BEIJING: Temple of Heaven

 

There's a big park surrounding the Temple of Heaven. And seniors get in free, so the mornings are packed with tai chi, dancing, singing old revolution songs, chinese chess, cards, aerobics, you name it.  

  

Everyone was so friendly asking about our children and our baby. Especially telling me how Sybil wasn't bundled enough and that she shouldn't be outside. Just smile and nod.... Just smile and nod.

Dave says this was his favorite. He jumped right in there and totally got schooled by some grandmas playing hackey sack. They were so good!

 

Somehow we peeled Dave away from the ladies to see the actual temple. 

 

 

And it was gorgeous. 

 

 

 

This woman giggled and giggled when I asked to take her picture and kissed me when I told her she was beautiful. 

 

 Gage made some more friends while we oohed and aahed and listened to how the temple was built in the 1400s by the same emperor who built the Forbidden City. The emperor would come here during the winter solstice to pray for a good harvest. We heard about the significance of the bridge's architecture, the three tiers, the painted ceiling, the holy altar, the Taoist influence, and the other buildings in the complex. Everything is significant. Everything has a meaning. 

 

 The echo wall and the echo stones were occupied so we flew our kites instead.  

Dave barely made it out of the Temple of Heaven Gate. He got stopped by so many people asking to take his picture. Or asking if they could hold Sybil while he took their picture with her. So funny.

BEIJING: the hutongs

 

 Surrounding the Forbidden City were these old neighborhoods now called hutongs because they are made up of alleyways. No sky rises here. The hutongs were full of siheyuan courtyard houses. Now some of the areas have been turned into restuarants, tourist areas, shops, but some are still homes. Our tour guide said they were very "desireable" and expensive. Hard for me to believe since they still don't have indoor plumbing. You gotta go down to the neighborhood restrooms on the corner. But they were so fun to explore. 

 

 

 

 

 

One day we had lunch at a place down this alley. The pizza was so good. Gage made some friends out front.

 

 

 

 

  

Another day I took a bicylce tour of the hutongs by the drum tower in Hou Hai by myself. 

 

As part of the tour we stopped at an occupied courtyard house. This nice man gave me a tour of his courtyard pointing out the 300 year old trees and the spirit wall (it was all in mandarin so I didn't understand very much, plus I was distracted because all I could think about was Jackie Chan in the Karate Kid with a car in his living room and "pick up your jacket." Seriously, it looked exactly the same). 

We even went inside and he showed me family portraits of his wife's family and talked about how long they had lived in this quaint place. He said he was sad because now his wife, himself, and his son are the only ones living here. The One Child Policy has changed the way Chinese families function.

Our driver for the week told us he just had a new baby boy. He showed us pictures on his phone even. He said that since he and his wife were both only children and since she was from the countryside they were allowed to apply to have a second child. He said they really really wanted a baby girl and were waiting to hear back about their application.

 

Here's a shot of a more touristy hutong on a busy Saturday. But Dave found a corner selling churros with ice cream which we gobbled up while people stopped to take pictures of our kids. 

11 months

She doesn't hold still for a minute these days.

She wants to be in the middle of everything the boys are doing, even when they are wrestling.

We have to build barricades and child lock doors.

She puts the phone to her ear and says "hi"
She puts anything up to her ear (blocks, toys) and says "hi"

She wants to feed herself. and me. or will start playing peek a boo with her plate and dump food in her hair.

She puts tissues up to my nose and starts blowing.

She gives hugs and kisses (still working on the pucker).

speech: variegated babbling - (badigu, potaka, mumuba) with adult like intonation
sounds: all vowels, m, n, b, p, d, t, h, w, k
hi, bye, moma, dada, boo

Easter

Baby's First Easter

There was no sitting still for the camera on Easter morning. 

Sybil loved dumping out the eggs, opening the eggs, and throwing the eggs. And if she could get a hand on the Easter grass, I'm sure she would love that too. 

The night before Easter I was getting the boys ready for a visit from the Easter bunny. I asked them, "Do you know what happens tomorrow?" Gage said, "We celebrate Jesus Christ and go to church." Nothing about candy or baskets or bunnies. I wanted to stand up and yell "Hooray!" Instead I smiled, kissed him on his cheek and said, "That's right, buddy." Then we talked more about the resurrection and what it means for us every day. We talked about how grateful we are for the Atonement. 

The next morning there was candy and baskets and chocolate, of course. But we also went to church, sang Easter hymns and celebrated Jesus Christ.  

Easter activities

We had a great Easter playgroup with our church friends. Decorating Sarah's yummy cupcakes, coloring, and egg hunting of course. The kids had a blast swimming afterwards. 

Gage's silly faces. 

friends lining up for the egg hunt

All the big kids lined up checking out their loot. Isn't that the best part? But chocolates don't last long in Singapore so they had to eat them fast! 

Every year our neighbor, Herni, also organizes a great Easter BBQ for the kids at our condo. Games, easter eggs hunt and really great food. We look forward to it every year. 

They hide hundreds of paper eggs all over the condo.

Noah won the "eat the donut off the string game". Maybe he had a head start? 

Gage got most of the donut all over his face. 

We also had a wonderful BBQ with our East Coast friends. Great food, swimming and great company. 

DAVE FEST !

The perfect way to celebrate Dave's birthday is with a DAVE FEST! 

We spent the whole day doing things he loved. 

A quick game of tennis after our morning run. 

Out to lunch at his favorite Venezuelan place. The music and food makes Dave want to get up and dance (actually, most places do. But this place is still special). Sybil was the perfect third wheel. And their flan is incredible. 

 Then a long afternoon nap, swim with the boys, dinner with the fam with chocolate eclairs for dessert. I promise the eclair tower was beautiful before it all started melting and collasping. 

We finished the day with a great concert and more singing and dancing. Who knew Paul Simon could still belt it? It was a blast! The perfect Dave day. 

Happy Birthday to Dave! 

10 months

At 10 months Sybil has discovered the cupboards. Her specialty: emptying things. Anything.

She has also learned to crawl. Well, scoot. She stays on her bum and gets her legs moving to get where she wants to go.

She is so much fun!