Chicken Fingers - The Real Deal!

I am sort of compelled to take pictures at the grocery store. I know, it sounds sort of crazy, but I just can't help myself. My most recent find are the most lovely, delectable chicken fingers. Normally, Chili's has my absolute favorite chicken fingers in the world, but these are quite tempting. Who knows, maybe I've found a new favorite! 

This one looks like it doesn't want to be eaten! I think it's giving me the bird (no pun intended!).

Then again, maybe I'll just go for the whole bird!

My little sickie

Last night I woke up about 2 am to tinkle and get a banana. I walked past the couch to find my little Cooper. He had pulled the cushions from the back of the couch down a little (flat on the seat of the couch) and was sleeping on top with my scarf and coat wrapped around him. At his feet I found my little Evie sleeping perpendicular, also on top of the cushions that should have been vertical... she was sleeping with her legs thrown over the back of the couch and her body angled so her head was almost falling off the front of the couch. I tried to find the camera, because they were just too cute, but couldn't get the picture taken. Anyway, I made my way back to bed for what I thought was going to be a restful night. About 2 hours later, Cooper made his way into our bedroom, puked at the foot of the bed (luckily on the floor) and then again on the floor NEXT to the toilet. I helped him clean up, fed him a little banana and water and put him back to bed. At 6 am I found him puking again, on the floor next to the toilet (I really gotta teach that kid the right way to have a good puke!).

So, daddy stayed home with the little puker and I took Ally and Eve to church. I hate it when my kids are sick! It just makes me sad... Cooper asked me at the table this afternoon, after watching the family have homemade waffles (no mix involved in our family!), "Mommy, is it ok to eat waffles when your tummy's mad?" Poor little guy...

Here's a picture of my sickie asleep on the couch:

Simple Pleasures

I have been told that I don't post often enough and. I have to admit that this is true. It isn't due to lack of time, because I have plenty of free time. It isn't due to lack of material- for China is truly full of writing material. I think the source of my lack of posting is that I fear I will bore my readers with my completely normal life. My sister in law recently started blogging and posts almost daily. She is an excellent writer and is always full of interesting things to say. I realized that just as I enjoy and look forward to reading her posts, many others might enjoy reading more about my day to day life. It doesn't have to be a huge event to warrant a blog entry.

So my topic today is the simple, pure, uncontaminated, unblemished joy of motherhood. Last night I was talking to Rebecca (my sister in law) on the phone. She had called me from the car as she was dropping her little ones off at school. As I listened to her say goodbye to Nigel and Emmaline, I had a moment of clarity, a moment in time that reminded me of just how much I love my little ones. As I heard Rebecca saying "Goodbye, I love you, have a great day!", I could actually feel her smiling at her kids as she said good bye. What I realized is that one of my favorite parts of my day is sending my kids off to school. More importantly, I realized just why I love that part of my day. It isn't because I get the whole day to myself, although that is a bonus... It isn't because I can finally have my own quiet thoughts when they are gone and it isn't because I don't have to listen to the constant little altercations that happen about every 1.5 minutes when they are home. I realized at that moment, that I love sending my little ones out each day to experience a fresh new day... a day, as Anne of Green Gables would say, with no mistakes in it. I love giving them my love, sending them with a prayer and a smile, encouraging them to learn great things, to nurture great friendships. It's the idea that they will accomplish something that day, whether big or small, that they can't accomplish with me. I love the excitement they feel as they leave my safe nest and venture out to school. There is the very real chance that they will come home sad from a hard day or disappointed from a heartbreak. They might get hurt at school or get sick during the day, maybe have a fight with a friend or get frustrated with a teacher. But..... maybe they will make a new friend that day, maybe they will try something new, learn a new trick during recess, or create some wonderful art project. I am thrilled each day as they set out to explore and learn, thrilled at the prospect of who they will become, how their experiences will shape them forever.

I've heard that it's the simple pleasures in life that are the most important.  May tomorrow bring you simple pleasures.

Green What?

