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!

Mama! Save me!

One of our favorite things to do here in China during the winter is go to the indoor playgrounds. Aiden loves having so much space to run and playing with the different items there. He is just starting to figure out how much fun it is to play with other kids but sometimes they still scare him.

The Chinese children and parents love the fact that a white kid is there and they all want to touch him. This is one of my greatest motivations to try and learn Mandarin, I want to have some good conversations with them. This occurs even more when I see a kid who gets afraid of Aiden. At the playground last week Aiden was running around and rounded a corner and came upon a boy about his age and his mom. I guess Aiden was the first “white” kid he had ever seen and he was SCARED. No, that is an understatement. He went into a full blown panic trying to crawl up his mother and wailing. Needless to say, I was torn between feeling awful for the kid and wanting to comfort him, and busting my gut from trying not to bust out laughing.  This happened anytime that this child caught even the slightest glimpse of Aiden. My sweet friend Mabel did her best to try and get a picture or video of this, but it was hard to do so without looking like a stalker! 

To make this day better, there was a 2 year old girl there who was cute as a button and kept playing with us. But later in the day her mom kept telling her to go give Aiden a kiss. Thanks to Mabel, for your viewing pleasure, is this event in a detailed picture form. 

Here she comes...

The kiss.

What just happened????

She kissed me????

Breaks into tears.....NOOOOO! 

She is pretty proud of herself. Ha!

Don’t you just love it! We laughed and laughed about this for hours afterwards. I have since told Aiden that the only girl he is allowed to kiss is Mommy and I think he is ok with that! 

We went back to this playground a few days later and this girl was there again. Needless to say, Aiden was a little leery of her this time and when she tried to kiss him, he ran away. I was so proud! Ha!!! But he loves to play and its a lot of fun to try and connect with these different families. 

Adventures in the USA!

We are back in China and slowly getting settled in. Jet lag is a pain in the tail! But man was it worth every penny to go home for a visit. What a fabulous 3 weeks even though it was a whirlwind. 

We began our trip in North Carolina. How great it was to see my parents. I wasn’t sure how Aiden would react to new people since he had really only seen them on skype for the most part of his life, but wow did he ever take to them. From the moment we arrived he was giving hugs, and once we got to their house he was a wild man. The jet lag on that side was rough as well, but for the first two nights we were up partying at 3am. That was a fun special time for Aiden with his MiMi and Uncle Matt. Though poor Uncle Matt was exhausted (as were his parents!) by the end of the weekend. He had to go home just to get caught up on rest. The rest of the week was spent going out for lunch with my parents and having some fun in Hickory. One of the BEST parts of the week was that my Dad took off work every day after lunch to spend time with us. That was so extremely special!!!!  Aiden enjoyed every minute of time with his grandparents! They were even kind enough (I know it was a HUGE sacrifice....) to keep Aiden for two evenings to Jeffrey and I could have a date night. We haven’t been to a movie in a long time and if you are looking for a good one, I highly recommend Mission Impossible 4. Wow! We were kind of afraid of going to a movie since we were so tired, but this one kept us on the edge of our seat the whole time. Thanks Mom and Dad for a GREAT week!!! 

The second week of our trip took us to Missouri. My amazing sisters in law found us a FABULOUS house on the Lake of the Ozarks for a weekend get away with the entire family. Aiden had so much fun with his cousins running around. That week he finally started sleeping through the night again. Whew! I forgot what a total blessing it is to have your child sleep through the night until that no longer happens. Sleep is my friend. I think his two cousins wore him out. Ethan and Elliot are so precious!!!! We are definitely a proud Aunt and Uncle of those two! Later in the week, my father in law gave Jeffrey and I a gift certificate to an amazing restaurant in town for another date night out. Talk about an AMAZING steak!!!! We were so stuffed by the end of the night but it was so well worth it. Thank you Art!!! We also had a night where all of Jeffrey’s extended family came to dinner. What a fun night! I love that his family will come from all over for a family gathering! So special. Thanks Ratliff family for an amazing week!!! 

