member of our group and I showed our lack of culture in the closing minutes.
After dinner, the waiter brought us each a dish of water that had a slice of lemon in it. I thought that since India is a tea mecca, this must be some sort of after dinner tea. So, along with Jason, one of ISB's fellow travellers, I took a sip. We quickly were heckled by Greg, our principal, and informed that these dishes are to rinse off and freshen up our fingers... Needless to say, we were targets of jabs for the remainder of the trip...
The next morning, we left bright and early for ASB. The driver took us through the city and dropped is off at a building that was heavily guarded. We got out and headed for the gate, only to be abrubtly stopped by the guards. When we told them we were going to the American School of Bombay (ASB), we were told that we were at the American Consulate, not ASD! Now, we're lost in Bombay with no idea where to go! After a few phone calls, we figured out that we were dropped off on the wrong side of the city. Mind you, we were being closely watched by Indian guards who wielded raggedy old AK-47's and other semi automatic guns that looked as if they had seen a few wars. A bit unsettling...
We hopped into one of those famous looking Indian cabs and headed to ASB. We took this extra time in traffic to take in more of this crazily interesting place. Horns, people, traffic, and the colonial archecture kept the eyes, ears, nose, and brain busy. Some of the old buildings looked amazing. On the other hand, they were run down and in great disrepair.
Two hours after we were supposed to arrive, we made it to ASB. We were warmly greeted and told that we had arrived just in time for a school wide intruder drill. If we'd have arrived 5 minutes later, we may have been those intruders. That would have added to the madness we were immersed in!
The day was great at ASB. They have a 1 laptop per student ration there and do some amazing things with educating kids. What kept resonating in my mind was the fact that we're educating kids for jobs that do not currently exhist. So, teaching kids has truly evolved from memorizing rote facts and tidbits of information, to teaching kids to be designers and thinkers outside of the box... Quite a humbling thought, but seemingly more possible when observing classrooms such as those at ASB.
We spent the next two days in the school, meeting with various teachers, students, and administrators who make ASB go. We also hung out with a teaching couple who will be joining us as ISB next year. It was fun to be able to be ones answering questions rather than doing all the asking. After relying on so many people this past year, it feels good to turn the tables and help others out a bit...
On Saturday the 18th, we had the day to be tourists for the day before flying out at 10 pm that night. So, we took the notoriously famous train down to the southermost part of Bombay to see a few of the sites. We paid a few extra rupee in order to ride "first class." This section turned out to be a train car in which we stood squished up next to fellow passengers. I did notice an open seat close to us, but soon realized why it was empty. Someone had puked about a gallon of vomit on the seat. Made me wonder what the cars where people didn't ride first class were like...
By the time we made it to our stop, the train was nearly empty. I was able to ride hanging out the door of the train like they do when they are filled to the gills with people. We rode by some of the slums that India is notorious for. It truly is still unbelievable to me that people live in such conditions. Unless you see it with your own eyes, it really is not fully fathomable. And, seeing people in the river and ocean water there is appalling... As I write and think about it, my stomach rolls.
We left the train and went down to the area where last fall's tragedy of terror occurred. When those men targeted Westerners last November, it became the equivalent to our 9-11. In fact, one staff member at ASB referred to the day as 26-11 (my birthday). We visited the Arch of India which is next to the Taj Mahal hotel. This is the hotel that was all over the news when the seige was on. We could still see the areas that were on fire. The area is really neat. It's too bad that these landmarks will now be known as a place of a horrible event.
Close to the hotel and the arch is a restaurant called Leopolds. This famous western eatery was also targeted. When we sat down to eat there, we saw remnants of the carnage. Bullet holes in the walls and ceiling, as well as a few windows that were bullet riddled sat untouched. Apparently, they tried to reopen as soon as possible as a symbol that events such as this are not going to wreck them. I admire that...
We closed out our trousity day visiting a few of the markets adn purchasing a few things for our family members. I bought a few pairs of sandals for Laurie that ended up being too small. I also found a cotton robe for Laurie taht India is famous for. Someting about the soft cotton... Lastly, I found some leather wallets for the boys, that Kieran really loves.
We made it to the airport with time to go through the 5 layers of security. Adding to the plot was the aroma of vomit that permeated throughout the whole airport. We also went and bought a few things at the duty free shops, where the cashier tried to rip each one of us off at. Luckily, we all escaped with the correct funds... We also each partook of some of the airport food. I chose KFC.
Our flight out of Bombay left on time and we arrived in Dubai without incident. It was during our 3 hour layover (from midnight to 3 am), when my stomach began to roll. I thought that it was just becuase I was really tired and didn't sleep at all during the first flight. My hopes were that I would sleep a bunch on the 9 hour flight from Dubai to Beijing.
My rolling stomach, plus the fact that I was stuck in a middle seat, helped contribute to the lack of comfort that I had on the final flight. The bright spot was that we arrived an hour early. But, I arrived home absolutely exhausted and getting sick.
Over the course of the next few days, Montezuma's Revenge had a hold upon me. I took a sick day even and slept a ton. I must say that it's been nearly a month and I am just getting back to normal. It is my belief that the food I ate at KFC must have been bad and wreaked havoc on my insides. About anything else that I ate, another member of our group ate as well. And, other than being tired, no one else became ill. So, I blame it on KFC. I'm currently not a fan of that place.
Overall, the trip was a truly AMAZING experience. India is a place of extremes. Extreme overload on every sense 24-7. I still am trying to come to grips with the intensity of the place.
Pictures are coming soon. Hopefully they will do some justice...
Love and hugs to all. We're anxiously awaiting the arrival of baby 3... Stay tuned...

