Chinese Wedding

Isaac and Mr. B on the North Korea side and Matthew and Mr. K on the China side :) Silly boys

The Tall people (hehehe I was wearing boots )

We had an amazing opportunity to attend Xu Dan's (a co-worker) wedding in Dandong, China. We had already been to Dandong last October but we were excited to go again. About 25 of us heading off to be at the wedding. We were invited to the brides home to experience the traditions that go on at that house as well as going to the grooms house and seeing the traditions they do there. It was great. We had so much fun.
Grooms parents

Our Fan Club

Groom with his gifts for the Bride's parents

The groom arrives. Cute bears :)

Matthew and Isaac with their Mandarin Teacher, Judy

cutting of the pork


Xu Dan ... beautiful

The great drummers



Isaac and Mazzy :)


Silly

dragon dancers. WAY COOL




Us again, North Korea behind us.

Cookies

Thank you Grandma Eggs and Grandpa John for sending us the cookies and frosting. We had so much fun decorating and eating the frosting. Doug and I did not want the cookies in the house so we all went knocking on doors and handing out cookies. The teachers were thankful and we were happy. It was a blast

October Break

This is Matthew hiding when Isaac was dancing with the cat. (see below)


Isaac dancing away :)

dinner


Palace


Family Shot




Isaac met a friend in Seoul :) Good old Elmo





The kids on the street of Seoul

This year for October break we headed off to Seoul, South Korea. We went with our friends the Flennaugh's. It was a well needed vacation and just time to get away from the day in and day out. We left early on Friday morning and got to Seoul around noon. We had a few hours to wait until the shuttle bus came so we enjoyed lunch at the airport. The kids had Baskin-Robbins for dessert.
We had big plans to head out to a culture area of Seoul but by the time we got to the hotel we were tired and just needed to walk around. We walked the neighborhood where we were staying. It was a bit like New York with all the buildings and lights. I enjoyed the street vendors and just seeing the sights. We spend the evening walking around and taking it all in. For dinner we went to Tony Roma's and that was a treat. (yes, this vacation was about the great food we ate :) )






City street


Matthew and Nicole on the shuttle bus



(move-a-thon day!!! Matthew ran 21 laps and Isaac ran 17 )

Saturday we got up and headed off to the Science Museum. When we got there it was closed for remodeling so that was a bummer. We then headed off to see some beautiful palaces. (see there was culture on the trip and not just food). We had great pizza for lunch and headed out to another area of Seoul. It rained on us but we took it all in. The kids got great at taking the subway. Seoul is a great city. The boys loved it there and asked why we did not live there. :) made us smile.

The kids were great. They never complained about walking around and seeing new things. So on Sunday we took them to what we thought was going to be a water park but we ended up at Lotte World an indoor Amusement park.. Disneyland style. It was a lot of fun. The kids were so excited when we got there. We spent all day at the park just playing and having fun. That night the four of us went out to get a gift for a friend. We walked all over and bought a few things from the street vendors. They loved the street food. The boys were funny. Oh that is good, let's go get more, oh I like that.. how about another one Dad. It made us both smile. Matthew and Isaac got to watch the donuts being made at Krispy Kreme. This morning they said we are going back to China, let's go have one last donut. FUNNY.

It was a fun get away. Great times, Great friends and Great Memories..

Pictures to prove it

Check out the name of the coffee

thank you Kiko for taking these pictures for me.


a little taste of home.. PAKE PLACE ROAST

Interesting flavors

thought you would like to see the amazing flavors we have in china

OREO's
Ice cream
Green tea

CHIPS
blueberry
seaweed
Hot and sour soup
shrimp
ketchup
spicy fish
mustard
beef

Popcorn
orange
strawberry
chocolate
sweet


I know there are more but my mind just went blank..... more to come

The Joys of China

Oh the simple things that make us smile or giggle.


Doug and I went shopping on Saturday. The boys got to spend the day at the aquarium with some of our teacher friends. Thank you Jon and Eli. They had so much fun. Pictures to come...

Anyways when we were shopping several things happened that were "blog worthy". My favorite of the day is when I was in Starbucks (I do not do often but it was a nice treat) I noticed the coffee of the day. " Pake Place Market Blend" Now being from Seattle and where Starbucks started it made me laugh so hard. I so wished I had my camera. See even in China I am reminded of the PIKE PLACE MARKET :) It was GREAT!!

Another moment was when I was getting fingernail polish. I needed clear and white polish. So Doug and I went to the bin to pick the right colors out. There were tons of shades so we hunted for what I needed. We found the ones I needed and the sales lady wrote it down on a paper then I had to go across the store to another lady to pay. Okay it was about 30¢ total, but I had to go through the steps. I felt like I was buying a high end item.

We met up with the boys and Jon and Eli for dinner. We went to one of our favorite restaurants " The Green Restaurant" Not sure what the real name is but this name works with us. Eli was telling me that she has to shoo people away from the boys at the aquarium. It was like they were movie stars getting photos. Doug and I just laughed. We know, we know.

At dinner Jon was looking out the window and saw a wreaking ball. We got to watch a building across the street get destroyed.

In my devotionals this week, I read a passage about how God puts little things in our lives to make us smile or giggle. Today I witness this. It was crazy. Just another day in China!!

September

Just cracks me up.. the signs



The boys love soccer

I realized the other night that it has been awhile since I have updated the blog. What have we been up to? School has been going for 22 days. Matthew and Isaac are both enjoying school. They have been playing soccer on wed. nights and loving it. Doug and I have been busy. Doug is coaching the boys volleyball team and having a good time.

We went to the zoo again a few weekends ago. This time we went to the older section where they have pandas. Matthew was so excited to see one. It was a rainy day so there were not many people there. It was great because we were NOT the show. I have to say that the zoo was a bit sad. It reminded me of the Woodland Park zoo before they fixed it up. Animals were in cages and looking sad and sick. We went and saw the polar bears and there was one that was sick looking and had a sore on his paw that he was chewing at. We all felt bad for him so when the Chinese worker said we could buy some food to feed the bears we jumped on the opportunity. For 5 rmb (73 cents) we could get a bowl of fruit to feed the bears. They wanted us to feed the bears that were looking healthy and happy but not Matthew he ran to the polar bear section and started feeling the sick looking bears. The bears were so excited to get food. Matthew was just as excited. He ran out of food but said that he would pay us back if he could get another cup of fruit. So off he went to get more food. It was so fun to watch.

Coach Smith... loving it!!

Crazy kids at the Zoo