With my new goal of completing a triathlon in May of this year, I've decided that one great way to ensure success is to clean up my eating habits. All of you reading this are bound to think "Oh great, Kitty's going to announce the world, again, that she's given up Diet Coke." For all of you who might have thought this - YEAH RIGHT, GET REAL!!! I've realized that I just don't think that's going to happen. So, I need to be extra diligent in eating well to ensure great health and to minimize injuries along the way. I've vowed over and over again to eat more fresh vegetables and fruits, but always fall back into the habits of my favorite thing in life - BREAD. I LOVE BREAD and can't seem to get the fresh salads in when there's great bread in the house. I had heard about green shakes before, probably from my mom, so I decided to look into it. What could it hurt? Right? So, I got adventurous, googled green shakes, read lots of recipes and then ventured to the vegetable market for some supplies. Before I tell you how it turned out, here's what I put into my blender/juicer:

1 medium carrot
1 banana
5 mandarin oranges (fresh)
1 cup cold water

several ice cubes
flax seed
a little splenda for good measure
1/2 lb fresh raw spinach


My kitchen is a disaster, there's chunks of carrots all over the place! But guess what?!  It's fabulous! You wouldn't believe how great it tastes. I came in to Cooper, had him close his eyes and give it a try. He even liked it! I have found the answer to eating my veggies! Wohoo!

Sea Trials

So, I'm copying my sister in law's post (sorry Rebecca). My brother is off to Wisconsin for a business trip and she posted the pros and cons of having a husband gone. I liked the post, so here's my version:

Lee's out on sea trials on a ship he's been working on since August and he'll be gone for nine days. Here's what I like about being a temporary single mom:

1.) We get to eat cereal, pb&j's and Ying's fried rice anytime we want without worrying about setting the table or having more than 2 main courses for dinner.
2.) We get to go to Papa John's for dinner! Lee hates Papa John's Pizza and the kids and I love it!
3.) I can sleep in the middle of the bed with my dog and not run out of covers!

Here's what I hate about Lee being gone:

1.) My best friend's not here to share my day with.
2.) My bed gets lonely really fast without my sweet snoring man on the other side.
3.) No hubby to sit with at church or text with during the third hour of church!
4.) No daddy to tuck in the kids at night, or to waveboard with around the house.

So, while the cat's away, the mice will play - the house will probably get messy, we'll order too much pizza and eat at McDonald's too much... but you know we'll be counting the days down 'til Daddy gets home!

Working Towards a Goal

It's the new year and time for goal setting, right? I've been struggling to come up with some good goals for the year. A few weeks ago a friend's husband suggested that his wife and I train for a triathlon together. My initial response was "Are you joking?" However, the idea just kept nagging at me. So, I started exploring the idea and just couldn't let it go! I found a great website with free training plans for beginners and I'm off and running, literally! I have 16 weeks to train, and then off to Nanjing for the big race on May 30th. I am so excited! I am a pretty competitive person by nature, just ask anyone who knows me! :) My training schedule has me training in each event twice a week, and working up over 16 weeks to a 800 m swim, 24 km bike ride and 10 km run. I'm supposed to do all that in 2 hours 30 minutes. AGH!!

Today I ran 5.5 km in 40 minutes, so I guess I have some work to do to get ready! Stay posted for updates on my crazy goal!

Shennong Stream

During our Yangtze River Cruise, we took a wonderful day trip up the Shennong Stream. We disembarked from our river cruise boat and boarded a smaller boat which took us most of the way to the stream. The views were absolutely breathtaking. I know that our pictures don’t do it justice, but I hope you can catch some of the wonder of our trip.  We were on the smaller boat, which held about 100-125 people, for about an hour. We then moved to canoes that carried about 15 people and were rowed by a crew of 6 men. The scenery was so beautiful that it was more a spiritual experience for me than one of touristic nature. As we moved along, watching the countryside and mountains pass, my testimony of the heavens was strengthened and deepened.

It was really fun to see these goats on the mountainside. I hope you can see them. Note the brilliant color of the water in the first picture. When it is not overcast, the water is an even deeper jade green. This stream was used by the Badong people to transport goods between villages. Before they built the dam, the stream was 30 feet lower, and rather shallow. Below is a picture I found taken before the flooding of the gorges. Note the major differences between the picture I found online and the pictures we took.

