Nine if Fine!

Blogging about Carline's 9th brithday 4 months afterwards is definitely not going to put us in the running for the "Parents of the Year" award, but we still wanted to share what was a terrific day celebrating a terrific girl!

Her day started with the family tradition of breakfast in bed. Dan joined in for a picture and we heard the loud and distinct sound of wood snapping! Add one bed repair to the honey-do list.


Chocolate cake...Caroline's favorite. Made possible by loving grandparents willing to tote oversized suitcases full of food and cake mix from the states to Shanghai.

When we asked Caroline what she wanted to do on her birthday, she wanted to go see the elephant show at the zoo that she had heard about...so off we went. It was well worth it!

The show started with 3 elephants and their trainers coming out and allowing the crowd to buy a bag of cucumbers to feed the elephants. We went through about...mmm...5 bags.

Then on with the show. Before this visit, I'd never seen an elephant on a balance beam...I have now. I don't know about you, but I kept thinking of Dumbo?


Taking a well deserved bow.

After the show, we still had a few RMB left after buying them out of cucumbers, so the girls each took a ride on one of the elephants.

As we watched our youngest try not to slide off the elephant and onto the ground, we realized that the whole liability and lawsuit thing hasn't reached the same level here in China...

After the show, we went through the rest of the exhibits which were similiar to any other zoo we've visited in the past, complete with the friendly reminders to not "Flap on the glass".

OK so now we have hit all of the truly important stuff-hopefully more frequent posts to come (but don't hold your breath!)

What a Summer! Part II

Just a few short days after Brock and his family left, we headed for the States!

Nothing quite like getting to reconnect with good friends! Our first stop was Ohio where Caroline and Audrey Ana finally got to see each other after a whole year...

I'm verklempt...talk amongst yourselves.

We were able to see so many good friends-we are so richly blessed!


Then on to Texas! Had a great time catching up with Samantha's Aunt and her cousins just outside of Dallas.

Next, we hit Lake Conroe! We've talked about this since college-that Uncle Chris would be the one to teach our children to waterski-well, he is the best! It was great to finally get out on the lake again with him and Margaret.

The skis were just about as big as Sarah Jane. Yes, Samantha and I skiied as well. We haven't quite got it through our heads yet that we're not 20 anymore. Definitely nothing picture worthy and Samantha is still nursing a pulled hamstring.

It's hard to beat a day on the lake...thanks Uncle Chris!

Boom Pa's was fun ,as always and this year he had 4 new kittens for the girls to play with. This has opened a whole new can of worms that we'll tell you about in a later blog.

We were really glad to be able to have the opportunity to be there to see Cort test for his black belt.

Here he is attempting to kick the cap of a pen out of his brother's mouth.

The next week was summer camp at Pine Cove for Sydney and Caroline! This is their 2nd year going to sleep-away camp for a week and they were pumped! Below is Caroline with her cabinmates all dressed up for their 1st theme night:

"What you would like to be when you grow up". Caroline is the vet.

We have to put in a plug for Pine Cove. It is a great camp that focuses the kids on their relationship with Christ and serving others and has some of the best and grounded counselors that we've ever seen. Not to mention that both the girls counselors this year were Aggies!

"Last Girl Standing" Sydney was the last and only girl out of 8 in her cabin to make it through the week without getting sick. I think her counselor was glad to see the week come to an end.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...literally. While the older girls were away, Sarah Jane helped feed hay to the cows who desperately needed it...Texas was having a severe drought.

And we snuck off to Los Cabos, Mexico to celebrate Samantha's 40th!!

What a great couple of days!! The hotel had prepared the room with ballons, cake and fresh guacamole!! The sun was shining and the Blackberry was having trouble getting a signal...paradise!

We ended the trip with a few more friends...

Games with family...

hanging out with family...

some much needed "42" (dominoes)with "Ol' Ma" and Doug...

and a great ride with dad and Mickey through the backroads, complete with lunch at the Dixie Chicken in College Station!

What a Summer! - Part I

We were blessed with one amazing summer...it was packed...but it was great!

Things really kicked off with Samantha's brother, Brock, Kelly, Cole, Cort & Tyler

coming over in early July to stay with us.

Looking pretty good after 15 hours of flying. Ends up that Uncle Brock was kind enough to give up his aisle seat so that a man could sit with his famliy and took the man's middle seat. The flight attendant was obviously moved by his act of kindness and made sure he had every food and drink that he wanted for the remainder of the flight.

First site was traveling on the Maglev high speed train from the airport to Pudong at 267 MPH!

Spent some time in the sun and water to try to offset the jet lag.

Then off to Beijing, here we are at the Great Wall.

After the Wall, we went to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Many of the Chinese nationals at the tourist sites are from inner China and do not see blonde "Westerners" very often. Many times the girls are asked to have their picture taken!

The weather was hot & steamy and it didn't take Sarah Jane long to find the best mode of transportation.

After Beijing, we flew to Xi'an to see the Terracotta Warriors. It was truly impressive, thousands of these detailed clay soldiers.

Stopped for an authentic Chinese lunch.

Old Xi'an is surrounded by a large wall. Samantha had heard that you could rent bicycles and ride on it which was very appealing to her for some reason. She was really the only one in the group with this desire...the rest of us were voting for hanging out at the pool. However, her dear sweet brother said that he would ride "pedal for pedal" with her since she wanted to see it. As you can see, we all ended up going and had a great time.

Well, ends up that the ride on the wall is about 8 miles in length. This is Brock at mile 6 wondering what he signed up for and if his life insurance was paid up.

Here we are trying to negotiate a ride in the 3-wheel taxis.

We thought the boys would enjoy seeing a local factory and so we took a day and visited one. For dinner, the owners of the factory took us out. This was the real deal and the boys did a great job showing respect and trying all the various foods that were presented. I told them that they handled it better than alot of businessmen that I've seen in the same situation.

Brock hit it off well with them and was given the head of the fish, which is a symbol of being an honorable guest. Here he is just about to eat the eye of the fish when our host let him off the hook (no pun intended) and told him he didn't have to eat it. That was close!

Back home for a few days of shopping and foot massages. Thanks Uncle Brock, Aunt Sug, Cole, Cort & Tyler...we love you!