Friday Fun

The Hindman boys are going back to Iowa.  We thought it was June 8 but it is June 11.  Cameron wanted to have everyone over for a sleepover before they leave.  Well, Alfredo wanted to have everyone over too but he also wanted to have Brad so the sleepover was at Carrasco's.

Ileana had us and Hindman's over for dinner.  8 kids and 6 adults.  We look over and all 8 kids are connected to some kind of electronic device...wii, computer, Ipad, or Kindle.  We ate dinner and then had the electronics put away and played some games.

Manuel, Brad, Cameron, and Alfredo all connected trying
 to play games together.

Dinner time.  Tobias, Ryley, Cameron, Ainsley, Manuel,
Alejandro, Brad, and Alfredo.

The kids were in two teams.  The first game they had to blow up a balloon and then try to blow cups off the table.  Poor Ainsley could not figure out how to blow the balloon up.  She would start it but then she would suck the air back in her mouth.  It was so funny.

Cameron has a lot of hot air so he was pretty good at this game.

The second game was water pong.  We set up 10 cups on each end of the ping pong table.  The kids had to throw or bounce ping pong balls into the cups.  If a ball went in we took the cup out.  They had to race to see who could get all 10 cups out first.  The kids were cracking up.

The look of concentration.

Cameron catching a ping pong ball.  He looks like he is in pain.

The last game was tippy cup.  The kids had to put their cup on the edge of the table and flip it upright.  The next person couldn't go until the person before them had their cup right.  It came down to Alfredo vs. Alejandro.  They kept flipping.  Finally Alfredo's cup stood upright. 

Come on Manuel, flip your cup.

The kids had fun with the games.  The boys, except for Brad and Alejandro, went in Alfredo's room to play a game.  Hindman's left and then we left about 10 minutes later.  It was 10:30.  Ileana said she would have them go to bed at 11.  We told her good luck.

They watched a movie and then had a pillow fight.  Finally went to bed at 2:30 a.m.  Ileana was a little off on her timing.  Silly boys.  They had a blast.

All comfy watching a movie.

Oh Man

Thursday when I woke up I checked my email like I always do.  There was one that was disturbing from my Mom.  She told us our shed at home was broken into.  My Dad drove into the driveway and the doors were open.  He immediately knew something wasn't right.  They called the police and our friend Kirk showed up at our house to make a report.

At first my Dad didn't think anything was missing.  But after Kirk left my Dad realized both chain saws were missing.  He decided to run up to Pawn King which is up the road from our house to see if they had been pawned.  They hadn't. 

What a bummer.  I'm not sure why there are so many jerks in the world that enjoy messing and stealing other peoples stuff.  So irritating.  Oh well, I guess it could have been much worse.

Later in the day I was going to do some dishes.  I rinsed them off and set them on the counter.  I reached in the cupboard to get the dish soap and saw water all over the place.  I bent over more to take a closer look.  The pipes were no longer connected to each other.  Seriously?  I cleaned up all the water and reconnected the pipes.  Yep, I was a plumber for a day.  My cousin Tim would be so proud. 

This could be a problem.

On Friday I went with Stine get manicures and pedicures.  We arrived at 11 at weren't done until 1:00.  Man, why does it take so long?  It was so hot in the shop I thought I was having heat flashes.  Luckily I was fine once we finally left.

On the way to the spa I walked past a new pub we have in TEDA.  It is called Cheers.  They tried to copy the Cheers that was on tv but they didn't quite copy it correct.  The line underneath Cheers says "Where Everyone Knows".  That's it.  Not "Where Everyone Knows Your Name."  Too funny.

Oh China.  You are funny.

Home

We were all a little slow moving.  Everyone got ready and we went to breakfast at 9:15.  It was a Sunday Brunch according to the website.  We went into the Canteen where the buffet was set up.  There were little black bowls on warmers with food in them...scrambled eggs, porridge, rice, bacon/ham, potatoes, veggies.  There were also a few breads and a salad.  That was it. 

With 10 girls it took about 3 of them to empty the bowls before they needed to be refilled.  We stood and waited for the scrambled eggs for about 10-15 minutes. It was pretty ridiculous.  Needless to say I didn't have much. 

We chatted awhile because our drivers weren't suppose to be there until 11.  We looked in the blown glass shop.  There was some neat things but boy was it expensive.  No one got anything.  Back to the room to pack up.  At 11 we went to the parking lot.  Stine's driver was there so the 5 riding in her van packed their things in.  Megan's driver arrived around 11:20.  No big deal.  Loaded up and pulled out around 11:30. 

It started to rain a little bit.  We were following Megan's van.  At times people thought Stine's driver was driving like a maniac.  It wasn't too bad it was mainly just traffic so he was on and off the brakes.  But it does seem when the drivers try to follow each other the driving is wilder.  We did have one close call though.  We were cruising along when a giant truck pulled right in front of our van.  We were almost pinned between the guard rail and the truck.  Luckily it just missed us and Stine's driver laid on the brakes.  We all about had a heart attack and I grabbed Ileana's leg.  I think I squeezed it but hopefully didn't hurt her.  She said I didn't.

We arrived home a little after 3.  Perfect.  I walked in the apartment and to my surprise Todd and Cameron had done laundry (It was on the couch to be folded but...) and they had done the dishes (they were on the drying rack but...).  But at least they helped a bit.  I was shocked and happy.  Good job boys.

We skyped with both sets of parents and then off to bed. 

Last Ladies Night

Ten girls headed to Beijing to the Mutianyu Section of the Great Wall.  We rented a house at the Schoolhouse to stay in.  We all met at Warner at 8:00 a.m.  As the ladies were showing up my boys and Carrasco's were going with Hindman's and others to the orphanage.  They went to build shelves.

