Cameron

I went to Tianjin with Sharla and we stopped at Ancient Culture Street.  She had a name poster made for one of her friends.  I liked it so much that I had to get Cameron one.  The guy who makes them is amazing.  He did Cameron's name in about 5 minutes.  It turned out so good.  The best part is it cost 30 Rmb for the poster and 5 Rmb for the little box to put it in ($5.50). 

This man is awesome.

Quite a crowd gathered.

Putting the finishing touches on.

The finished product.  So cool.

On the way back from Tianjin we stopped to have lunch at Ashanti.  Stine met us there too.  It was wing Wednesday.  Buy 2 orders get 1 free.  Stine had an order left over so she sent them home with me.  Cameron had them for dinner.  He devoured them.  When he was finished he said "Wow, those were awesome.  The sauce is really good too".  Too bad they are a little messy.  He headed to the shower after eating.

I don't have anything on my face do I?

In art class Cameron made a fantastic mask.  He said the only thing he did wrong was made the mouth hole a little too low.  Otherwise it was great.  When he wears it he whips his beard around and sings "I whip my beard back and forth, I whip my beard back and forth".  When he puts the mask on top of his head he sings "I whip my eyebrows back and forth".  He is so goofy.

Amazing mask.

Chicken Pox

Well, Chinese Chicken Pox have invaded TEDA. My friend Anna's son has them. My friend Peter's twins have them. This is the 3rd time they have had them in their five years of life. I didn't even know that was possible. Everyone else is hoping and praying their kids do not get them. Hopefully the chicken pox shot works and Cameron dodges this bullet again.

Photos From A Friend

These are extra photos Peter took on Water Day.

Mother of the Year trying to video, take pictures, and not get wet.

Cameron and Kahlil picking up speed.

Good times.

Look at that smile.

Love this picture.

Mr. Wong trying to hit Cameron.

Cameron aiming at the girls.

 I was at Jusco and saw this bicycle.  I was really wishing Cameron was little so we could buy this for him.  It is too cute.

Yeah Baby.

This Chevrolet bike is the cutest thing ever.

Back From Beijing

Woke up in the morning and went down to breakfast.  At 10:45 we loaded up the van and headed back to TEDA.  Once back "home" I did some laundry and relaxed.  Todd and Cameron went to the gym for awhile.  When they came back we all went outside with Ryley and Tobias and played basketball.  Instead of the game of HORSE they played the game of TOBIAS.  They were having fun.  Carrie and Ainsley came out and we chatted for about 5 minutes when all of a sudden it was getting dark and windy.  A storm was brewing.  Jahyme walked out and the wind was so strong it was blowing dirt all over.  It was like a sand storm.  We couldn't help but laugh because it was so odd how bad it got so fast.  Then it started raining.

We made it inside and the Hindman's came up to our place.  They brought the best 4 layer chocolate cake ever.  It was left over from the birthday celebration they had with friends for Ryley's birthday.  It was blowing and raining really bad.  Todd tried to watch it out on the patio but the wind was blowing the wrong direction so he was getting wet.  The kids played Rock Band.

The storm didn't last long.  Hindman's stayed about an hour.  It was a fun afternoon. 

Dinner, skyped both sets of parents, then bed.  A great ending to a great weekend.

Man's Night

So Cameron and Todd had Man's Night.  They started the day by going to work.  Cameron went with Todd and sat in the construction office while Todd worked.  Cameron built Legos and entertained himself for a couple of hours.  They then went to eat lunch.

Pepper Spaghetti with an egg on top.

The Hindman's visited and they played Rock Band.  Then Todd and Cameron headed to Tianjin for dinner.  They watched some tv and Cameron slept in my spot in bed.  They had a good day without me.

Drinking a smoothie waiting for the Tapas and Seafood Paella.

Ladies Night

8:00 a.m., fountain, Warner Garden...this was our meeting spot to leave for Ladies Night in Beijing. I walked out of the apartment building and heard Ileana coming out of her apartment so I waited for her.  When she walked out we looked at each other and laughed.  We were dressed almost alike.  She said "Sister".  Later in the morning Sharla called us "Sister from another Mister".  Everyone thought this was really funny.  At 8:10  2 vans and 2 cars pulled out and headed for the interstate.  We drove for about 15 minutes and realized there were a lot of cars coming at us on our side of the road.  There was an accident or something so the road was closed.  We turned around and headed the wrong direction too.  Big trucks coming at us but it was ok because we had our flashers on and were driving on the side of the road.  Yeah, that made us feel better.  Back through TEDA to get to the other road.  Finally, cruising at normal speeds and on our way.

