Harbin--Friday

Friday...Happy birthday Mr. Hu!  Up and went to breakfast at 8:00.  Headed to the airport at 10:00. We had to get on a bus to get out to the plane.  Once there the doors open on the bus and it is mass chaos getting on the steps to the plane.  Pushing and fighting for space.  Luckily we have Todd throwing blocks for us.  Buckled up and we start moving.  We all fell asleep.  Cameron woke up and said "We are still on the ground?". I thought we had fallen asleep for 5 minutes but it was an hour. Ugh!  We didn't get clearance so we were waiting.  Finally in the air.  1 hour 40 minutes later we were in Harbin.  Got in our van and drove to the hotel.  We noticed the buildings were different than any other parts of China we have been in.  Harbin has more of a Russian influence.  Kind of cool.

Trying some noodles in the lounge at the airport.

The cheese and lettuce sandwich I got.  Thank goodness it was free.

Can you believe these flowers bloom in 20 below zero weather?  They tape plastic flowers onto bushes.

We checked in and called Carrasco's who got in with Luz and Jose Luis about 2 hours earlier. We put our cold weather gear on and went out to play on the frozen Songhua River. After 30 minutes or so we went in so we could go to the lounge for food and drinks.

Alejandro and Cameron messing around.

Cameron and Alfredo are ready to go.  And sweating!

Out on the river.  Ice Festival is off in the distance.

Laying on the ice.

The bridge over the river.

Our hotel.

We were waiting for Will and Sharla to get in. 7:30 we were all ready to go to the ice festival. 
We pulled up, got out of our van, and we're amazed at how awesome this was.  HUGE, colorful buildings all made out of ice.  They cut the cubes of ice out of the river and they had to make snow this year.  We spent the next 2 hours sliding down slides, slopes, hills, etc. and looking at all the different ice buildings and snow sculptures.  It was really fun watching all our friends from Mexico enjoy the snow and ice with us.  This was their first experience and they loved it AND survived the cold.  We were all bundled up like the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man but the Americans and the Canadians were less puffy.  Very funny.  The Ice Festival is like no other.  Truly amazing. 

Walking into the Ice Festival.

Happy to be in Harbin.

Sharla and Will.

Huge ice buildings.

The first slide we encountered.

This fox and his friend just sat on this box.

Cool snow sculpture.

The 3 pals having fun.

Huge building.

Sharla in the cutout.

Standing in an ice cut out.

This slide was fun.

Alejandro was loving everything.

Cameron at the end of the tube slide.

Pretty.

Cameron and Alfredo coming down together.

Todd and Cameron look like little people.

Another neat building.

Cool snow sculptures.

Ringing the bell for good luck.

The huge sign.

Hard to believe these are so cool.

Regular ice sculptures too.

Giant pirate snow sculpture.

I'd love to drink this beer.

Back to the hotel we were hungry.  We went to the hotel restaurant and ordered some food.  Then off to bed.

Waiting for our food with Sharla and Will.

Alejandro and Marcela love french fries.

Harbin Bound

Thursday...I picked Cameron up at school at 11:45.  He finally got his test results back from testing in October.  Equivalent to ISAT in the US.  He did fantastic and we are very proud of him.  We had lunch then headed to Beijing.  When we got out to the van we made Mr. Hu get out because we had a birthday present for him (his birthday is the 17th).  We got him a 6 pack of Coke and 3 different kinds of cake for him to share with his family.  As we were going out the handle broke on the birthday bag so it looked kind of cruddy but oh well.

Ju Ni Shengri Kuai Le, Mr. Hu.

Once in Beijing  Mr. Hu took us to the Hilton by the airport.  He motioned for us to go in so I thought I would try to check in.  Went up to the desk and asked if I could check in even though my husband wasn't there yet.  The nice lady said "No problem.  Do you have your passports?"  I did.  She was searching and said "Is it Todd Wisdom?"  I said no.  She wrote down Todd Wallace with my help.  Searched more.  She wrote down "Wisdom" and asked me again if that was it.  Again I said no.  She said there was no reservation for a Todd Wallace.  Oh my gosh.  I told her we would just wait until my husband was with so we went and sat in their waiting area for awhile becasue they weren't on the ground yet.    Back in the van.  Off to pick Todd, Dan, and Glenn up at the airport.  I asked Todd where we were staying and he said "Marriott North East".  Cameron and I started laughing then told him what happened.  He said "I told Mr. Hu where we were staying".  Oh well, at least we had a good laugh. To the hotel. Checked in.  We went up to the room and it was awesome.  We love perks and we are pretty sure Todd's buddy from the hotel hooked us up.  We then walked to the Kro's Nest for dinner.  We had great pizza.  Todd and Cameron walked back before the rest of us because he had to get on a call.  The guys and I finished  up and then walked back.  Todd finished his call and we went to the lounge for a drink.  Back in the room Cameron took a bath while gazing out at the city.  Off to bed.

Living room

Dining room.

Hallway.

1/2 bathroom.

Bedroom.

Shower and toilet.

Bathtub.

View from the bathroom.

Our welcome gift.  1 beer and snacks.

Pretty but not good.

Gazing at the city of Beijing.

Not stinky anymore.

Valentine's Day

Todd had to leave for a business trip after working for part of the day so he had Cameron help him take his bag out to the van before taking him to school.  When they came back up to say goodbye to me they surprised me with a big bouquet of flowers.  I wasn't expecting flowers.  They were beautiful and smelled really good.  I LOVE my guys!!

So pretty.

Mr. Hu wrote the card.

Rachel had everyone over to her house.  A bunch of us got together to have lunch and decorate Valentine's Day cookies for our kids.  Thank goodness Ileana was willing to make all the cookies for us to take because I have never had success at making sugar cookies.  I took frosting and decorations.  There were 11 of us.  It was a lot of fun.  We learned that quite a few girls have some real decorating talent and then there was me who did ok.  I gave them to Cameron and he thought they were nice but said he probably wouldn't eat them.  WHAT?  Once we were home though he changed his mind and tried one out.  He said they were really good.  Thanks to all the girls who baked cookies...they were delicious.  Another great day with friends.

Lunch time.

A lot of laughs and conversations.

A whole lot of cookies are being decorated.

My creations.

Cecilia, Nadia, Luz, and Ileana having fun.

Harper was giving some of the funniest looks to people.  This picture does not give it justice.

Happy Valentine's Day to the greatest kid ever.