Riley and family

April Wrap-up

We are on the last couple weeks countdown to our due date and we are trying to make the most of our "freedom" before the baby comes. The last few weekends have been really nice and the weekdays are full of work and family time.
Two weekends ago Riley took a trip to India for a technology workshop...he will have to update on his trip, but he said it was amazing. Not someplace he would want to live with our family-but a truly unique travelling experience. He caught the Indian stomach bug and was down and out for about 3 days when he returned. His 5 day trip ended up taking him out of commission for over a week which really wore him out. He doesn't have any weight to lose but he managed to shrink down quite a bit in those few days. The boys and i managed to spend the time outside as much as possible. Spring is a beautiful time here:)
Last weekend we attended the big event at ISB called the Spring Fair. Basically a HUGE fundraising event with vendors, games, music, food, other entertainment.....all the money raised went to rebuilding a school that was devastated by the earthquake here in china last year. We spent about 4 hours checking things out and they kids absolutely loved it! Many guaranteed-win games for kieran and kellan to play and lots of music to listen to when we were gamed-out. We spent the afternoon at Kieran's "Little Dragon Martial Arts" class which has been a new adventure for kieran to be involved in every saturday. He got his what i call karate outfit last weekend so we will have to get a picture of him in it and put it onto the blog. He is pretty proud of the things he is learning in the class and it is fun to watch him trying new things!
We have spent the last few sundays up at the clubhouse here in our compound at a huge jumping castle that they blow up every weekend. we usually bring a picnic lunch up there and let the boys rumble for a couple hours and wear them out. then we all head home for naps!
This past weekend we had a May Holiday so we didn't have school on Friday. Unfortunately i spend a good deal of my weekend in the hospital with a friend. I spend all day thursday and saturday with her-she has been in the hospital for nearly a week and they just couldn't figure out what was wrong with her-severe diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting, etc. Well after a painful day on Saturday-they finally think they may have some answers-looks like it may be a genetic disease called Chrohn's Disease or ulceric cholitis. It has been very hard on her to be alone in a foreign country and be all alone. Many people have stepped up to lend a hand in caring for her-everyone has been great! I hope the next time i have to go back to the hospital though is to have this baby though:)
The time when i wasn't in the hospital this weekend-we spent m ost of it outside. We even went to the outdoor pool today at our clubhouse. The boys were crazy enough to spend alittle bit of time in the freezing cold "little pool" outside, but after having a picnic lunch-we spent a little time at the indoor pool and they enjoyed that a lot more. We have been over to a couple friends' houses for BBQ's the last couple of nights-so we are getting very antsy to get home to our cabin this summer and throw some meat on the grill!
The boys are both doing great! Kieran had a GREAT report from his EC4 teacher at our conferences a couple weeks ago. He is very into writing words right now and loves to do crafts. Riley took the boys to the Dirt market yesterday while i was at the hospital and Kieran decided to spend his 10RMB from weekly chores (about $1.50) on a "jewel" that he is so proud of! The kid definitely got Riley's love and appreciation for unique objects!
Kellan is cute as ever with his little ringlets. You will not believe how curly his hair has gotten! he is all-too-familiar with the bottom step as he frequents that spot quite often in his time-outs. He even puts himself in time-out every-once-in-a-while. He just cant resist winding up and clocking his brother whenever he feels like it. One of his favorite phrases is "you're in TROUBLE." He even said that to me today when i finished his glass of water! He is developing quite the personality, and as much as i am reluctant to admit it, i think his stubbornness comes a little bit from me (or so my mom says-i don't think i was ever a very stubborn kid:)
All-and-all we are doing VERY WELL! Only 15 more days until this baby is "supposed" to come out-although i am ready at any time! don't think i can get any bigger-and the doctor has already told me time and time again that it is a big baby...so we will see. My brother Travis just had a baby boy a couple days ago, Collin Michael! So now the questioin is will grandchild #11 on the Plahn's side be boy number 7 or girl number 4? Stay tuned.......

