April Showers

Harvesting tea leaves at Nine Creeks. 

Don't let this picture fool you. Beyond is an evil climb of never ending stairs. I combined the Six Harmonies Pagoda (stairs) run with the Nine Creeks run. 12.5 miles. Good training for Ragnar? Let's hope. 

Friday morning assembly at H.I.S.

The first graders shared what they learned about insects during their assembly. They took turns sharing some fun jokes. Brock's favorite: "What is a rabbit with beetles all over it? Bugs Bunny!" He's so straight faced on stage and barely does the movements to the songs. But off stage is a different story! The contrast is really funny to me.

And Brock received the Dragon Award! It was for being a joy to have in class, being fair and helping his classmates.  His P.E. teacher was telling us that when he gives them an assignment where they can be creative, Brock is really fun to watch. He doesn't follow everyone else but does his own thing and you can tell he really enjoys it. 

And Callie won the Book Prize. Way to go Brock and Callie! 

My Sweet Honey Honeyz: Angela, Yanti, Natalie, Marla. Love these gals!

The Mc Erlean's invited us over Saturday, April 12th, after soccer for a get together. As always, a super great time with great friends and epic food! Karl made Chicken Parmesan and more. Divine. 

Organized Chaos? (Dash's face!) Jose, Howard and John getting a run for it.

Along the river there's this sweet chicken coop and the entrance to a home is above.

Froggies at Market.

Seafood. Wholesale food market.

Six Harmonies Pagoda while it's raining. I didn't realize there would be torrential downpour during my run on this morning. I don't mind the rain but my phone does! Saturday, April 19th.

The Osborne's stayed with us Friday and Saturday night! They are almost an hour away and it's just lots of fun to have them over. Great Kiwi family! Anton's an awesome rugby player but is game to play basketball with the boyz. Colby is absolutely lovely. She and I took the kids to the Easter activity at the church meeting house in the morning and the boys caught up with us at the end. It was a treat for them to have a babysitter that night! Michael Saylor and his girlfriend Bonnie, David Hamilton and his girlfriend Denise, Osborne's and Brian and I tried out a new pizza place, the Warehouse, and we loved it. I'm am a fan of arugula on pizza! 

Hangzhou Branch Primary children singing in church on Easter Sunday. 

The wild card here was Chael! He's in nursery and somehow slipped by us to be up there with the other children. He totally tried hard to sing all the words and do the hand movements that the chorister was doing. It started to look like gangster signs, however! And then! Dash decided it was a good time to take the lego guy Chael was holding just before the song was over. That didn't go down well with Chael! Dear me! It is always a treat to hear the primary children sing. 

 I didn't do an Easter egg hunt for our children this year! Bad mother? But we did have a lovely Easter Dinner Potluck after church... I did my part there. And they got candy. We'll shoot for next year. 

A good Monday morning run around West Lake with Kristy and Natalie Foxwell. 

My first time running around West Lake! And I've lived in the Zhou for seven years! It is beautiful. And even entertaining as we had to weave through the tourists. I'm rockin' the new trail runners as my others were still drenched from Saturday's run. 

Chael playing at Elliot and Catherine's house. He loves playing next door! The twins are in and out of our house with their ayi too. They don't last as long at ours but Chael begs them to stay. 

This monstrous and unique architecture is the Low Carbon Science and Technology Museum. We wondered if others found the irony. But it looks pretty cool!

Kristy and I took the boys to the Low Carbon Science and Technology Museum. They were excited to just be out of school early and running around. They are really really fun and pretty darn cute too. 

We could have had almost as much fun staying outside the whole time I'm sure. 

"D-A-S-H" in lights!

Super silly horse ride. Riding a horse is very low on carbon.

Yeehaw!