      These were before the flooding of the gorge. Here’s a view of what it looks like now:

We took the above picture from our boat. Each boat had 6 men rowing and as we went along, the men started up a competition between boats to see who could go the fastest. Watching them row was almost painful! Long ago, when these boats were the main source of transportation for the villages and when the stream was shallow (before the dam) the men would row naked. When the stream got too shallow they would get out and pull the boats using ropes. It was explained to us that they worked without clothing because their homespun cloth was so rough that when it got wet it would chafe and rub their skin raw. Here’s a picture of what it used to be like:

 Aren’t you glad that’s not your job? Our tour guide on the boat was a pretty girl in her early twenties. She sang a few of the old folksongs for us, which was very captivating. As we rowed  through the gorge it was almost silent, except for the sound of the oars quietly slapping the water. We were so far from civilization that there were no sounds of airplanes overhead, no sounds of trucks passing nearby or even the sound of a small engine chugging through the water. There were probably about 15 of us on the canoe and for a time we were all quiet, just taking in the beauty of God’s creation. Then, as our tour guide began to sing, I felt oddly small and insignificant. She sang a duet with the oldest rower, who was about 70 years old and actually not rowing. It was a love song, sung in call and response between the two. She was standing at the front of the boat, and he at the back. Wow! It is so easy to get hung up on all the cultural differences that we experience daily. But as I listened to this love song, so different from our culture, yet oddly the same, I realized that we really aren’t different at all, but merely all our Heavenly Father’s children.  We were able to capture this beautiful girl as she sang to us.

After we returned from our canoes to the small boat that would take us back to the river cruise boat, I felt a quite peace that remained with me all day. The following pictures are just more of the amazing scenery that we encountered that day.

I have so many wonderful pictures that it is really hard for me to choose which ones to post. I think I will have to stop here and hope that I have been able to share the serenity and beauty of this place with you. It really was my favorite part of our whole China tour. These last three pictures are of my very favorite things in the whole wide world (not in order of preference!):

My three gorgeous kids!

 

Here’s my two favorite guys in the whole world!

 (My mom once asked Cooper “Why are you wearing your daddy’s face?”… he was really confused!)

Yangtze River Cruise Part 2

Here's the next installment on our river cruise adventure. I wish we had taken some pictures of the cabins and inside views of the boat, but we didn't, sadly. The whole time we were on the boat I felt like we were staying in a glorified double wide trailer! It was nice enough, but still very Chinese. For example, under the low grade berber carpet, you could feel the welding seams of the deck! Some places were actually dimpled and our whole stateroom was kind of on a tilt. We upgraded our room, for a nominal fee, of course. I can't imagine what our original cabins would have been like to stay in! Our staterooms were on the highest deck, just under the sundeck, which meant that we got to hear all the feet of everyone who took a trip topside. We also were in the very very front of the boat and had a sitting room with bulkhead to bulkhead ( ok, in common language that's wall to wall) windows with a great view of everything.

So here are a few pictures from the Three Gorges that we passed through. There were so many amazing views. If you are interested in seeing more pictures, you can go to our picasa site and check them out at:   http://picasaweb.google.com/lkcannon1 .

One of our absolute favorite things about the river cruise was getting to see all the little villages along the way. It was so neat (for lack of a better word) to see how the rest of China lives. We are so sheltered in Shanghai because it is so urban. After we got back from our trip, a long time China expat, who has been in China for 8 years (I think) and has travelled extensively, said to me that she was glad that I finally got to see the real China. I can't imagine living the way these people live, just surviving must take every ounce of strength and every bit of living breath to make it day to day. How blessed we are! What a sheltered and fortunate life we live!

I hope you have enjoyed some of my favorite pictures from our trip. I will probably add two more postings sharing our river cruise experience. Stay tuned....