Happy Easter!

Easter Weekend was great! ISB had a wonderful Easter egg hunt which both boys really enjoyed. They had sections roped off for individual age groups-each kid got to find 14 eggs and stuffed inside of those eggs was American Candy (yum yum!), gift certificates to McDonalds, or tickets to exchange for a prize. Botht the boys got 5 prize tickets so they got to go to the table and pick out toys they wanted. Most toys were donated mcdonalds and burger king toys-which was perfect! kieran got 5 guys of some sort, and kellan got 5 truck-like things. We stayed around there and the kids got to dye eggs, climb ropes, and just burn off some energy. It was a beautiful day (besides the air) so we took advantage of it. The next day we celebrated Easter at our house after Riley and I returned from a MILES FOR SMILES walk/run race we were doing downtown.

The week at school was called SMILE WEEK where the middle school where i work raises money for kids with cleft pallets to have surgeries. These kids are abandoned and left to die. A local foster home-takes care of them and spoon feeds them back to health. Each grade in the middle school took on the goal of raising enough money to pay for one surgery for a child-and then a fourth surgery would be done if the community/staff gave enough money. Well our goal was 4 surgeries paid for-but we fell just $300 short of paying for 8 kids to have surgeries! It was incredible! all week the kids bought paper "smiles" for one another for 10rmb ($1.50) and they put positive messages on them to give to other kids. It was amazing. The babies we were raising money for came in for a visit so we could actually see where our money was going....it was truely unbelievable! There is so much work like this that goes on in our school -we are lucky to be a part of it.

anyway-back to the walk/run. Riley and i signed up for a run where 3/4 of the money went towards the children's surgeries. It was a run open to anyone-but one of the teachers at the school had some connections to the organizer so we used it as a fundraiser for the surgeries. The grade 8 students had a competition and my homeroom won for having the most participants! I have a great homeroom....you can see a few of them inthe pictures attached. All-in-all it was a great EAster weekend althought it would have been great to have been back home celebrating with our families.

Zoo Adventure

We ventured out last weekend to the Beijing Zoo and Aquarium. What an experience! (Not necessarily a good one). To sum it up-it was one of the largest cities in the world and it was a weekend where the Chinese Citizens were on holiday........all together not a good combo for being in public places in Beijing. But anyway-we made the best of it.

We started in the aquarium...very enjoyable. The dolphin and seal show were the boys favorite part. We got there early and tried to strategize where to sit so that we could exit easily with the boys and the stroller. Well-nothing is as it seems in China so sitting in the top row next to three sets of exit doors doesnt' mean that you will be the first to exit out those doors-it simply means they will not let you out the doors for whatever reason-so we ended up having to carry the stroller back down the three flights of steps and through the crowd of people to exit. Very few parts of the zoo were handicap/stroller accessible-which was a pain, but we managed.

After finishing up the aquarium, we found a nice big grassy area where a few people were blowing bubbles with their kids. Kellan loved this so we decided to park it here for our picnic-which was very nice:) By this point we had been at the zoo for a few hours and the boys were starting to get tired. We decided we HAD to see the pandas before we left since we were there. That was our biggest mistake----we had to walk to the opposite end of the zoo and then fight thousands and thousands of people to see 2 pandas up against a glass barrier. We had the stroller which didn't work at all, so riley threw kieran on his shoulders to get a peak and then after they got a glance, kellan and i were going to try to sneak a peak. Well somehow kieran managed to get a picture-and riley caught a glimpse i think....but when he came back to where kellan andi were standing with the stroller-riley said he wasn't going to let me go up there b/c it was too dangerous! It is not that people are intentionally rude (i don't think)....that is just the way it is here with so many people. if you want to get anywhere-you have to be rude and PUSH! So i took the husbandly/fatherly advice and decided not to venture to the window to see the pandas....we said we would come back another time. Hopefully we will get to the place in China where we can see Pandas in their natural environment before we leave.

