Summer in the states!! Lousiana

It has been forever since I wrote on this blog and boy have I missed it! It has been hard to write because it has been shut down by the country we are living it. We have fixed it, but I was so far behind that I just haven't written anything. I regret that because writing my adventures in this land is very therapeutic to me! With that said, I will first touch on our times in the states! It was great. We spent a total of 8 weeks at home, 2 weeks in Louisiana, 4 weeks in Houston, and 2 weeks in Oregon. The first two weeks, we stayed in Pineville, LA and had a blast. The girls took swim lessons the day we got there. They were alittle jet lagged, but did great. Avery even jumped off the the diving board into the deep end and swam to the edge. She did great!! They gave her certificate that she moved to level 2 swimming. She basically can swim on her own. We are so proud!! Rylan is still a little scared, but I think she will get it soon. Pops and GranB also rented a swim bounce castle and it was a great!!. We also went to Mama's house for 4th of July. We had a good time with our cousins and it was fun to hang with grandparents and sister-in-laws!! Here are some pictures and you can go our gallery to view more!!

The Panda Reserve with Grand B

Avery hasn't got out of school yet, but we let her take a day off and go to the Panda Reserve. We left at 8:00 am to catch the pandas having breakfast and it was such an amazing sight! They were only 10 feet from us and just broke the bamboo with their teeth and ate it. We saw big pandas, red pandas, and baby pandas. We had a great time and Grand B said it was one of her favorite things she got to see. Here are some pictures. I hope you enjoy and can also look on our web gallery.

The Chinese Opera In Chengdu

We went to the opera in Chengdu and it was great. You sit outside on big chinese wooden chairs and drink hot tea and peanuts. Then they come around with food and people to massage your back all for a price. We didn't do it, but it was neat that they offered it. Now the opera was really neat. They had music, chinese dancers, chinese puppets, fire coming out of a person's mouth, shadow maker, and person who changes his masks and clothes right in front of your eyes. It was amazing to see and is a must if someone comes here. Also before the show, we got to see the people put on their outfits as well as makeup. I think the girls liked it!!

Our time in Chengdu with Grand B

Here is Grand B and Avery on Jin Lee Street

Chris's mom came to visit for 3 weeks this summer. While we were in Chengdu, we went to Jin Le walking street, The Panda Reserve, the Chinese opera, and an old village called Lou Dai. We had a good time. I think she enjoyed herself. She also went to girls school and read a book for Rylan's class and taught a lesson to Avery's class on an artist called David Rodrigue (the blue dog artist). She also helped us move into our apartment. There are some many pictures to show. I will put some in the blog and the rest on our photo gallery page. I hope you enjoy!!

QSI School Play

The girl's school put on a play for the end of the school year. It was titled The Chinese Siblings and was very cute. Every class participated in it. Rylan's class were the introduction to it. Their part was just for fun and Avery's part was as well. They both sang songs. Rylan danced to "I like to move it" and sang a song called "I can" and Avery sang a song called "There are so many things that grow" I hope you enjoy it.