tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12802219230403183702024-03-13T03:19:32.928-07:00The Woods of WoodbridgeCharliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10934342888150947428noreply@blogger.comBlogger152125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-50525670417092688672017-04-28T21:45:00.001-07:002017-04-28T21:45:13.416-07:00Savannah - February 2017Savannah is easily one of my favorite US cities. This was our third visit to Savannah, and we still found it to be just as delightful and charming as ever. We drove down on a Friday evening and arrived to our hotel around 9:00 pm. We stayed at a Hilton right in the Historic District, which was so convenient because we were able to walk everywhere that we wanted to go. <br />
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Saturday morning we were up and ready for a fun day. We started with our hotel breakfast. Isaac ordered hard boiled eggs. I guess we thought they might have some already boiled, but they did not and we ended up waiting at least 25 minutes for the eggs to arrive. Charlie kept the boys busy by "sneaking" pictures of them. <br />
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After breakfast we walked down to River Street and were greeted with a view of an enormous container ship sailing in to the nearby port. One of the construction workers who came by told us we were lucky to catch a glimpse so close up. "Once in a lifetime" he said. Unless you've already been to the Panama Canal, that is. But we still thought it was cool and watched as it sailed past. <br />
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The boys were convinced that the stacks of containers were way too high to fit underneath the bridge and watched eagerly as it inched closer, just waiting for an epic collision. Obviously it sailed through to the port without incident, and we moved on to explore the rest of River Street. <br />
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We passed the Georgia Queen Riverboat, (which always reminds me of the Mark Twain Riverboat at Disneyland) and then were surprised to see another container ship sailing in. </div>
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We were quickly distracted from the water traffic once we made it to the candy store. Luke is a total sugar addict and this was easily the highlight of the trip for him. River Street Sweets is an old fashioned candy store where you can watch as the confectioners make pralines, or candied apples, or operate the taffy machine. It is a fun store with so many yummy things to choose from. The boys go straight for the junk though. There is a whole wall filled with candy bins of every type you can imagine. Charlie lets them each fill a bag with whatever they want (and ok, Charlie and I filled little bags too). </div>
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Luke remembered the giant gummy snakes from a previous visit, and those were the first things to go into his bag. I suppose we may be awful parents for loading our kids up with bags of sugar on a Saturday morning, but the candy served as good motivation throughout the day when we needed them to keep walking or to go into another store. </div>
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Isaac found the bin of Warheads candy and scooped several into his bag. We all got a good laugh as he tried out the first one. He was laughing while fighting the urge to spit it out. Just thinking about the sourness of those candies - which I haven't eaten in at least 20 years - makes my mouth start to water! He convinced Charlie & Luke to try them too, and it was funny to watch each of their reactions.</div>
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We walked the length of River Street, stopping in various shops along the way. The Peanut Shop is always a favorite, and we also visited the other old fashioned candy store at the other end of the street. Isaac was in search of a candy called Toxic Waste that he learned about from a YouTube video. (His friend told him about a guy called Guava Juice on YouTube that makes videos of himself doing all sorts of ridiculous things - like eating Toxic Waste.) He managed to find a can of it and convinced us to buy it for him. In case anyone is wanting to try it (sarcasm intended), the verdict from Isaac & Luke was that the Toxic Waste was actually less sour than the Warheads. Now you know.<br />
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We boarded the water taxi at the end of the street and rode it back up towards our hotel. Isaac thought it was cool to ride Titanic style at the bow of the boat. Luke preferred the side view so that he could see over the edge. <br />
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We climbed back up a set of old stone steps back towards our hotel and made a pit stop at our room to drop off some of the things we had bought - including the wooden pirate swords that Luke somehow convinced Charlie to buy for him & Isaac. </div>
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We headed back out and had lunch and did some more shopping. What I love most about Savannah is the way the city is laid out around squares. There are 22 squares and each is like a small park with a monument in the center and benches, trees, and other greenery surrounding it. They are beautiful and peaceful and make the city seem quieter than it really is. The squares are surrounded by old historic homes and businesses, all with stunning and unique architecture. The trees are covered in Spanish moss, which hangs down and makes the whole city feel like it is wrapped in a fairytale. <br />