Chinese Doctors

So, this is a short little blurb about something funny that happened to me today at the OB/GYN's office. I went in for my annual female check up. First off, the heat was out, on a cold 35 degree morning, so getting up on that table was a bit chilly. After the visit, the doctor sits down to talk to me about the exam. She says that everything looks normal, except that she couldn't seem to get a location on my IUD. I am starting to hyperventilate at this point... she goes on to say that she had a patient who had 3 children (like me) and due to the looseness of her cervix, the IUD had shifted and she got pregnant. My breathing shifts into overdrive at this point. Then she says "Over the next few months, when you get a chance, you should make an appointment for an ultrasound so we can verify the placement of your IUD."  OK, anyone see anything wrong with this picture???!!! I am thinking, "How about we do that ultrasound NOW?!?!??!" Of course, this is China and I have to make an appointment, not at the front desk where I checked in, but over the phone, for a new appointment to do that.

I'll keep ya posted!

Fall Trip Part 3

FINALLY!!!! Part 3 of our fall trip!! The moment you've all been breathlessly waiting for is here! I got a little distracted with all the holidays, but the kids are back to school and I am FOCUSED! That's right Ernie, you have to fucus, fucus, fucus....(imagine a Mexican accent trying to say focus and you get the point.)

We boarded our riverboat in Chongqing, and after being pretty tired we were ready to hit the rack when we got to the ship. There were very few children aboard the cruise. I only remember seeing one or two other children, one of which just happened to be in the cabin right next to the kids' cabin and also just happened to be Cooper's age. I'll post a few pictures of her later. Our seating was assigned in the dining hall and we sat each night with the family next door, so Cooper got to be pretty good friends with this cute little Chinese girl.

Here's a picture of our great riverboat. Check out the sophisticated gangway! All free floating planks with no railing at all! Super Safe! We took the cruise from Chongqing to Yichang, spending three nights and 4 days on the boat, passing through the Three Gorges and through a set of dam locks. Really cool stuff! I think this was my personal favorite segment of our tour of China. Unfortunately, the trip was really foggy and we have considered taking the cruise again in the late spring, or just taking a camping trip because the scenery was truly breathtaking. I'll include some pictures of what we saw along the way. Many of the buildings that you will see look uninhabited, but have folks living in them.

The kids had an absolute blast! They had their own cabin and felt like Grown Ups. They had total free run of the boat too! The boat had two game rooms, one with mahjang tiles and video games and another with card games and chess, chinese checkers, etc. These kids OWNED that boat! They made lots and lots of friends over the 4 days that we were there. There were a few tourists groups aboard, one of which was primarily Americans and Canadians. Two couples in that group were young grandparents with grandkids the same age as our kids and both couples fell in love with our kids. Ally learned to play chess on the cruise and I discovered her playing chess with one of the grandpas while the wife played connect four with Eve and Cooper. We actually ended up on the same flight from Yichang to Shanghai at the end of the cruise.

Cooper, like always, won the heart of every Chinese female staff on the boat. One evening Cooper asked if he could return to his cabin because he was done eating. Lee and I finished dinner about 5 minutes later and decided to go make sure he made it to the room. We went up one deck and spotted one of the beauty salon workers, who looked as if she was hiding something - she looked like a kid with her hand in the cookie jar. Upon closer inspection, this is what we found:

What a crack up! Cooper came to breakfast one morning and the table next to us, the one with the American/Canadian tourist group, all said in unison "Good morning, Cooper". Cooper, in shock and amazement, said "How do you know my name?". They replied that EVERYONE knew his name! Here he is with all the entertainment staff that ran the bar and shows onboard:

We passed some truly amazing countryside along the way. We also passed something that both Lee and I found to be beyond comprehension. Lee had been told that there are shipyards all over China, on the riverbanks of major rivers. Here's some pictures of the "shipbuilding" efforts in some parts of China.

I don't know how much you can see in these pictures, because of the fog and the quality of Blogger, but they are basically building a ship with no drydock, out in the open, with the ship on rollers so they can push it down the hill when they are done. Mindblowing!

Here's a picture of our cute kiddos hanging out topside:

We really enjoyed the river trip. I still have tons and tons of great pictures to post, but I think I'll start a new post with pictures from the Three Gorges, the dam locks, and the Shenong Stream, which was phenomenal! Look for more posts in the upcoming future! I'm out of time today, but don't want to put off posting what's here already.