Thursday, September 27, 2012

For the LOVE of Sour Cream!

One of my most FAVORITE things about living in China is all the wonderful friends we have met from around the world. On our second American Football night I discovered that my dear friends from Spain and Austria have never heard of Ranch Dip. As they proceeded to try it I do believe the expression the rest of us saw on their face epitomized "love at first taste." They were hooked. As we explained that it is just mixing the ranch packet with sour cream, the second question was, "What is Sour Cream"??? My heart about stopped on that one. I am a TOTAL sour cream addict so it was a surprise. These guys are in for a treat as they delve into the goodness that is Sour Cream and all the yumminess you can make with it! :) 

Ranch mix + Sour Cream = Ranch Dip! YUMMY!!! 



Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Football Time in Wuxi!

One of the things that we have really been missing here in China is sports! Football (American style) and basketball are the two that Jeffrey and I miss the most. But since we have some great friends in the know, we were able to get NFL coverage so I can watch the Panthers! In my excitement over this I learned that some of my dear friends from around the world have never seen an American Football game, so the plan began. We had people from Spain, Turkey and the Netherlands joining our group as well as Americans. It was a great night for some football especially since the Panther's won!!! This is now going to be a weekly event in our house. 




The entire group! So much fun!!!! 



Sights of the City


I get asked frequently by my parents, "Have you updated your blog?"....as you well know I have been extremely slack on that lately. Some of the ladies here in Wuxi and I were discussing this past month that it seems like life in China has become "normal" and that the strange things we see are pretty common or else we just don't have a camera handy to take a picture. In light of this we planned a day that we would head out from our apartment complex and walk downtown with our cameras out and ready at all times. 

Enjoy the Journey! 


The Start of the Journey...we have 4 different countries represented! America, Spain, Singapore and Turkey. 


These guys were laughing at all the foreigners with our cameras out, so I had to take their picture. 

I love heels as much as the next girl, but it never fails to amaze me how the Chinese ladies wear  EXTREMELY tall heels no matter where they are. 




You can get your teeth cleaned and watch what is going on outside at the same time....privacy...what is that?

Not much here is stroller friendly...

SPLIT PANTS! The view when we got to this point was much worse than you are seeing now...hahaha!

Checking out the White Babies! 

Ewwww!!!! Is that human or not???? It was all over right where the kids were.....don't wanna know. 

We wanted to get a picture of a baby swimming with the float around their neck, but it was the one day that no one was there...where are all the babies?

The Aiden pose! 

Mimi doing the Aiden pose...its the next big thing! :)

Never fails to amaze me how much stuff they can pile on these carts.

Side view.

Boat in the green water. 

Aw...I love you too Wuxi! :) 

Halfway there!!!!! 

California girls know how to handle Wuxi! 

This man had stopped to stare at Aiden and Sal and watch us take pictures, so Mabel asked him to pose with her...He turned away pretty fast!!! 

Again...not stroller friendly at all. To get in the "non scooter" areas, we have to lift them up and over the blockades. Friends...you know they are forever when they will help you lift your stroller! :)

Squatty potty! This is what you find in the public restrooms. 

Checking out the white babies again. 

Crowds all around! 

Live wires hanging out...safety first! 

There is a lot of Anti-Japanese stuff going on right now...this sign was spray painted to tell people to boycott Japanese products. 

Public Toilet....we smelled it long before we reached it...though we wanted a picture, no one was willing to enter! 

Chenglish???

How else would you go??? On your hands?

Again...safety first.

Brie and I had moved to a hidden corner to change a diaper  and when we looked up these 4 guys were surrounding us trying to see what was going on, but they turned away fast when I wanted to get a picture. 

Halfway to Nanchan! 

Ingenuity! To make a kids seat on a bike, they took a wicker type chair and tied it on the back. I'm SO going to do this to my mountain bike and take Aiden for a spin...what do you think? 

Super Chicken! 

We made it to Nanchan!!!!! 

Canal Ride at Nanchan

You can rent bikes. 

Aiden passed out on our way...missed out on all the fun sights. 

Of course....we ended our walk for lunch at Starbucks! GREAT day! 
It was a great day all around. We had wonderful weather, good friends, and laughter...what more could you want!