Callie received the Dragon award today at school. It was for improvement in all subjects. Good job, Callie! We are now in the 4th quarter and she is doing several after school activities. I usually like them to do one a week. I don't know what happened. Monday- basketball with Eric Chernoff. Tuesday- soccer with Trevor. Wednesday- home with a Mandarin tutor when not in Shanghai for sports day or another function (lots going on lately). Thursday- home with a Mandarin tutor although she'd love to help Brock's soccer activity. Friday- running club to get ready for the 5K on May 17th. She was just in a musical, "Treasure's Island," with the 4th and 5th graders. I would love to do piano or guitar lessons for her but it just seems like too much right now. We don't have a piano... And I haven't been able to talk Brian into that one. But she has a cool guitar! AND, she has braces now! She got them on April 2nd. Super cute! 

Chael's Birthday!

Such a cute birthday boy! 

I asked Chael if he wanted strawberries on his cake. "Yes!" was his answer. So I made him an Angel Food Cake with whipped cream and berries. He LOVES fruit. On his first birthday I made him a cake made out of a watermelon. He'll eat anything sweet I'm sure. 

I love his squinty smiles!

Can you see the enjoyment on his face? He was SO excited....to be eating cereal for dinner!

I asked Chael what he wanted for dinner on his birthday. It can be a scary question to ask because there are limits to my super powers. He said, "Cereal!" After asking him several times and even suggesting pizza one time the answer was still the same. I decided I was not going to try to talk him out of it. This was the easiest birthday dinner I have ever made! And it was such a treat for the whole family! We must be deprived.... He did get to pick out some new boxes of cereal at the store today. 

I had to put all these pictures in because Chael's facial expressions are so funny! He's precious.

I should also point out Brock's even more toothless smile. Cute little pumpkin. He is now missing his four front teeth! The first three were all knocked out on two separate occasions. One he lost a year ago at school. It was sort of yanked out by the soccer goal net. Won't go into details there. His two front teeth he lost this past Fall from a fall. But this fourth one was loose and came out because it was suppose to. He has one missing on the bottom right now too. And another loose one down there. Quite the jack-o-lantern! He's making bank from the tooth fairy. This year I think he'll be singing, "All I want for Christmas are my four front teeth....." 

Lego Batman!

Chael Louis Phillips. He just rocks. He's extremely playful and he loves people. He catches on to humor really quickly and thinks his dad, brothers and sister are the funniest people on the planet. He also enjoys making them laugh as well. He goes around saying, "my precious" and quotes anything that makes the kids laugh. He also likes to yell "Ninja-GO!" and play fights ninja style. He's got his moves down. 

Lately he's been saying, "I love that, Mom!" or "I like your pants, Dad!" "I love your hair, Mom!" He's the first one to notice something new. 

Chael is a very lovable little dude who enjoys being a big boy. People enjoy him and their is just something really magnetizing about him. He has a wonderful energy and light. We think he's pretty cute too. 

Hangzhou Zoo During Spring Break

Chow time.

During Spring break we met up with some friends at the zoo and had a picnic! The McEarl's, Eppink's, Williams', Joseph's and our family joined the outing. It is built in a beautiful area so it feels more natural. I've been to the zoo in Shanghai before but the one big panda there is usually dozing. So it was fun to see these pandas awake and in action. Eating!

 It was kind of like a potluck picnic. Really fun. 

Callie snapped a pic of Brock.

I had to add this picture. This for some reason is a typical facial expression we see on Brock. I don't know why. He's a little crazy. He even received a "Dragon Award" today at school for his "charisma". It was a certificate for having a good attitude, being a joy to have in class, always happy and making his classmates and teacher laugh. He's quite the comedian. But he doesn't like the stage! He's so funny while performing in the 1st grade performances. He just barely goes through the motions. He does just enough to be doing it but keeps a really straight face the whole time. I've never seen him smile while on stage. He's not too comfortable up there but he's come a long way. He at least does the actions to the songs now!

The seal show! He could do some cool tricks. 

We also watched another animal show. A mountain goat, poodles, elephant and even a little black bear did some stunts. I wasn't sure if I should post the pictures of the bear! He could roller skate and ride a bike. But it was a little sad. 

There were also some really cool arial artists! 