Sister from another Mister.  Too funny.

We had an 11:00 appointment at Pussycat Dance Studio.  One van got to the studio at 11:05.  Our van and the other 2 cars went to the wrong spot.  We finally got proper directions and arrived at the studio at 11:30.  A couple girls hurried to change and we entered the studio.  We saw 14 poles and a giant mirror.  Yep, we were taking a Pole Dancing Class.  There were 17 of us and the instructor.  We each found our spot.  We started out with a stretch.  We then were shown how to spin on the pole.  Did you know that the poles spin and are not stationary?  None of us did until we touched it.  All this time we all thought pole dancers were spinning on the pole but actually the pole was spinning.  Amazing.  We practiced the different ways to spin.  It was super hard.  We practiced walking.  We then practiced walking "sexy" around the pole.  The instructor made each one of us walk around our pole one and a time.  It was a little embarrassing but funny.  We all had an open mind and just had fun with this class.  We then got down to business.  We learned a dance routine to music.  At the end of the class we had to break our group into half.  Each half had to do the routine in front of the other half.  It was great.  It was amazing in the hour how much we improved.  We still can't take our show on the road but we were good for a group of girls from TEDA.  Overall, the class was a blast.  We had bruises to show off and tired bodies.  We were all amazed at what a great workout this class was.  Fun, exercise, and great friends. 

Learning to spin.

Learning to walk "sexy".

Showing our routine to the others.

I started higher on the pole but I was almost on the ground by the end.

The TEDA Dancers.

This is our instructor.

Yep, she was a little better than us.

Our next stop was suppose to be The Hard Rock Cafe for lunch but during our class Stine received a message from Heidi.  She said The Hard Rock was closed for a wedding.  Plan B.  We headed to Element Fresh.  We had a delicious lunch.  After lunch 6 of us went for foot massages and the rest went in different directions shopping. 

The foot massages were excellent.  Crista and Bigette (Ba gee ta) had never had foot massages so they were surprised that their necks and shoulders were massaged too.  They also couldn't believe how they could hurt at certain times.  The massage was 75 minutes long.  The 6 guys doing the massages had fun with us.  Luckily Bigette speaks really good Chinese so she was our translator.  There was a lot of laughing.  At the beginning my guy looked over to the guy next to him and kind of whispered.  They both laughed.  I looked at Stine and said "I think he just said my feet are big".  She started to laugh and said that is what he said.  Then later, all of a sudden my guy looked up at me and said "wo ai ni" and the guy next to him said "I love you".  I knew what he said so I said "Awww, wo ai ni".  My guy laughed.  We all laughed.  About 3 minutes later he stood up and said "Bye, bye".  That was it.  We all laughed again.  The massage was fun.  Ileana was so relaxed we thought she was dead.  Good times.

Ready for a foot massage.
Ileana, Me, Brigette, Stine, Crista, and Heidi.

View from the other side. 

Ileana was the most relaxed.

We headed back to the hotel.  By the time we got there we had a half hour to get ready and head to the lounge.  We were suppose to meet at 5:30.  Ileana and I were sharing a room.  We quickly got ready and headed to the lounge.  We had some snacks and drinks.  While in the lounge I got an email from Todd.  He sent me an add he found in a magazine.  It was about a pole dancing competition.  He's a funny guy.

Rachel, Sharla, and Annie with big smiles.

The gangs all here.

None of us were quite ready for competition.

At 7:00 we jumped in vehicles and headed to The Saddle Cantina.  In our van we took about a hundred pictures trying to get a couple good ones.  It was a hilarious ride.  We reached the restaurant and headed up to the roof top balcony.  It was a gorgeous night to eat outside.  We ordered our food and had more drinks.  Pretty good food.  I definitely think we will be going back.  We chatted for a couple of hours.  Sharla told the waitress Olivia was getting married (even though she was already married).  She brought her a yard glass of lemon margarita.  A couple minutes later Sharla told the waitress I was also getting married.  They brought another margarita.  I wondered how many free drinks they would bring us until they realized we were all already married.  My only problem with the restaurant was the wait staff was very crabby.  Still a great evening.

Annie, Ileana, and I are in the back of the van.

Olivia, Sharla, and Stine are in the backward seats.

Cheers!

A better view.

Our "bride to be" drinks.

After dinner photo.

This one is better.
Claudia, Sharla, Erica, Mette, Andrea, Natalia, Annie, ??, Heidi, Stine, Crista,
Brigette, Olivia, Kellie, Erica, Ileana, Jessica, Me, and Rachel.