We ended our trip in our home state of Georgia!!! Yea...it was like being at home. Being able to drive and know where you are going, hang out with amazing friends, and go to our wonderful home church was an amazing experience. Made us realize even more how thankful we are for where we live. I spent all of my mornings during the week at Jenn Chini’s house. I tell you what, she has a precious daughter. And it was so wonderful getting to see my best friend and it felt like no time had passed at all. God has really blessed me by putting her in my life!!!!!  Our first day in Georgia, my sweet friends planned an open house for us and we got to see so many wonderful people! Thank you for all of you who came by! It meant the world to us to see each of you and get to catch up on your lives. Cheryl Mahr, I definitely missed you my sweet friend. Lisa Nesbit...here is your question. What did Jeffrey and I pick up for dinner when we came to your house?? Answer in the comment section please. We’ll see how long it takes. Ha!  To ALL of our amazing friends, THANK YOU for a fabulous week! 

Our time in America definitely went by way to fast. We got to do so much, but yet there are so many things that we will miss being back here. Target is one of those things...and a mall that has great stores and is stroller friendly. It was so nice to be able to shop for the things you need and be able to get everything and be able to find them in an easy manner. And good food is another great thing. My two favorites were Chick-fil-a and Red Robin. I knew I was craving a good cheeseburger, but didn't realize how much until I took the first bite. Wow! Heaven on earth. When we move back in a few years, if you are ever looking for us on a weekend, you will probably find us there. I'll never take a good burger for granted again. 

Being in America and now back in China has definitely made us more grateful for the things we have. We are definitely blessed on both sides of the ocean with good friends, a great place to live, and good food to eat. Thanks Father! 

Until next time...enjoy whatever adventure God has you on at the moment. Ours is still in progress! 

One Year of Aiden

Aiden’s first birthday party was a blast! We are so blessed to have good friends that celebrate big days with us here.

We had his party on Saturday, December 17^th since his actual birthday was on a Sunday. Jeffrey and I tried making a “from scratch” cake (our first and probably last ever). Needless to say, it didn’t turn out very well…I apparently used the wrong kind of flour. Ha! The cupcakes were so dense! We had made a small Aiden sized cake out of the leftover batter and even though it wasn’t going to be edible…we used it to out the candle on. Aren’t we great parents? I was very grateful that my mother had sent me a box of funfetti cake mix (my FAVORITE) for my birthday awhile back and I just hadn’t used it. So that became the birthday cupcakes for the day. Glad we had a backup! We would have been up a creek without a paddle if we hadn’t.

The day of the party came and we made Rice Krispy Chicken and Mac n Cheese for lunch. Aiden devoured all of his chicken, but we are still trying to convince him that mac n cheese is good. If he doesn’t like it I don’t know if he is really my child….! But I digress.

When we got to the cake part of the day, we brought out the candle cake that we had covered with chocolate icing. He didn’t know what to think but got so excited. Before we could take that one away and sub it out with a cupcake, he had both of his hands in the chocolate icing and was devouring it. When we finally changed it out for the cupcake, he ate the whole thing! I guess he really is my child if he loves cupcakes!  

We took everyone to go play at one of the play places here in town and wore the boys (and girls) out! Aiden loves to run around, especially when there are bigger kids that he can watch. He wants to be just like them. 

Still in shock that my sweet boy is 1 year old now. Where has the time gone? He is growing and changing so much daily. He still loves to read books. Anytime music is playing he starts dancing. He loves to be outside playing or somewhere that he can just run and run. The boy has boundless energy. He gives wonderful hugs and is a total daddy’s boy. We love our little boy! 

Change of Heart

We have had a change of heart! Meaning…of all the funny and crazy things we have seen in China, we stumbled across a youtube video that puts everything into perspective. People of Walmart! Wow!!!! Watch and enjoy! 

People of Walmart 

We shared this video with some friends of ours this week who are from Singapore. I wish to goodness that I had been smart enough to get either a picture or video of them while watching this. I’m sure it looked a little like our expressions when we see something strange here. Bug eyes, mouth wide open and just the total deer in the headlights look. Hilarious! They kept asking if this was what all Americans looked like and how they act. 

I guess no matter where you go in this world, there are always going to be strange people and strange sightings that we just don’t know what to think about. This realization has made things a bit easier to deal with odd things here in China. Laugh it up my friends…that is what makes life fun.