Hot Eats, Cool Treats

Sometimes people will ask if it is difficult to leave behind things in America to live in China. We definitely miss some things, but a lot of things we can do without, find a substitute or apparently some things just follow us here.

We loved cooking out on the grill and having hotdogs, hamburgers, baked beans, corn on the cob and asparagus all going at one time during a relaxing weekend during the summer in the States. So, we were missing it until we found this baby at WalMart here. While it doesn't quite have the capacity of our old grill in the States, it can still get the job done and it only cost 4 dollars. You can't beat that combo.

Also, after a long day playing outside in the sun or just wanting a little treat, who doesn't want some delicious, cold ice cream? Well, DQ has decided to follow us here and is opening soon. Now, for more than the cost of a new grill at Walmart, we can enjoy a oreo blizzard with cheesecake crumbles. Of course, due to the cost, this might be a "birthday only" kind of treat.

We are on one hand happy that we now have Papa John's and Dairy Queen and McDonald's and stuff, because it is a nice treat to have on occasion, but it is also a little sad to see China lose some of its Chinesy-ness. Sometimes, in some places, you can feel like you are in an America that just speaks Chinese. Of course, some people think that day might not be too far away anyway. Maybe we're just getting a headstart.

Jason's Trip Up North

We are having a holiday here in China with the 60th anniversary of the country and the Mid-Autumn Festival coming back to back, so Jason took to the rails and visited some friends in provinces north of us. It was an awesome time to see these friends and see what their lives are like.


Here are some photos of our friends' town in the far north. It was a little cold there, but beautiful.

Sunset view from our friends' door.

Our friends' toilet. No one has fallen in , yet. This is typical for the homes in the area.

A village school we visited.

Central Heating in our friends' home. Again, typical for the area.

The mountains north of town.

Sheep in town.

My train car with bunk beds. Surprisingly comfortable, but a loooong ride.

Our Family Expands

We have added a new member to our family....Gerby. Hannah Grace has been saving her money from doing chores and we went today to the dog market (for pets, not for eating) and picked out this cutie. Hudson calls her a "gergil". So far, she hasn't escaped so Felicia is happy.

Exciting News For Us!

While many of our 3 readers won't find this too amazing, we were a little excited to see this sign going up in a new shopping development downtown:Of course, we do already have Pizza Hut here and only have eaten there once in the last nine months, but Papa John's has better ingredients and better pizza. In reality, we will probably eat here once as well, but it is always fun to have new stuff available.

Also, next door to Papa John's was this jewel. While some think Peanuts is just a comic strip and Charlie Brown is limited to holiday specials, here in China he is branching out with his own cafe. Rumors are he will be launching a fashion line in Spring '10, soon to be followed with a Nascar sponsorship.

Summer of NaiNai

Jason's mom, NaiNai, came to visit this summer. We tried to show her a good time. Here are some shots with her...

Her first picture with the kids. Her plane landed near midnight over here so the kids woke her up the next morning. No real chance to overcome jetlag with these three around.

I can't turn this picture the right way to save my life.

Eating a handmade sugar bunny.

Eating dumplings!

In front of beautiful pools.

Around 14,000 feet.

Making chocolate for a contest that our kids won!

Summer Pictures!

Here are some pictures from this summer. It was a busy summer with a trip to Thailand, moving to our own house, having Jason's mother here for a month, a mini vacation to a mountain and an ancient Chinese city and finally helping teach an English Camp in our old hometown. Here's the photos...

Putt putt!

Hudson and a friend drawing with 3-D sidewalk chalk.

HG and Micah with the sidewalk chalk. Thanks, NaiNai!

Hudson and Micah searching for frogs.

Felicia feeding HG some rice noodles.

Playing with friends on our playground.

Swimming at the pool across the street.

Micah in the ancient Chinese town.

When you gotta go, you gotta go... on top of the old gate to a walled city.

Felicia and Micah learning about fingerprints.

Fish!

Riding on yaks. Not the best smelling animals.

Riding on horses. Better smelling than yaks.

Us at the southern most glacier in the northern hemisphere at over 14,000 feet. Five days later we were in the tropics. Both of these are just a day's busride from our city.

Back on Blogger

China blocked blogger way back in June it seems like and they apparently aren't going to un-block it anytime soon. They also blocked faceboook and some other sites and we decided to go with a vpn and bypass the Great Firewall of China so we can share with yall what we have been doing and so we could get a glimpse at the outside world a little bit. Anyway, we are back up and running and will be posting more and definitely adding some photos of this summer!