And we're outta here!!!

We are wrapping up the end of our first year in China and heading home for the summer.  We are super excited to see family and friends and to go shopping in awesome grocery stores! (Ok, so maybe that's just me) We are leaving Beijing and flying into San Francisco then to Chicago where we will hang out over night.  Then we leave from Chicago to Bradenton, Florida to spend some time with Kelly's family for a week and then back to Illinois for the remainder of the summer.  The down side is we have to leave our sweet Tucker behind in China.  Thank goodness our Ayi and her husband have agreed to live in our house for 3 weeks and take care of him until Kelly returns.  Xiao Liu is so good to him and he loves her too.  I still find it amazing that he understands when she speaks Mandarin to him.  My dog is smarter than me.....that's a bit sad!!

I can not believe how fast this year flew by.  I can honestly say that I have no regrets about moving to China.  We all love it and have grown so much as a family and individually.  I think that the life experiences the kids will gain far outweigh anything that they may be missing back in the States.  I can only pray that this will give them an open mind to diversity, an opportunity to learn a second language, a realization of how precious time spent with our family is, and the inspiration to explore this amazing world we live in!

 There is a quote on the wall at the kids school that says, "Those who don't travel have only read one page of the book." Amen!

Airport

Tucker.....pouting the minute the suitcases came out!

Hey Ella, which one do you want for dinner?

On our way to the soccer game we went out to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner.  It is a BBQ place called Homeplate and it is delish!  As we walked along the sidewalk passing all of the restaurants Ella noticed a tank sitting outside of a traditional Chinese restaurant.  She says, "Hey look they are selling frogs and fish.  Can we buy one?"  Kelly says, "Sure if that is what you are hungry for".  I thought Ella was either going to cry or be ill.  She says, "What, you mean they are going to get eaten?" YUP!  She then proceeded to beg us to buy them all and set them free.  No deal.....Bon appetite!
Just another day of interesting in China!

China Men's national football team VS. Netherlands......that's soccer for my American friends!

Kelly surprised us with tickets to the soccer match between China and Netherlands.  We were so stoked to go because #1 we love the beautiful game and #2 two of the biggest names in English Premier league football play for the Netherlands National team (Von Persie and Robben).

We arrived early at Worker's Stadium (which was built for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing) so that we could take in all of the festivities (AKA people watch).  It of course did not disappoint!  I was expecting a whole slew of Chinese nationalist decked out in their red and gold but I didn't expect how many of them showed up wearing orange....Netherlands colors.  Evidently, they are Von Perse and Robbin fans as well.  We of course wore Orange and were seated in a sea of red.  Good thing we bought Ella that vuvuella (an incredibly loud horn that people blow at games) so that we could remain inconspicuous!

The game was awesome!  Netherlands won 2-0 and we found ourselves cheering along for China as well.  They really played good despite the score.  Ella, of course, always finds admirers everywhere she goes in China and this was the case again.  The Chinese fans sitting around us got such a kick out of the little blond girl chanting "jia you" which means "GO" in Mandarin (as she is all clad in orange and blowing her horn for Netherlands).  I asked her exactly who she was cheering for and she said, "I just got caught up in the moment and it was a catchy cheer."  Seriously???  I love that kid!

Chinese supporters of Netherlands

The girls in front of Worker's Stadium.

Some Chinese China fans

Adequate security

Over board security.....are we expecting brawls here or what???

This is just a normal day for some Chinese people.  They love to dress in crazy accessories.

The girls taking it all in.

Ella and that blasted horn! 

Can you see that there is Chinese military surrounding the whole perimeter of the stadium??

Kelly is in heaven.

Jules

Ella Claire

Some orange clad Netherlands fans.

The Netherlands and Chinese national anthems.

Von Persie
 (seriously folks with guys like Beckham and Von Persie, I can't figure out why soccer isn't as popular in the US)

Von Persie warming up

Robben warming up waving to the fans.

Robben

Celebrating a Netherlands goal!!!!!!

Club Football soccer tourney for Ella

Last Club Football tournament of the season for Ella's group.  They mash all of the kids up on different teams and let them have at it.  It was a beautiful day in Beijing with good air so what more could you ask for.........oh yeah, how about the fact that Ella scored a goal in every game they played!  Perfect!

