We have a Barbeque at our Apartment

Elin (Sweden) and the girls say goodbye

Avery with Puja and Neil (from Oregon)

Rylan and Cybil (she lives in our apartment (from USA)

Cohen loves corn on the cob!!
Since we were headed back to the states early for the birth of the fourth child, I decided to plan a chinese barbeque to say goodbye to Avery's classmates who were not coming back next year. There are four of them, 2 from the USA, one from Finland, and one from Sweden. Avery will miss them greatly especially here friend from USA, Puja. Puja is a twin and they are from Oregon so we might get to them. She also has a good friend from Sweden, Elin, who she will miss. The barbeque was fun despite some rain showers. Cohen loved the barbeque corn and we loved all the spicy veggies on a stick as well as the tofu!! Here are some pictures of them as well as Avery's friends. My parents liked the barbeque as well. We hired a chinese lady to come and cook all the yummy food!!

Avery's class play on Being kind

Every quintile, a class takes a turn participating in a play about being a good person. Avery's class was about being kind. Her class wrote the play and Avery was a frog as part of the play. It is short but sweet. Avery did a great job!0 0I hope you like the video. Here are some pictures of her class and then the short video.

We go to Jin Lee Street

In Chengdu, there is an old street there that the Chinese have made into a walking area where you can shop, have chinese snacks on a stick, and drink tea. We did that all and had a good time. We also walked in a park nearby and took some cute pictures with the kids.

Grammy and Papa goes to school with the girls

The class holding up their finished project with Grammy

Jacob (Sweden) and Avery

Grammy teaching the class

Grammy and Papa helping Rylan hand out Brownies

Rylan showing Papa and Grammy for show-n-tell

As part of their visit here, both Grammy and Papa got to help out at the school. Since Grammy is a retired first grade teacher and Avery is in first grade, she got invited to do a lesson at the school. Both girls were excited because Grammy road the bus with them to school. When they got there, Grammy did a mystery painting with Avery's class for the first part of the morning. Papa and I then met her at school so both her and Papa could be show-n-tell for Rylan's class. Rylan enjoyed it so much. They talked about where they were from, read a book, and brought brownies for snack. The kids loved it and Rylan did not want them to go. After that, Grammy went back to Avery's class and finished her mystery art project. The kids loved it!! She had a busy day, but I think she enjoyed it. It made Avery feel very special to have her there. Grammy even read them a book as well. Here are some pictures! Enjoy!

The Chengdu Charity Ball

Our Sweden friends that live in Waterfront with us (Johan and Johanna)

Our US friends who work for the Consulate (Jason and Maryann)also live in Waterfront

My Canadian (Tracy) and Hungry (Burnadette) Friends

Chris and I at our house

Here in Chengdu, we have the opportunity to go to several balls. We have had the Marine, Mardi Gras, and the Charity Ball. This particular ball is hosted by the Women's club and the money raised go to charity. Although I am 7 plus months pregnant we decided to go since my parents were in town and we don't think we would make it with a new baby next year. It was alot of fun and it was at a beautiful place called the Old Chengdu Club. Here are some pictures of us and some friends here in the DU!

Rylan has her Fake Birthday Party (belated)

Rylan's actual birthday (April 13) fell on a weekday and then we had spring break so we had to postpone her birthday until May 14. We invited all her classmates to come home on the bus with her (all 14 of them). We played at the park first and then all went up to our apartment to have snacks and play games. We had a Minnie mouse theme party and my sweet mom made the Minnie mouse cake. It looked great and all the mom's were impressed. It was not an easy task to make with not all the right items, but she did it and it was great. I could have not done it without both my parents helping run the games. Rylan had originally wanted centers for the kids to do so we opted for game stations where the kids moved from station to station playing games and winning prizes. Rylan had a great time and enjoyed sharing her birthday with her classmates and her grandparents. Here are some pictures. Also look at out photo gallery for more pictures

Aubrey turns 34!!

For my 34th birthday, Chris took the family to one of my favorite western restuarant's in Chengdu. The place is called Vanilla Sky. We ate and enjoyed ourselves. Chris got me my first IPOD!! I am so excited and now I don't have to borrow his all the time! Another thing that made it very special was having my parents there. I never would have imagined that I would be spending my 34th birthday in China with my parents. It was such a blessing! Here is a picture!

The Chinese Opera and Panda Reserve

We did not waste anytime once we got to Chengdu (the DU). The girls went to school for a couple of days and then we went to the Chinese Opera Thursday night and the kids took the day off for the Panda Reserve on Friday. This time, Rylan, Cohen, and Chris stayed home because they were so tired. Avery and I took Grammy and Papa to the opera. They got to see them prepare for the show by putting on make-up and dressing in their chinses outfits. They opera show provided jasmine tea to sip on and soybeans to eat while we watched the show. My parents loved the all of it even when though you cannot understand the chinese. Their favorite of course was the face changing show as well as the complete body changing show. My mom thinks it has to do with the change of lighting. I just think it is cool!!




We also went to the Panda Reserve and it was a wonderful day. We had so much fun seeing the pandas eat. There so many foreigners there the day we went. Many groups from USA, UK, and Canada. We walked around and then ate lunch at this little western restuarant that reminded us of Oregon. My mom says it was one of her favorite thus far. It was a good time. Here are some pictures, but please look at our photo gallery to view more of both places that we went!

We meet Grammy and Papa in Beijing for May holiday!!

At the end of our spring break, we went to Beijing to meet Grammy and Papa and spend some days in Beijing. It was great!! We went to the silk market and did some shopping, we went to Tiannamen Square as well as the Forbidden city. We also enjoyed Peking duck and it was great!! They slice the duck and then you wrap it in lettuce leaves with sauce and vegies. It is a must try if you ever go there!! We were also able to go to a famous jade market and The Great Wall. As usual this was our favorite place to go. This time the traffic was horrible with the holiday. What took us 45 min last spring, took us 2 hours to get there. Everyone was going to the Great Wall. Once we got there, we ate lunch, then headed up the Great wall on the Ski lift. It was fun to be up there and it was a nice day. Then everyone went down the toboggan slide except me (pregnant). Grammy road with Avery and went super fast. Avery controlled the speed and the Chinese had to tell her to slow down. She loved it. Papa road with Rylan and had a great time and Chris road with Cohen. He enjoyed as well. I got some pictures of them so please go to our photo gallery to see all of them. We also took the subway and Cohen wanted to be part of it by holding on to the bars to make sure he wouldn't fall. We also enjoyed the dirt market where you can get some neat Chinese pieces. It was a quick 3 days there, but we had fun!! Now it is off to the DU!! Look at our photo gallery for more pictures!!