The ride home was another adventure-we got out close to our house fine-but then riley missed the turn-off from the airport expressway-so we took the next exit we could. We ended up driving through a village for about 2 miles-that must have taken 30 minutes and riley almost got into a couple fender benders. Driving was like the zoo----if you want to get anywhere you have to be forceful. Well-when cars are going both ways down a one-way street and people and bikes are EVERYWHERE---driving is not the easiest thing to do! Well after a couple close-calls-we made it to the end of the road which LUCKILY ran into a road we thought looked vaguely familiar. That road took us home where we all crashed for a few hour nap:)

Last Days with Kathy

Saturday morning Riley and Kathy set out to the Dirt Market. I stayed back with the boys b/c i was tired. The dirt market is one of riley's favorite places-he always comes back with some unusual treasures:) They spent all morning there bargaining for treasures for them both...I think Kathy finished her gift shopping which was nice. She found some nice authentic gifts for friends and family.

That night we went to HoHai lake and ate at the famous Hutong Pizza place. This little hutong is famous for its square pizza-and it sure was good! We wanted to walk around the lake a little bit and do some shopping, but it was too cold for the boys so we decided to go back to the streeet where we did our hutong cooking class and check out the local stores. Very cute boutique-like shops. Some very unique chinese gifts can be found if you are willing to look. We stayed for a bit and then headedhome. Kathy and I treated ourselves to our second massage of the week-earlier in the week we went to the neighboring compound to get one but this time we went to a little nicer place. We both enjoyed our massages although neither of us had the guts to speak up to our massage therapist and tell him/her "TOO HARD!" So we both walked away a little sore-but thought we would feel better in the morning.

Sunday we were scheduled to go to the Summer Palace, but it was TOOOOOOOOOO cold and kathy said she was ok just lounging around. We went to Wal Mart so Kathy could get some Chinese candy for her 3rd grade kids back in Minnesota. We had a relaxing evening at home and watched a movie b/c Kathy's flight left early in the morning. It was so great having her here-WE LOVE VISITORS:)

Eating scorpions

Yes the caption is correct-kathy and riley (and some other friends) all took the plunge and nibbled on deep-fried scorpion. You can't see it in the picture-but the little ones are still moving before they are cooked! i don't know how you could eat one after seeing that-but they did. There were even a few of kieran's friends who took little bites!

So this night market is a street where you can basically get lots of wierd stuff on a stick. The sugar-dipped fruit was pretty good-we liked the pineapple the best...but there was lots of other stuff as well. Kathy compared some of the stuff you can get to that at the minnesota state fair---i think a lot less appetizing though. I didn't try anything --used my pregnancy as an excuse-although i would not have tried anything even if i weren't pregnant!

After leaving the marke (it was COLD!) we decided to walk to tianamen square/forbidden city to see it all lit up at night. Very pretty-but too cold to really enjoy (in my opinion). After our limbs got numb, we tried to hail a taxi-which was no easy task. We finally flagged one down after 1/2 hour of trying. We headed home for the evening and crashed.

Hutong cooking

Kathy and I ventured Friday morning to a hutong in the downtown area. We got dropped off by a cab and waited for the lady who lead the class to meet us so we could go to the market with her. What an experience! i have to admit i got a little queezy seeing all the meet lying/hanging around the market......i am not big on raw meat, but it was neat to see and learn about all the other items. We bought all our ingredients to make Chinese Dumplings-called joutza (i am not even close on the spelling in know).

We then walked back to the hutong where our teacher lives...met up with 3 other people who were in Beijing visiting. Then our cooking experience began. We learned how to make joutza from scratch....i made chicken/corn/carrot ones and kathy made beef/celery/onion ones. Both were incredible! i hadn't reallly found any dumplings i liked up to that point.-these were VERY good!After teaching us how to make joutza-our teacher whipped up some chinese stir-fry noodles in a wok. amazing what you can in less than 10 minutes! She makes it look so easy-again the food was verygood. We were there from about 8:30-2 and then headed home-both ready for a nap!

In the pictures you can see a little bit of the hutong where we made our food-it was neat to see the inside of a hutong-there are not many left in the city at this point.....most are destroyed and then highrise apartments are built and the people are moved into there. I would like to take a hutong tour sometime, but this experience was a great start!