Megan, Stine, Ileana, Me, Rachel, Andrea, Trine, and Cecilia.
Crista and Claudia were missing.

The girls jumped in the vans and stopped at Starbuck's so the ladies could load up on caffeine.  On the road.  3 hours later we were at the Schoolhouse.  We unloaded the vans and carried all our stuff to the office.  We couldn't get the house until 3.  It looked like we were staying for a week with all of our stuff.

I think this truck could carry a little more.

 

They had stuff hanging all over the place.

My name was on the board.

We walked up the hill to the Wall.  We bought our tickets and started with the chair lift.  We rode to the top.  We were suppose to meet Christa in tower 10.  We decided to go to the right once we got to the top of the Wall.  Definitely tough...very steep.  It was a beautiful, sunny day.  It was a little hot but luckily there was a little bit of a breeze.  Inside the guard towers was much cooler. 

Someone must of told the girls to put their hands on their hips.
Trine was getting a message from Christa.

On the chair lift.

Ileana and I riding together.

9 girls...still missing Christa.  Between Rachel and I
it looks like someone photo bombed our shot.

Yep, going to the top in the background.

We were bummed we had to carry our purses.

We got a call from Christa and we realized we were going in the wrong direction.  We decided to finish our walk to the top where the Wall ends before turning around.  We ran into a lot of people from Minnesota.  We always like running into other Americans.  They must have thought we were crazy. 

Lots of steps.  Didn't we conquer another wall
last week at the marathon?

This guy put some Kung Fu moves on Trine.

Andrea ran up the steps like Rocky.

So many steps.

Ileana, Me, and Andrea taking a break.

Cecilia and I walking more steps.

Inside a tower cooling off.

Made it to the end and then turned around to go back.  Down was much easier than up.  Made it to where we started again and found Christa.  We decided we needed to have a beer on the wall.  We found a lady but the beer wasn't cold.  We found another lady and it was a bit colder but not much.  Ileana told the lady the beers were expensive and the lady started yelling at us in Chinese.  It was funny since we didn't know what she was saying. We bought 10 beers and cracked them open.  We found a spot on the steps to sit and drink them. 

Still only 9 of us.

All 10 girls.  Megan, Christa, Rachel, Ileana, Cecilia, Trine,
Andrea, Me, Claudia, and Stine in the back.

A better one of all of us.
Cecilia and Claudia.  Ileana and Andrea to the left.
The row is Trine, Christa, Rachel, Me, Megan, and Stine.

We walked down to the slide.  I went first.  It was a blast.  I could go as fast as I wanted.  I forgot how long the slide was from when we rode it a long time ago.  All the girls had a fun ride too.  Well, except for Megan.  She was already kind of scared but then when she was riding down a kid kept running into the back of her. She told him numerous times to stop but he didn't. Him and his parents just kept laughing.  She was not happy when she got to the bottom and she made it very clear to the kid and his parents. 

Loaded up for the luge ride down.

Me, Ileana, Rachel, Andrea, and Claudia
are ready for a ride.

Here comes Megan.

We walked back down to the house.  We got the keys and went to the house.  It was very nice.  We all walked in and found the rooms we were going to sleep in.  We were all in the dining room and started devouring the snacks.  The drinks started flowing a little too.  From about 3:30 to 5:30 we hung out and chatted.  We had to hurry and get ready for dinner since our car was picking us up at 6:00. 

Hanging out in the house.

At 6:15 the van picked us up to take us over to the Brickyard section of the "resort".  It was about a 10 minute drive.  The dinner was a Jazz Band and a BBQ buffet.  The menu sounded really good when we saw it online.  We were all a little disappointed in the actual buffet.  It was pretty expensive for what they had.  When I said I would like steak and veggies the guy handed me a piece of steak that was about 2 bites big and a skewer of veggies with 4 different vegetables on it.  We all had to laugh.  We had enough food but we can't say it was great.  Just ok.  At the end when we paid the bill Ileana and Christa were charged 54 rmb for sparkling water.  They asked about it and the waitress got a bit snippy.  It was kind of funny. 

Here is the very lively Jazz Band.

A great group of girls enjoying dinner.
Me, Trine, Stine, Ileana, Christa, Megan, Andrea,
Cecilia, Rachel, and Claudia.

 

Yep, my table.

Here is the buffet.  Kind of lame.

Back to the house.  There were 3 ladies out front of our house line dancing.  They had a boom box set up and everything.  It was funny.  Inside.  We started playing games.  We had a lot of laughs.  Most of us were up until 2:30 a.m.  Rachel showed us some of her Taro cards and pendulum things she does.  It is interesting but I'm still skeptical.  I am not sure how that stuff works. 

Work it ladies.

I took this shot from up in our house.

The ladies getting back from dinner.

 

Trine, Stine, Rachel, Megan, and Andrea in the kitchen.

Megan was trying to be a model.

The refrigerator is full.

Having a lot of laughs playing some crazy games.

Such a cute cake and it was so delicious.

As the girls were having fun Todd and Cameron had the Carrasco's, Cuevas', and Scott over for dinner.  The kids played and the guys grilled.  They had a good night too. 

Below are pictures of the house we rented.

To the left is the kitchen/living room area.  The right is the master
bedroom.  The house was 'n' shape.

To the left two girls slept (white blankets) then there was a fire place,
living room, table and chairs, and kitchen in this part.

Master bedroom.

Master bathroom.

The library.

 

Looking back into the master bedroom and the patio.

Rachel coming up from the lower level.

3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms in the lower level.

Off to bed.