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I feel like it is impossible to capture the charm of Savannah with just photos. But my photos aren't very good either, so that doesn't help much! <br />
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Besides the candy store, the other favorite for Isaac & Luke is Forsyth Park. I always love stopping by the iconic fountain in the center of the park, but the boys always head straight for the playground. The playground is fenced in and has some unique and fun play structures that they love. After so much walking, you'd think they would be tired - but they could play there for hours.<br />
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We also saw tons of dogs at Forsyth Park. I think I mentioned in a previous post how we count dogs everyday. We reached a new record for our dog count that day - 162 dogs! That blew our previous Hilton Head record (49 dogs) out of the water, and it may be awhile before we can beat that number.<br />
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That evening we had dinner at Paula Dean's Lady & Sons restaurant. We have eaten there on every visit to Savannah, and while the food is good - we decided after our meal that we'd like to try somewhere different next time.<br />
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We boxed up some leftover food to take with us (Luke is always hungry about an hour after dinner), and ended up giving it to a homeless couple that we saw searching for food in a trash can on the street. Charlie & I were SO full that we decided to do a little extra walking around just to get some of that food settled. By the end of the night we had walked just over 10 miles! The boys had been begging to go swimming, so we made a quick visit to the hotel pool before falling into bed that night. <br />
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The next morning we had to pack up to go home. We had breakfast at the hotel again, and luckily they were a little quicker with the eggs this time. <br />
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We drove to Tybee Island to spend a few hours at the beach before driving home. Unfortunately, it was overcast that morning and quite chilly. We hadn't planned to swim anyway, but even playing in the sand we were all cold. The boys dug holes, Luke chased seagulls, and Isaac walked up and down the beach making long tracks with his shovel. We only lasted about an hour and a half before deciding to call it quits. </div>
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We headed home from there and had an uneventful drive back. It's about a four and a half hour drive for us, which makes it easy to go for a quick weekend trip. I'm sure we'll be back again soon! <br />
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And to finish off this post, here is some video footage of everyone trying out the Warheads and the Toxic Waste. Isaac never offered me one, and I'm not sad about that. <br />
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<a href="https://vimeo.com/215292868">Warheads vs. Toxic Waste</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user11540302">Carrie Wood</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-7336293027389417322017-04-12T17:45:00.003-07:002017-04-12T17:45:53.562-07:00Week 5 & 6 - Cake Decorating and more Bike Riding<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The week started just like any other - waking up to this furry friend cuddled up in my bed. He is totally spoiled, and he hogs the bed and snores and wakes me up at night to go outside and pee. But I love him anyway. </div>
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I had a doctor appointment. I was about 8 weeks pregnant, but I just didn't feel pregnant and in my gut I knew something was wrong. Sure enough when I went in for an ultrasound, it showed a gestational sac, but no embryo. The doctor told me my dates might be off and that the baby just hadn't grown enough yet to be seen on ultrasound. I was scheduled to come back in a week. But I knew my dates were right and I knew this was another failed pregnancy. I hate that I have to deal with this overcrowded parking garage and pay for parking every time. Too bad that's not even the worst part. <br />
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I took Isaac for a haircut. I meant to snap a before and after photo, but I only got the before! His hair had grown quite long and I kept teasing him that he was like a shaggy dog. <br />
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For our activity this week the Laurels requested to learn some cake decorating skills from Suzy Neeves. Suzy went to school to be a pastry chef, so her skills are pretty impressive. I think I was maybe more excited for the activity than the girls. We had a cake decorating activity when I was in YW and it's one of the few that I actually remember. (Amy, do you remember your family came to visit from Nebraska that week and I think I decorated my cake to say "Welcome Casebolts" or something like that. I remember your mom was so impressed by that cake. Ha!) <br />
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Sydney, Sam, and Gloria with their cakes. <br />
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That's my cake in front. Suzy taught us how to make different kinds of flowers. <br />