Pretty area at the zoo where the ducks, geese and swan hang out. 

This was the sad part. Poor little bear. On skates! 

And he could ride a bike too. 

This was the best part. The Arial dancers were really cool! 

Yanti bought fighting sticks and swords for the kids and they had a good time with them. Chael does some awesome Ninjago moves and poses when he plays. It's so funny. He gets into it. 

Moganshan Trail Run Half Marathon

Start line! 

Carston Feigelsen and Steven Sheffield let me tag along! We drove up from Hangzhou the day of the race and represented! Carston, a BYU Hawaii cross-country runner, placed 2nd. Steven placed 6th overall. And I won for the girls! 13.1 miles (21km). There was also a relay option and we couldn't really understand why anyone would go all this way to run 7km. But by the time it was over I think we all understood! 

This was the toughest course I've ever ran. It was a 30% incline at one point. There were several inclines that had to be walked among the many ups and downs. It was rainy, muddy, slippery and steep--and incredibly beautiful! We ran through bamboo forests, rivers, muddy trails; along narrow ridges and under and over fallen bamboo trees. Did I mention how slippery this run was? It was really fun and I loved it. And I was so happy to cross the finish line! It really was crazy. Hard core. There were parts that I was literally pulling myself up the mountain by hanging on to bamboo trees. It was that steep and that slippery. I was pretty muddy by the end. Great race!

There was a gal, Camden, in front of me that I didn't catch up to until half way through the race. She was awesome. I think she does lots of events. Hope to catch up to her again someday!

This is after the beast of a mountain we just climbed. It really is gorgeous. This is the only pic I took while running the race. I was that knackered that I could actually stop and snap a shot. Good thing I recover quickly! 

The best part of being the number one girl was that Brian was so proud of me! And Carston and Steven thought they would be waiting a long time for me and they said they underestimated me. It was funny to hear them apologize! I assured them that I was very happy to exceed their expectations even though I was relatively a lot slower then they were.

The Bamboo Guest House's veggie delivery.

I think this picture is so funny! Don't make me ask it...

Countryside in Moganshan. On the walk up to the start line. 

Harvested bamboo.

 It's beautiful countryside. You can see the fell these trees and are harvesting them. 

Spring Break Begins!

Spring Break Begins! Running with kite. They each took turns and had so much fun running up and down the runway "flying" the squid kite. One of Callie's awesome new b-day gifts. 

Preschoolers on a field trip. Awesome uniforms. 

Morning on Wen Tao Lu.

Dongxin Da Dao (Avenue) on my way home from a run. I like the three-wheeler coming and the parade of construction guys on their way to their work site. 

Buying Xiang Cong Bin (Green Onion Tortilla).

We went across the street to our "Xiao La Ji Shi Chang (Little Trash Market)" for dinner on Thursday, March 27th--the first full day of spring break! It's awesome. There are street vendors selling food along the alleys and in little shops. It's a fun dinner. We ended up starting with our onion tortillas which the kids love. And then we went to a Muslim Noodle place which are all over and so delicious. Lan Zhou Mian. A bowl of freshly made noodles in a broth with cilantro and slice of beef is about $1. Most Chinese Muslims don't eat pork which is extremely common in the Chinese diet. 

Callie pointed out the shoes up here on the wall and asked me to take a picture. They look polished and shined.

Walking to the Xin Jiang Noodle 

Shop. 

Making La Mian (Pulled Noodles). It's cool to watch every time! 

Fresh pulled noodles dumped into the boiling broth to cook. The Muslim Chinese wear these hats. 

 Cooking up the veggies that go with the shaved noodles in Xin Jiang Ban Mian. A favorite!

He shaves the dough right into the pot. They got a kick out of me taking their picture.

Xiao Xie, our old ayi, with Chael. She's awesome and loves the children and the children love her. She and her new husband are like family.

Xin Jiang Ban Mian. And then you put the veggies on the shaved noodles. So good!

Noodles! Our family ate for about $6 this night.