More Fun with Kathy!

Wednesday Kathy toured the Shunyi area a little bit and discovered that we live in a pretty Western world...then she met up with us at ISB. I treated her to some gourmet cafeteria food-which i don't think she was too fond of:( Then we headed to Riley's room so his students could ask her 20 questions before they headed off to specialist classes for the remainder of the day. We waited around for a while for the Delano crew, but were SUPER excited when we saw their bus pull into our gates about 2:30. My principal, Dale Cox, greeted them with lanyards and some recruiting stuff for the teachers. We watched part of the ISB recruiting DVD, took a quick tour of the school, then headed off to show them our house in our compound. They were all surprised by the size of our house (as were we) and some of the girls couldn't believe how big Kellan has gotten (i coached and/or taught 4 of the 6 students who made the trip to China from Delano).

After showing them a quick glimpse of our world, we headed into the city to do so me shopping at the famous Yashow market. The kids were craving STARBUCKS so we grabbed that and SUBWAY on the way to shop!

When we were at the market we all split up to do some bargaining! I was super impressed at how good the girls i was with were at bargaining! they got some incredible deals! I even hopped in on one deal b/c they ended up getting these bottle openers for cheaper than i would have tried to go:) After over 2 hours of bargaining...it was time for them to head back to their hotel and for me to head back home. Riley and Kathy had spent the evening at Kingy's bar with teachers. It was the day before our spring break so most teachers were out!

Thursday we headed to the TEMPLE OF HEAVEN which was a new adventure for Riley and me. It turned out to be one of my favorite sites to visit thus far in China! You see everything while you walk around the park...tons of older Chinese folk dancing, stretching, yo-yo-ing, playing all kinds of racquet sports, singing (or yelling-depending on your tastes). It was truely amazing! We loved walking around. In the pictures you can see Riley and Kathy trying to yo-yo--with sticks (i think that is what they call it?). Another picture you can see men painting on the sidewalks with water and brushes----beautiful artwork! Yet another picture of the older small Chinese woman --if you loook carefully-we thought her feet must have been bound from a long time ago. She was dressed in a very unique manner and she definitely walked funny. She got many stares as she wondered around the Temple of Heaven.

After spending a few hours at the park, we headed to the pearl market where kathy got herself a beautiful necklace and i bought a few things for the folks back home. We didn't spend too much time there before we were starving and headed off the a famous noodle shop close by. The food there was GREAT! Riley and i had quickly eaten there the night we went to the ballet-but this time we were able to enjoy it more. Good food......,then we headed home to NAP for a few hours-which was much needed! That evening we just hung out and tried to gain some energy for the next day's adventures! More to come!

Tuesday-Lama Temple, Olympic Venues, and Chinese Acrobat Show

Tuesday Kathy and I had a full afternoon and evening full of events..... first we taxi-ed to the Lama Temple, which honestly I should have done some reading about. I wasn't that impressed simply because I didn't k now the significance of everything I was looking at. People were praying and burning incense everywhere so it was interesting to watch. Then we headed to the Olympic Venues to get an afternoon glimpse of where all the events took place in August. WE did not go into any of the venues, but just seeing their majesty up close was very impressive. We decided to eat at TGI Fridays----a little American Food to satisfy the old pregnant woman. Then we headed off to see the infamous Chinese Acrobats. It was a great show-very entertaining. We were planning on taking Kieran to see it with us---and he would have LOVED it, but he got in a little bit of trouble at school and part of his consequence was that he couldn't go to see the show with us. It was amazing the strength and flexibility of the performers! After an entertaining performance, we took on the chore of trying to catch a taxi in a business district when everyone was getting off of work....quite interesting! But eventually we caught a cab and headed home:) The other pictures included here are a picture of a 7-star hotel next to the Olympic Venues and a picture of Riley on that morning when Kathy rode through the village with him on the way to school.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELLAN

For a few weeks kellan has been practicing singing Happy Birthday...but even after all that practice, he wasn't quite sure what to think when the lights were turned out and there were a whole room full of people singing Happy Birthday to him! We had our usual Sunday night crew over along with a few of Kellan's everyday buddies...it was great. He got some very nice gifts...his favorite of which is a book called "No David No" which somehow he interprets and calls "No Damon No"....quite comical---i wonder what Damon will think of that!?! We will have to bring the book home this summer so Kellan can show damon.