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My cute friend Suzy and her beautiful cake. <br />
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I don't remember how or why we got started, but Luke and I count dogs every morning on the way to preschool. We live 2 miles into our subdivision, so when driving out we always pass several dogs out on their morning walks. We have names for most of them - Furry Face, Shorty, Sniffy No Tail, etc. On the road that leads to Luke's school there is some farm land and occasionally we see the tractor out on the road. And on that tractor there is also a dog! Sometimes he rides in the seat up front, sometimes on top of a load of rocks or hay in the trailer, sometimes sitting inside the front shovel. His name is Tractor Dog and it's always a good day if we see him. On this day I had already dropped Luke off, but then I saw the tractor coming and I hurried to snap a picture so I could show Luke after school. It's totally blurry, but I want to keep this memory of our dog counts & Tractor Dog. </div>
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And here's Luke after school with one of his Trio block creations. Probably some sort of a gun or blaster. We have a no gun rule, but boys will be boys. <br />
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We didn't make it to the bike park on Saturday, but after some yard work we got Luke out on Isaac's old bike with training wheels. He had fun just going up and down the sidewalk. <br />
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And pretending to fall off and be dead. He is such a ham sometimes! <br />
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The Bermuda grass that everyone has around here goes dormant in the winter. If you roll in it, you get covered in dead grass that sticks to your clothes like a magnet. Charlie pulled out the leaf blower to help get the grass off of Luke's pants. He and Conner (our neighbor) thought it was hilarious and kept asking to get blown over and over again. <br />
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Sunday was the Super Bowl! I normally don't care much about football, but for the past few weeks all of Georgia has been on a high about the Falcons going to the Super Bowl. I was admittedly pretty excited about it myself. We had "appetizer dinner" and watched together as a family. The boys loved the commercials and the Lady Gaga half time show. It was an exciting game and the Falcons had a big lead during the first half. Every time we would cheer poor Cracker would get so nervous. He crawled up on the back of the couch and hid behind my neck whenever it got too loud. Nerdy dog. Unfortunately, the Patriots made a big come back and the game went into overtime. The Patriots also won the coin toss and took the ball, and the win. We were so bummed!<br />
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Luke had a dentist appointment. He hadn't been in a little over a year because the last one was so traumatic. Luckily he did much better this time. He has a pretty sensitive little mouth, and I could tell he was hating the whole thing (he kept wiggling his little legs and gripping the seat). I was proud of him for holding it together so well. </div>
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Somehow Luke ended up with my phone on the way home from school. He snapped this photo (and about 100 more) while we were driving home. That's Towne Lake Pkwy, and just a few of the millions of trees that we have here in Georgia. </div>
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<br />Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-71394132131676633032017-02-21T14:23:00.002-08:002017-02-21T14:23:30.828-08:00Week 4 - Pinewood Derby and Bike RidingI finished my second book this year in just a few days. Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan. It's about a young journalist living in NYC who has a sudden and bizarre breakdown caused by a rare autoimmune disease. It was fascinating to hear her story and to also learn the medical science and explanations about everything that happened to her brain & body during that time. I couldn't put it down. (I was little concerned about the language in the first chapter, but it quickly got cleaner as she lost her mind. Ha!)<br />
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For our YW activity this week the Laurels had planned to play tennis. Kara plays for her high school and has a tennis scholarship for college next year, so she was our instructor for the evening. We went to the Eagle Watch courts to play - Kara versus Gloria and I. Though I was pretty terrible, I did better than anticipated and had a lot of fun too. It had been years and years since I'd played tennis and I was surprised how much skill is involved. I got some good pointers from Kara and improved my game at least slightly by the end of the evening. </div>
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Charlie is the Scout Committee Chair for our ward, which means he oversees the Cub & the Boy Scout programs. We went to the church on Friday night to help set up the Pinewood Derby track. The boys were playing some kind of farting game with balloons to pass the time while the adults worked. <br />