After dinner we jumped on rickshaws and headed to The Mango Bar.  It was a fun ride.  Once there we paid our 50 RMB, the other girls paid 25 RMB, and 2 other girls would not get out of the rickshaw because the driver wouldn't give them the change they were owed.  They sat there for almost 10 minutes while the rest of us laughed.  They were bickering over about 80 cents.  Finally we all headed in to the bar.  First floor was a restaurant.  Second floor was a bar.  Third floor was a roof top bar.  It was completely dead.  No people.  We all headed across the street to The Chocolate Bar.  The first thing I saw was the midget bouncer.  Exactly what is he going to bounce?  Honestly, he was the smallest midget I have ever seen.  He was so small.  I tried to get a picture of him but he doesn't like that so I was doing it slyly.  Unfortunately, I never got him in the picture.  Sharla finally got one but it didn't show how small he is.  Once inside it was pretty dark.  Lots of singing and dancing going on.  We grabbed drinks and seats.  Some of us danced.  There was a band and there were "dancers".  One of the dancers was a man wearing a fish net shirt, a furry skunk looking long skirt, 5 inch high heals, and he was working his spot on stage.  Some of the girls commented how well he was rocking the high heels.  Wow, he was a different breed.  He seemed to enjoy his job though.  12:15 6 of us decided we had had enough fun and headed back to the hotel.  4 of us took rickshaws again because they are so fun and the other 2 jumped in a cab.  Once at the hotel we paid but then they tried to change the price again.  We were having no part of that.  The other rickshaw driver told the two girls (Stine and Annie) they were so fat his tires were probably flat.  That was so rude. 

Me and Ileana enjoying our rickshaw ride.

Heidi and Annie wanted to race.

Our driver took our picture.  He wanted a tip for doing it.
He didn't get one.

Ileana found a little old Mexican man to dance with her.
They were the same size.  So cute.

Up to our room, got ready for bed, and asleep in about 5 minutes.  Fun night.

Children's Day

June 1st in China is Children's Day.  Some of the Chinese schools have off school but at TIS it was a day of celebration.  It is known as Water Day and is one of the kids favorite day of school.  I have to admit that TIS does a great job of going all out.  They make sure that the activities are a blast for the kids.  The teachers put in a lot of hard work to construct and gather all the equipment.

We got up and it was pouring down rain with a lot of thunder.  We weren't sure if it water day was still going to happen or not.  Cameron wore his swimming suit just in case.  Opening ceremonies was suppose to be at 9:30.  Ileana and I headed over to the school to see it.  It was still raining a little bit.  On our way there I received an e-mail.  It said there was a modification to the schedule but water day was still going to go on as planned.  Grades 2-5 wasn't going to start activities until 10:30.  UGH!  Now we were an hour early.  We decided to just stay at school.  The K-1 kids had activities in the gym and then headed out to the water activities so we watched them.  They were having a blast.  It was a little windy so at some points it was a little chilly for them but over all not too bad.  All of a sudden it started pouring again.  The adults ran for cover but the kids didn't care.  Most continued on with the activities.

The activities they had were a giant slip and slide, a jumpy jump, swimming pool, two wade pools to be in while having a water gun war, a throw water filled foam blocks at kids running across a beam, and a giant water slide.  It was so neat.  Most of these activities would not be allowed in the U.S. because it would be too dangerous according to some people.  I can say the kids had a blast and no injuries.

At 10:30 grades 2-5 entered the water zones.  They rotated from activity to activity.  There was a lot of laughter and smiles.  The rain stayed away for the rest of the day too.  Some parents were upset that water day went on but I think it was great.  We didn't have to worry about the kids getting sunburned or complain that it was hot or worry about dehydration.  It was a fun morning.

Water gun fight.

Running across the beam trying not to get hit.

Cameron about to nail Nazomi.

Cameron and Kahlil coming down the slide together.

Giant slip and slide.

Bouncing down the slide.

Kahlil, Cameron, Jin Liang, and Truman having fun.

Flying down.

At 11:45 Me, Ileana, June, Trine, and Peter went to lunch at the new Jacky's.  We were there for an hour and a half enjoying lunch and the great company.  It was a fun afternoon.  After lunch we headed back to school for the talent show.  There were 14 acts.  They were all very good.  The funniest was the Kindergarten Advanced Chinese class.  There were 6 kids.  They sang parts of 5 Chinese songs all blended together.  It was hilarious because 2 of the kids were very animated and loud.  At one point the second little girl reached over and covered up the first little girls mouth because she was so loud.  This made everyone laugh.  It was so cute.  There are actually some pretty talented kids.

Watching the talent show.

Happy Children's Day.