Xin Nian Kuia Le! Chinese New Year Parade at ISB!

Today was the last day of school before Chinese New Year and to kick it all off there was the annual parade around ISB.  I am always blown away by the way ISB goes all out.  Beautiful celebration with amazing costumes and talented kids and staff. Xin Nian Kuai Le!

Adorable little girls!

My friends little boys proudly displaying their horse marionettes.  This is the year of the horse.

Well, Well.......who is this coming along.  Julia!

One of the best PE teachers in the world. 

Ella's principal

Some students performing Wushu.

And who is that little horse shaking her tail????  Yep, Ella Claire!  (and she did shake her tail for me...LOL)

Ella singing Bai Long Ma (White Dragon Horse)

In the spirit of Chinese New Year, and the year of the horse,  here is Ella singing Bai Long Ma.

Chair Skating at Ho Hi Lake

It was our last week of winter break and the kids were starting to get bored, so my good friend Hilary and I piled up all of the kids and went down into the Hutong's of Beijing to go to Ho Hi Lake for a little chair skating.  What is chair skating you ask???  Well it kind of looks like a school desk chair that you push around on ice with handcrafted poles........and by handcrafted I mean it is a screw driver with metal spikes soddered to it.  It is seriously a hazard just waiting to happen.
We got down to the Ho Hi area and started exploring.  I absolutely love going to the hutong's, there is always something interesting going on and I feel like I am really experiencing life in China there.  We made our way up to the "frozen" lake, which was questionable considering all of the 40 and 50 degree temps we have been having in the Jing, to assess the situation.  Ella checked it out and then stated, "Mom, I see a few people out there that are bigger than you and they haven't fallen through the ice yet.   I think we are safe."  Well then, there you have it.  Doesn't that sound like reasonable logic from a 10 year old?  Ok, then let's go! 
I guess at any given time there are hundreds of people out on the lake "chair skating".  They will all line up in a train and make a chair conga line, if you will.  I am sorry that I missed that.  It would have made for some great entertainment and pictures. 
The kids had a ball racing around the ice.  They were trying to escape the Chinese paparazzi that would occasionally follow them around to catch a shot of the "western kids".  They did a good job of keeping away from the "thin ice" that was marked off by a rubber cone. sheesh!  Also, none of them put an eye out or lacerated a liver by being stabbed with the "skating poles".  All in all it was a great time had by all!
We followed it up with some Hutong pizza for lunch and the biggest ball of cotton candy you have ever seen for dessert.  It was the perfect way to wrap up Winter Break!


The chair skate

Julia a little too close to the thin ice markers.........................really???

HoHi Lake

Ella and Jane

The kids racing

My friend Hil giving Ella a push.

The crew

Julia displaying how sharp the poles are............serious hazard!  Ella please don't lose an eye.

This momma was the Apollo Ono of chair skating!!

Ella Bell

I was really questioning if this ice was thick enough.........what do you think??  I wonder how many people were involuntarily inducted into the polar bear club????

I love this. 

Heading through the hutong to go to Hutong Pizza.

Beautiful lanterns

Really delicious looking street food.  Yes, those are scorpions and a star fish.

This lady, wearing a wolf hat,  was making the biggest balls of cotton candy I have ever seen.



This is going to cause cavities and possible diabetes.

The mystery machine in the Hutong....................Scooby Doo, where are you?

Julia with her new "ears".  I think she looks like something out of the cartoon Aurther.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the DeSmet's!

Ella 10, Julia 13, Valerie 30 something, Kelly 42

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from The DeSmet family!

 

I hope that everyone had a great holiday with their loved ones.  We had an excellent time back in Illinois with family.  It was a bit too short for my liking but c'est la vie!  It would have been longer if didn't take 50 hours of travel to get there.  All flights and connections were smooth until we hit Chicago.  Now, we could have driven 2 1/2 hours the rest of the way from there, but we knew we were bringing a whole pile of luggage and weren't sure what driving conditions would be like so we waited out the flight.  After several delays we finally boarded at 11:15 PM to fly to the Quad Cities.  I should have known it was too good to be true but when a 20 minute flight turned into 45 minutes I knew something was amiss.  They had to turn us back to Chicago because of ice on the runway.  When the pilot came on and announced this the language in that plane was definitely not PG.  So....we headed back to Chicago and after spending awhile at the United Airlines desk we were put up in a hotel to catch 3 1/2 hours of sleep and return to the airport to try it all again.  We made it to Moline, IL at 1:30PM on Sunday afternoon and despite all the chaos traveling, being up for 2 days straight without significant sleep, wearing the same nasty clothes that whole time, desperately needing a toothbrush and not getting our luggage until a day later......we were ecstatic!  We were home!

 

We enjoyed spending time with my parents, and my sister and brother and their families.  The kids love being with their cousins!  We got to shop, sled, have Gator rides, go ice skating, watch my nephew Cole play 8th grade basketball, have a ping pong tournament, see my sister's new home, eat a lot of great food and just really get to be together.  We also got to see  Kelly's grandma and great aunt on Christmas (which is always a hoot), and meet some of our friends out for drinks and catching up.  It was a week chuck full of activity, and we were running on pure adrenaline, but we didn't want  to miss one thing.

 

When we returned to the Jing we laid low for a few days to recoop and then celebrated New Year Eve with some of our good friends here.  The joke was if any of us could actually make it till midnight. We all had terrible jet lag, but we all made it.........except for Julia.  She was asleep on the couch by 10:00.

 

We are now back in the swing of things and the hustle and bustle of daily life.  We have some new years resolutions to shoot for including some fun travel, a marathon in May, trying to be healthier (ya know the same crap you say every year) but one thing is for sure......don't take things for granted.  EVER!  When we spend time with family it means something, when we spend time with our friends here we enjoy every minute of it.  Life changes fast and you never want to look back and say, "I wish I would have".  Get out there and live life.  Put the electronics and iPhone down and experience things.  You cannot have a meaningful conversation with someone when you are focused on your phone or computer.  This is my biggest new years resolution!  There are amazing things happening around all the time.  I just have to pick my head up and take a look. Now, if I can just get my kids on board! LOL

xoxoxoxo

Love to you all!

 

Here are some pics from the trip home.  I didn't take my camera along so this is the best we could do!

 

It was a long day in Chicago O'Hare!

Cousins:  Cole 14, Isabel 6, Julia 13, Morgan 11, Ella 10, Dylan 15 months

Julia and Iz

Gotta love the Buckeye's in this house!

Ella and baby D......with a begging Sophie the French bulldog.

Ella loving on baby D.

Cheese!!

I don't even know what to say about this......words just can't describe!
Julia and Isabel

Oh boy, did these three miss each other!

What a ham!

Jet lag at it's finest!