Our trip to Thailand for Chinese New Year

Once again we headed back to Thailand for our chinese new year vacation because it is so close and the kids love it!! Why mess up a good thing especially when you are lugging 3.5 kids around!! We also were going to vacation with my closest friend here as well as the girls closest friends. They have 3 kids (2 girls and a boy) like us!! We had a blast to say the least and one night the adults took turns going out to dinner by ourselves!! It was great!! Our hotel had a water slide and kids club they could play in. They were well occupied!! Avery got to go on a elephant trek for her 7th birthday!! I can not believe that she is 7 already. She has grown up so quickly. She said on her birthday she didn't feel any different or that she was older. She actually wanted to stay 6, but is happy about getting gifts!! We will have her party later in Chengdu!! Here are some pictures and you can look on our web gallery for more!! We miss everyone!!

Chinese New Year!!!

Chinese New Year came here on February 13, 2010!! We did not leave til February 14 to go to Thailand so we got to experience the fireworks here!! We took the kids out and fired off some fireworks as well as sparklers!! The girls loved it and Cohen wanted to hold one as well. That night it sounded like a war zone here with all the fireworks. The kids slept right through it except for us. It was amazing. The chinese love to set off fireworks because they believe it will keep the bad spirits away for the new year!! Here are some pictures of the kids lighting fireworks outside!!

QSI Chinese New year show

The Chinese New Year is fast approaching, Feb 13 will be a big bang. With this, the kids had chinese week all week at school. Monday, they talked chinese, Tuesday they wore their chinese best, Wednesday Avery went to a temple (BUDDHA), and Thursday they had Chinese day were they made dumplings, watched a chinese music show, made candy, made chinese masks, and saw a lion dance. They ended the day with a show for the parents. Rylan did a music show about cats. She was a cat and did a great job. Avery was a blue smurf or fairy. Not quite sure which one but she did a great dance! Here are some pictures as well as the video if I am successful in uploading it. Please enjoy. I do not know what they are saying but it is still cute!!!

Joel and Krista-Dawn and the kids come to Chengdut

Joel and his family came to see us the first week of February this year. They were traveling the world (India, Thailand, Phillipines, Italy, Spain, and France) and decided to stop in for the week to visit us in the "Du". We had a great time. We went to a meat/fish market where they sold everything from live alligators to turtles, frogs, every part of the pig, and a skinned whole goat. It was an experience to say the least. Joel says next time he comes back, he will be sure to cook something wierd. We will see. We also went to Jin Li Street, got a foot massage, ate at a hot pot, saw a Chinese Opera, celebrated Judah's birthday, and saw the pandas. It was a really fun week and it was great to have them here so they could see what our life is like here. It was a blessing to have them here. I unfortunately don't have a whole lot of pictures. Krista and I plan to share them, but here are a few. Also look on the web gallery for more pictures