Dash's First Day of Preschool and Brock's Birthday!

Chinese New Year is also called Spring Festival. It has snowed several days this week and it's the middle of February now. But there are things in bloom! So even though it seems very much like winter in month and temperature, Spring is still peaking through. 

Thomas, Chael (giving support), Charlie and Dash on their first day of Chinese preschool

Dash and friends, Thomas and Charlie have started attending a local Chinese preschool here in our complex. Very convenient location! Although Dash has been born and raised here he is not fluent in Mandarin as he's been home with me everyday. This is the best opportunity for him to get a good start on becoming fluent in Mandarin. He is uncomfortable with the language barrier and it's a blessing to have two buddies go with him who are also foreigners. It is overwhelming with all of the attention they get and Dash is shy and will start to cry when all the kids run up to him on the playground and try to talk to him. He tells me that he gets scared because he can't speak Chinese. It's been hard as a parent to put him in this situation but I know it's what's best for him so even thought it's hard right now we tell him that it's okay that it's hard and that it will get easier. He's half way through the second week now. He frequently asks, "Mom?  How many more days do I have to go to Chinese School?" We can do hard things. You can do it, Dash! We are really proud of him. He's such a sweet, sweet boy. 

Brock's recently split 1st grade class--Back: Manya, Oscar, Chloe, Ms. Katie

Middle: Lithika, Edward, Brock, Annalore, Jerry, Karen

Front: Akanksha, Domitille, Adu, Irene

February 14th was a BIG day. It was Valentine's Day, Brock's birthday!, Chinese Lantern Festival which is 15 days after Chinese New Year, and the 100th day of school! Brock has a 100th Day of School fake tattoo on his nose in these pictures. 

HAPPY BIRTH 7thDAY BROCK 

He knew what I meant! It just fit best on the plate that way. 

For Brock's birthday party we went to an indoor play area near our home. They went wild and ran from one thing to the next until they exhausted the play area and discovered the arcade games. We came back to the house for pizza, hummus and veggies, cake, presents, popcorn and a movie. What an awesome party! There were 13 children in total and five friends spent the night. I didn't have the heart to have parents pick up children on Valentine's Day. And of course the kids love it. We had whole grain pancakes for breakfast. Someday I will have a waffle maker and make waffles... My dad use to make waffles almost every Saturday. The water polo team seemed to join us for Saturday morning breakfasts to eat my dad's famous and delicious waffles with my mom's Homemade-Strawberry-Freezer Jam and homemade-maple syrup. They were "Mystery Waffles" as my dad would call them. Usually grated apples and cooked whole wheat were added to the Krusteaz batter. He still does breakfast every morning when we visit in the summers. 

Dash, Max, Callie, Maren, Asha, Brock, Charlie, Luke, Kristy, Thomas, Angela, Sarah, Snehal, Chael, Ronan and Elliot.

Brock asked for a "Dragon Cake". I said okay! I looked online for some drawings of dragons for some inspiration. Brian was impressed with my dragon. Sweet of him. But what's really impressive is how delicious this Chocolate Sheet Cake is. Best Ever! See pioneerwoman's blog for recipe. It's easy and SO good. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/the_best_chocol/

Callie's Solar System

Each planet uses five circles cut out of paper, folded in half and then glued together. We can't find styrofoam balls easily and came up with this! We were really proud of it. Well done Callie! 

Brian's 39th Birthday and Chinese New Year

Happy Birthday Brian! 39! 

Brian's birthday cake this year: "Almost Better than Anything Cake". And we had his favorite for dinner as he wished for as well. Tacos! The Williams joined us to help celebrate. His birthday gifts all haled from Sam's Club. Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, Dark Chocolate Covered Acai, Mixed Salted Nuts, trail mix, dried mangos and Cherry Coke. Spoiled boy! 

The "3" plus nine single candles represented the "39". 

Outside of church in the front yard. This is unusually warm weather for us this time of year. 

We ate noodles at the La Mian shop near our house for an easy meal during the holiday. Each bowl is just over $1 USD. Crazy! The noodles are freshly made right in front of you. They are really good at what they do and make it look really easy. It's fun to watch. And tastes great! The kids love these noodles as well. You can add chili and vinegar. They can add a fried egg or slice of beef. These noodle shops are ran by uighur families from North West China and they are Muslim Chinese. 

Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the horse. I can't believe that next year we will have completed an entire zodiac and lived in China for 12 years. Coming up on 12! The Characters above say: "Congratulations Happy Year 2014"-- Translated by Brian. We went to the West Lake during the holiday with the Williams. It was a beautiful day and mostly clear. You will see in the pictures below that the West Lake is a popular tourist destination for Chinese people. It is said and believed in China that Hangzhou is where heaven meets earth. Shang you tian tang, xia you su hang. Above has heaven, below (on earth) has Hangzhou.  

West Lake! Wait until Spring. The foilage will be green with lily pods and lotus.

I love Kristy. She makes every picture even better. Cute girl and cute smile. And cute family too...

These kids definitely draw a crowd. This picture is floating around on many peoples phones and cameras now. We think they're pretty cute too. 

We tried out Slims, a new burger joint near the lake. Fantastic! It's a massive burger. Under $10 for that bad boy pictured right. That's the blue cheese one there. Brock's showing us how to eat one. He's eating the "petite". That one's like $6. Still massive. 

He caught me taking his picture! So cute. I really wanted to get a shot with him and that baby on his back. I love how Chinese men adore children. And he's carrying his baby on his back. 

I enjoyed turning the tables and taking other people's pictures this day instead of everyone taking ours! I love Chinese people. They were more than happy to let me take their pictures! I can't say foreigners are as easy.

This is one of my favorites. I love these beautiful women and I don't even know them. Someone was taking their picture and I asked if I could take one too. There's so much said in this shot about who these beautiful women are as women. The hats definitely help. Love it!

It's common for people to come to the lake and rent bikes. This is one typical Chinese family all on one rented bike dealio. Son with dad and mom. 

The guard hollered at me to get Chael down. Sure thing! But not before I snap my shot. Western children are extremely coordinated and good at climbing. And it just freaks most Chinese people out! 

I love this shot of Elliot making a run for it. 

Brian worked with Mr. Yao in the past and he still wanted to take us to dinner for CNY with his wife and two daughters. Callie, Brock and Dash all ate duck tongue (which they really liked) and cow tongue (which they ate before they knew what it was.) They were spoiled with lots of coconut milk and juice. A real treat at our house. This is a very traditional Chinese thing to do. Vendors will typically take you to dinner and "la the guan xi" ("pull" the relationship). It's all about developing relationships. Mr. Yao has several businesses and furniture just happens to be one of them. He's building a Sheraton in Bin Jiang as well. Chael went over to the Mrs. and gave her a big kiss. She was touched. He knows how to work it. 

Another tradition is to give red envelopes (hong bao) filled with money to children for CNY. Brian is not even currently buying from Mr. Yao and they still took us to dinner, loaded us up with boxes of fruit like cherries and kiwi and gave the kids a hong bao. This time the money in each hong bao was equivalent to about $33 USD. Crazy! Normally (as in if we were actually doing business together) it would be $133 per child.  It's nuts. And we have four! When Brian brings us to one of the factories the owners go crazy like this with the kids. They love to do it and they love children. (And they like to develop business relationships!)

Yun Qi Bamboo Forest During CNY Holiday

During the Chinese New Year holiday we went to the Yun Qi Bamboo Forest with the Williams, our next door neighbors who moved in and got here just before we flew back from Bali. We've been waiting their arrival and it's so much fun having them here! They moved here from Texas but Joel's from Florida and Kristy's from Canada. It is a blessing having them here and so much fun for all of us. Our kids run back and forth and it's definitely made the CNY holiday in Hangzhou much more exciting. Callie and Brock had over a week of school off. Their oldest, Thomas, is Dash's age and recently turned five. Charlie is three. And the twins were born a year ago October, about 16 months now-- Catherine and Elliot. We love team Williams. I know we will get VERY spoiled having them here and will have a difficult time when they leave us to move back in 18 months. It will be too quick.

This bamboo forest is a favorite place to take friends to and especially friends who have children.  It's a fun little hike and the children get to climb and run and play. We took some snacks this time and then splurged and went to Papa John's Pizza on the way home! This place is a fun destination for a little hike and picnic. I think the forest of bamboo trees is really pretty and picturesque. 

It wasn't too long before they were scaling the mountain sides and sliding down some how. 

The cable bridge.

Thomas and Charlie through the candles that are burnt for offerings at a little Buddhist temple. 

I asked Brock to hug the tree and he did it for me. Sweet boy. 

Team Williams! Charlie, Kristy, Elliot, Thomas, Catherine and Joel.