Tianjin Visit

108 weeks in china.  3 weeks to go.  WOW!

Up and it had rained all night.  I made pancakes for breakfast and the boys chowed down.  We decided since it wasn't raining anymore we would head to Tianjin.

Everyone got ready and we were out the door at 9:15.  Our first stop was the Tianjin Eye which is a huge Ferris wheel over a road.  We pulled up and there were quite a few buses and people.  We bought our ticket and got in line.  We were the second group so not much waiting.

A big Ferris wheel.

The Ronnebeck's look so small.

We loaded our cart and off we went.  We were taking pictures and then someone noticed the funny signs on the cart itself.  Of course we all snapped pictures of those.  It took us a half hour to make the full rotation.  Luckily it wasn't completely smoggy and we could see of in the distance a little bit.

Enjoying our ride.

Scott was having fun with my camera.

Rely on what????

Scott and Kelly with smoggy Tianjin in the background.

The boys with a different view.

A stone boat.

Such a cheeser.

Look at the last line on the left.  Too funny.

Another view.

Handsome.

Unloading.

The man working was stylin'.

This bathroom STUNK. 

Once off the Ferris wheel we loaded back up in the van and headed to Ancient Culture Street.  We walked in and the kids immediately started looking at the things for sale.  We made it to the middle and wanted to get the kids picture by a rock.  They all walked that direction and immediately we heard things like "oo, gross, what stinks?" And with that they all put their noses in their shirts. A guy was making some very smelly food.

Immediately found things to check out.

So much 'junk'.

This was the stinky place on the street.

A random pile of garbage.

We found Dairy Queen so that everyone could get their ice cream fix taken care of.  It did not let anyone down...delicious.

Walked past Wu Mart.

Oh yeah, we need this.

Looking at the menu like they didn't already know what they were getting.

Yum.

We ate as we walked.  Ancient Culture Street has a lot of shops selling Chinese goods.  Griffin found a shop that sold Chinese masks.  The man said they were 25 rmb each.  Cameron went over and started bargaining.  With the calculator him and the man went back and forth.  It ended up they agreed at 20 rmb each (almost a dollar cheaper each).  The man patted Cameron on the back and with a big smile said "good".  Cameron was pretty proud of himself.  They ended up buying 8 masks.

A lot of carts selling fruit off the back.

Lots of shops.

Grace then found some Chinese book marks.  At 5 rmb each (less than a dollar) they just paid the price. No bargaining needed.

Grace then had her name written on a scroll.  The man made her letters into animals.  It was amazing watching him do his work.  Very cool and Grace's scroll turned out awesome.  Plus it only took about 3 minutes.  That is talent.

Grace filmed the man making her name.

The finished product.

We continued walking until we got to the end.  It started to sprinkle but nothing we couldn't handle. We worked our way back to the starting point stopping off to buy 3 more masks and all holding our breath when we got to the smelly food cart.

In the van and off to Texas BBQ for lunch.  The menu was completely different with way more options.  We all decided and tried to order.  The poor Chinese girl was so confused when she walked away.  We saw her chatting with what may have been a manager.  She then came over to ask about our order and it wasn't right.  Another conversation of what we wanted.  We finally thought it was ok.  The boys were playing Foosball.  Scott joined them and the noise level got much louder.  The 3 of them were yelling and laughing.

We drove past a Transformer.

Gross.

Watch out Griffin.

We didn't know Grace had a kitchen.

Cameron and Griffin did not look pleased about
Grace's Kitchen.

Game on.

Uncle Scott showed who was king of Foosball.

Our drinks came.  Beers and one pop were warm but the Sprites were cold.   Not pleased.  Food came.  Cameron's fajitas were the funkiest things I had ever seen.  He said they were nasty until I dabbed the sauce off the steak.  He ate them but still said they weren't good.  Scott was very pleased with his burger...the buttered bun and beef cooked to perfection is how he described it.  The pulled pork all the girls had was good.  BBQ sauce was not up to par.  One flavor tasted like ketchup and the other was so watery it didn't have much flavor.

Weird fajitas.

Lunch time.

Steep steps.

After lunch I hit the bathroom.  Disgusting.  Dirty.  Smelly.  We have been to Texas BBQ several times and never has it been this nasty.  A HUGE disappointment.  I felt like they are trying to get too big for their britches.  They must have forgot the kiss saying--keep it simple stupid.  The Ronnebeck's thought it was ok so that's what mattered.

Off to TEDA.  We were chatting and then there was silence.  I looked back and Scott and Kelly were sleeping.  The kids were entertaining themselves with electronic devices so they were quiet.  It was me and Mr. Xue cruising along in the rain.  At least the rain held off until we were back in the van.

Getting some Zzzzzz.

Made it home.  I ran to the grocery store and picked Todd up from work.  Scott and Kelly started to pack since this was their last night in our apartment.  Scott ran to Times again to get pop.  Luckily Times is about a 2 minute walk from our apartment.

We treated the Ronnebeck's to a Korean dish called Bibimbap.  They each received a cup.  Todd had out several kinds of meat (pre-cooked) and several veggies (not cooked).  Each person filled their cup with whatever ingredients they wanted.  The bowls were heating in the oven as we did this.  Todd pulled the bowls out and dumped each cup of food in each bowl.  Todd added rice to each.  Bowls went back in the oven.  Some had an egg cracked on top.  10 minutes later he took each bowl out and stirred.  Back in the oven for 10 more minutes.  Dinner time. Griffin had a taco in a bowl. The rest of us started eating bibimbap.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it.

The kids were instant buddies.

Kelly, Grace, and Scott choosing their ingredients.

Griffin thinking "Are you serious?  You want me to eat this?"

Family love.

Working the chop sticks.

Twins.

Everyone seemed to like the dinner.

Chop stick pros.

At 7:00 Carrasco's came up to have a beer with us before my family left.  The Carrasco's apartment was getting packed tomorrow so we had to give them their special picture frames we got for them.
Cameron gave Alfredo his first.  Ileana and I already had tears.  Then I gave her theirs.  She couldn't even read what I wrote.  I had a letter on the inside and I made up a poem on the outside.  I read the poem out loud because it was funny...until the end.  They loved them.  As we were looking at the frames the kids devoured the blueberry muffins Kelly made.  They must have been good.

Giving the Carrasco's their presents.

Ileana and I discussing the picture.

The Ronnebeck's looking at the picture.

Grace, Cameron, Alejandro, Griffin, Alfredo, and Marcela.

A close up.

Griffin saying goodbye to Alejandro.

Grace saying goodbye to Alejandro.  He was embarrassed to hug her.

We chatted awhile longer and they left.  We skyped with my parents.  It was quite interesting with the 3 kids on one end and my parents on the other.  Lots of chatter.

Skyping with Grandma and Grandpa.

Griffin showed them one of his masks.

Kelly decided to make more muffins to take to Beijing with us.  While she did that I gave Todd a haircut.  Then it was off to bed since we had a big weekend coming up.  Cameron was a little upset when going to bed.  I asked him what was wrong.  He said "The Ronnebeck's time went to fast". I reminded him we had 4 days left with them and we would be home in 3 weeks.  He then said "But that's not all.  I can't believe Carrasco's are packing their apartment tomorrow".  This kid is probably going to have a tough/sad few weeks.  Poor thing.