Adios for now Maria! You will be missed.

Ella and her best mate from Argentina, Maria.  Maria will be moving to the US this summer

Ella on the day of the 4th grade dodge ball tournament.  These kids are pretty serious about it!  These tattoo will probably take a month to get off her face.

Last day of school!

Horsing around at our house with best buds .  From top: Mark, Ella, Valarie and Maria!

Last dance of the 6th grade year

It is almost the end of the school year which means saying goodbye to several friends who are moving to different countries, or back to their home country.  This was a pic I snapped of Julia, my beautiful daughter, as she left for her last dance of her 6th grade year.  She has really developed into an amazing young lady over this year.  She went from being the one of us that didn't want to leave home, to the one that has grown, spread her wings, opened her mind and embraced this whole experience.  I am very proud of you big girl!

Crazy things you will only see in China!

This is something you don't see everyday......in America....BUT.....this is not an unusual occurrence over here in China.  This is going down the street outside of our neighborhood.  Probably a good idea to keep a safe driving distance....just in case!

Girls Trip to Chang Mai, Thailand

For the first time in my life, I took a girls vacation with 9 of my Beijing friends for one last hurrah before some of them move on to the next journey in their lives.  We chartered a plane super early on a Friday morning and through the graces of God (and our abundant travel miles) we flew business class to and from Thailand.
We had so much fun in the hot and humid, mountainous jungles of Chang Mai.  There were regular trips to amazing coffee shops, shopping, spas (for traditional Thai massages), hiking, swimming, tennis and some of the most amazing food you have ever tasted.  It was all about relaxing and enjoying a few days of being able to use the bathroom without interruption, not having to cook or do dishes, not having to be a referee to fighting kids, not hearing "mom" screamed at least 100 times a day.  I would almost use the word "peaceful" to describe it, but at night when it was time for bed I would start to miss my 4 children (Julia, Ella, Tucker and Kelly).  They must have missed me too because I would get random texts and calls.  On Sunday night before I came home I received a lovely text from them with a picture attached.  The picture was of my kitchen counters stacked sky high with dirty dishes.  I am pretty sure that there wasn't a clean plate or fork left in the house.  The message attached to it said, "We are waiting for for you." I guess that is my pay back for leaving them for a few days! Next time, I will remember to stock the house with paper plates and plastic forks.  Sigh!
It was an absolutely fabulous weekend, spent with some amazing women.  The friendships that have cultivated here in Beijing will be ones that I hold dear to my heart always.  We are each others support system in this unique expat way of life and I cherish every moment spent with them knowing that it is only for a short period of time.
Good times, great memories and amazing friends! Cheers!

Jess, Yvette and I checking out the view over Chang Mai.

The poisonous 2 step snake that my dear friend Yvette touched the tail of.   It is called the 2 step snake because if you get bitten by it you will get 2 steps and then die straight away!  Yikes!

Two Buddhist monks enjoying a peaceful moment at one of the temples we visited.

This monk wanted his picture with us!?!?  Go figure!

Yvette and I.  We had to rent long sarongs and scarves to cover our shoulders and legs before we entered the temple.

It was already hot in Chang Mai but all of the heat coming off of the gold in the temple was smoking hot!

We went hiking at some of the waterfalls.  We of course had to pave our own trail with the thrill seekers I am friends with.

I am filling my water bottle with some of the water from the falls.

I've never really played tennis before and I am not sure I ever should again, but it was really fun playing with these ladies who are all super competitive.  Me and Serena Williams have a few things in common: we both have brown eyes and really big curly hair. (And that is were the similarities end!)

The amazing spa!

The house that we stayed at, complete with pool, driver and chef.

The most amazing barista I have ever seen (and that would be very few).  This man owned this coffee shop and has won world wide awards for his amazing coffee and his artwork that he does with the cream.  I think I want to apprentice under him and open my own shop on a beach front somewhere!

My beautiful Latte.  

I believe that this lady put all of us Crossfit ladies to shame!

Getting ready for take off to head home.  I reclined all the way back to make it a bed and dreamed of all the fun I was going to have doing the dishes when I got home.  

This was the picture that was texted to me.  It got a lot worse after this though!