Fun Fun Fun in the Florida Sun!

So our first travel destination in the US was Bradenton, Florida, to spend some time with Kelly's family.  We stayed with Grammie (Kelly's mom) and enjoyed lots of pool and beach time.  It was great to breathe clean air again (if you could get a breathe in that kind of heat and humidity).  The kids loved playing in the Gulf of Mexico and hunting for shark teeth at the aptly named "Shark Beach".  As we were straining sand and shells looking for teeth it dawned on me that there was probably a reason that so many teeth wash up on that particular part of the beach (which didn't comfort me one bit when Kelly swam out a hundred yards to the sandbar).  Yikes, but we did find lots of cool shark teeth!
We just really enjoyed our time in Florida!  Great fun, great dinners, great company, great family!

Jules hitting the surf!

ADORABLE!  Kelly's Aunt KJ, MeMe and Grammie playing in the ocean.

Ella Claire always smiling!

Kelly, Joy and Keri

Taking a cruise around MeMe's retirement neighborhood on her awesome golf cart!

MeMe and her new home in Florida.  

Me and Ella Bell playing on Shark Beach.

Me and the Hubs.

Grandpa Jer and Anne

This is Kelly and I trying to reenact this statue.........fail!

Cousin Gabi who will be heading off to college this year!

Great Leap Brewery in the hutongs and Cross Fit Beijing

Oops!  I have to backtrack a little here.  My friend shared these pictures with me late and so I didn't get them on here in the correct order but thought I would still share them anyway.
A couple of weeks before we all headed back to our home countries, we had one last hurrah to celebrate with all of the friends that will not be returning to Beijing this upcoming year.  We had a great night out in the hutongs of Beijing at the Great Leap Brewery for some good pizza and even better beer!  (too much beer)

All of my ladies!

Sporting our air filtering masks!  (I don't really know what else to say for myself...too much beer)

Hilary and Yvette.......Love love love them

My friend Joy got all of us ladies a personal urinal to aid in splash control while using a squatty potty.....lol....the one on my nose had not been used before....I promise you!

And the guys!

People ask me all the time, "What do you do to keep yourself busy over there in China?"  Well, let me tell you.  I find plenty to do!  3 days a week I do Cross Fit training with some of the coolest ladies (and guys) that I know.  Cross Fit is basically cross training with weights and cardio, and I honestly feel stronger than I ever have.  I am not going to bore you to death with the details because I am NOT one of those super crazy, obsessed Cross Fitters that talk about it ALL the time, but I do enjoy a little friendly competition and the support that we give each other.  It makes working out so much fun....what...did I just say that?

Getting ready to dead lift.

Me doing pull ups....that's right..... I said pull ups!

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!