Waterpark Fun!

When we had our too brief stop in Summerville, we got to go to the waterpark with some fun friends. Thanks to some other WONERFUL friends lending us their passes (wish they could have gine with us too!) My boys LOVED the waterpark every summer we lived there, and they were SO excited to be able to go while we were there!

Fun Friends--

Harper, Everett, Reid, Katie, and Jonah

Rylie loved going down the slide with her big brother!

Holding hands on slide

Ry had a huge little crush on Jonah that day and followed him around everywhere!

The boys with KML, as they call her. She is missed by our family A LOT!

Tea Parties!

Rylie spent a week with KK and Papa by herself when we got home. And I think they had at least 3 tea parties a day! She learned how to pour and serve "tea" (sometimes it was chocolate milk, soemtimes apple juice...) and serve her guests cookies. I think Papa may have gone to a party or two, but there is no photographic evidence :)

Rylie and KK

pouring the tea

A Princess tea party

pouring again....

a fun visit with another great grandmother!

Our kids are so blessed to really know two great gradmothers! We are so thankful!

Visit with Mimi

 When Rylie and I got home my grandmother, Mimi, was here staying at my moms. It was such a fun treat to get to spend time with her!

She lives in Oklahoma, so we dont get to see her that often.



Ry enjoyed some frozen yogurt with Mimi

and celebrating cousin Maddie's 2nd birthday!

We love you Mims! And can't wait to see you in a couple of days!

Chinese Hospital

WARNING: pictures of a cut head!



So, after I left to come back to America, Matt made our first trip to the Chinese Emergency room with one of the kids. Reid was the winner!

He was playing at a friends house and a ball hit a light fixture and the globe came down on Reid's head, leaving the mark pictured above.

Here is is after they shaved part of his head.

He was a brave boy waiting for his stitches!

His cool mesh cap that he had to wear for 10 days. Oh yeah, he couldn't get his hair wet for 10 days either. They flew home 5 days later and he was one stinky boy :)

And this is a room where you can get rid of your bride in an emergency? Not really sure.......

Wedding Bells

Rylie and I came home a bit earlier than the boys to raise a little support and to celebrate this FUN friend!!

Laura and I have been friends since 9th grade in Youth Group and she is one of my dearest friends.

I am so thrilled that she and Colby have found each other!

Anne, Laura, and me at the rehearsal dinner

Beautiful Bride!!

Scavenger Hunt

 

We had a fun scavenger hunt for the school age kids on a day they had off of school. 

Sonya was the creative one who found it on Pinterest and printed it out for us.  The kids had a great time and did really well. They were a bit competative at times :) but they were excited when all the teams won!

 

Team Kindergarden

 

Team Third Grade with a little help from K-4

 

Team 1st/2nd grade

Egg Hunt

The Saturday befrore Easter we had a really fun Egg Hunt for the kids with some friends in the city. Even though it was overcast and drizzling a bit, they had a GREAT time!

Rylie getting ready to go hunt some eggs!

All the kiddos that were there

And they are off!

 Ry found one in a patch of clovers

               Ry spied one in a tree                                                      Reid pauses for a picture for me :)

Everett climbed a tree to get one out of the branches--he was very serious about finding his eggs!



Everyone counting their eggs. E's determination paid off! He had the most eggs and won 10 kuai!



me and my sweet girl

Happy Easter!

 We hope you all enjoyed celebrating the Risen Savior!



Easter Baskets

I just love the fun colors of Easter Baskets!

E finding his basket hidden in the ottoman.

Matt's family has a tradition of hiding Easter baskets and everyone has to look for them Easter morning. The kids love it!

Happy Easter morning!

Walking Street

There is a street near our house that we call walking street. No cars can drive on it, there are restaurants on the sides, and some water that slows down the middle. Now that the weather is a bit nicer, the kids LOVE to go play there. It is also close to Starbucks, but this non-coffeelover doesn't get too excited about that :)

Ry likes to gather leaves, flower petals, whatever she can find....

and then likes to "wash" whatever she has found in the water.

She hasn't fallen in yet, but I know it is only a matter of time.....

such a sweet girl!

Love the adventures she and I have!

Fire Cupping

Ok--so I wasn't so sure about posting this, but Matt said I should, so here we go :)

A couple of weeks ago we were getting a massage at a local place, and there was someone getting the "fire  cups" as we call them.

I was totally fasinated by them. I watched the lady do it--was so curious how it worked, what it did, etc. Probably not a huge surprise to those of you who know me :)

And then she asks if I want to do them. um. well. Sure!

So, I thought she might do a couple...maybe 4 or 5.

oh no. 20 cups later, here I am.

They are supposed to draw blood to the area, which in turn draws out the toxins and promotes healing.

Can't really say if it did anything at all besides make my inner dork happy because now I know more about the process :) 

It really didn't hurt at all. But did leave these marks/brusies on my back for a while.

I think it may have been more painful for Matt to watch than for me to get it done!

Pandas

For more Spring Break fun, we went to see the pands at the Panda Reserve. Most, if not all, of the pandas in the zoos in America come from our city. Kind of fun :)

We had a littel mid-morning snack picnic at the tree trunk table

I'm thinking of getting a copy of this sign for our house. It worked pretty well there........

Matt and the kids with the toddler panda in the tree

Me and the kids

E and the red panda, or lesser panda as they call them over here. E thinks they are anything but lesser. He loved the red pandas. This one was missing a tail and sweet Rylie was very concerned about it. We looked all over the reserve for it, but never found the tail. Don't tell her, but another panda chewed it off.

We then went down to the lake to feed the fish. Luckily I had a piece of pizza in my purse. It was leftover from dinner out the night before and I forgot to take it out and put it in the fridge. Turned out my forgetfulness was great for the kids and the fish! The fish were huge--perhaps they had eaten pizza before?

In front of the panda statue.