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Saturday was the much anticipated race. We bought pre-cut cars from Hobby Town because Charlie is not really a tool guy and doesn't have the right kind of saw. The boys chose their paint colors and decals. Isaac's car was called "The Golden Eagle" and Luke called his car "The Flame Thrower." He didn't like the extra weights I glued onto it, but when we tested it the night before it was way too light and wouldn't even make it to the end of the track. <br />
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Isaac's car won third place! He was super proud because last year his car came in dead last in almost every heat. The Willy Wonka chocolate bar car won first and I think the red car with the Lego driver came in second. </div>
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Next it was time for the sibling race. It's actually called the Outlaw Race and any car can participate, with no rules or restrictions. Luke was probably more excited than Isaac was about the Pinewood Derby. His car had been super slow the night before during test runs, but after Charlie made some adjustments to the wheels, and we added some weights and graphite powder, it sped up quite a bit. Luke's car came in second and he was absolutely thrilled with his win and with his plastic medal. </div>
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Of course we had to take a few photos in the winners circle photo booth afterwards. </div>
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Later that afternoon we managed to load all four of our bikes into the back of our van, and drove up to a very flat park in Canton to do some bike riding. We live in a super hilly neighborhood which makes it nearly impossible to ride bikes around - especially the beach cruisers with no gears that Charlie & I have. </div>
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Before we left California Isaac was riding on two-wheels really well, but then he had a fall and refused to ride again. We had made a few half-hearted attempts since we moved of getting him to ride, but hadn't really pushed him again. Until now. We let him make a lap with his training wheels first, and then Charlie took them off. Isaac did great! It took him a few minutes to get going, but then he was off! </div>
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We had invited our neighbors to go with us. I think it helped that their son Conner, who is seven, is riding well. That was a little more motivation for Isaac to ditch the training wheels. </div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/205124786" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="640"></iframe>
<a href="https://vimeo.com/205124786">Bike Riding 1.28.17</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user11540302">Carrie Wood</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
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The park is really great because it's completely flat and has about two miles worth of paved trails that loop around. It was a great place for Isaac to practice and I loved being on my bike again after so long. We really need to invest in a trailer though because cramming those bikes into the van was quite the feat. <br />
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We had brought a bike for Luke that a friend had given us, but once we got to the park we realized that the chain was stuck. So Luke rode his scooter and we'll work on bike riding with him next time. <br />
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<br />Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-29958061724311394132017-02-21T13:18:00.001-08:002017-02-21T14:20:07.373-08:00Week 3 - Amicalola Falls and Crab LegsThe boys had Monday off of school for Martin Luther King Day. I had been wanting to hike Amicalola Falls for awhile, and it seemed like the perfect day for an adventure (well, except for the rain in the forecast). We set out early on our drive and the boys were not very excited about my plans for the day. It was about an hour drive up to the park and then just a two-mile round trip hike to the top of the falls and back. <br />
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The trail is meant to be hiked going up the waterfall, so that you can see the entire thing from the base and then choose how high up you want to climb. Well I must have gotten confused and taken a wrong turn right from the start, because we ended up hiking the back trail all of the way up instead. I kept thinking we should have been able to see the waterfall by now, and it wasn't until about 1/2 mile up that I realized we were going the wrong way. We decided to just keep going. I pointed out this cool tree that had somehow grown to the side & then back up. Isaac wanted to take a photo to pretend like he was holding it up. <br />
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When we finally made it to the top, the boys were quite underwhelmed. I pointed out the parking lot below to show them how far up we had come. </div>
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We began climbing down all of the stairs that we were meant to climb up, and finally got a view of the waterfall. I had to start bribing the boys with drinks and snacks to get them to smile for photos. </div>
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After every few flights of stairs there would be a landing with seating to rest or take in the views. Luke's little legs started to give out after awhile. I was surprised to feel my calves get a bit shaky towards the end. </div>
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The total height of Amicalola Falls is 729 feet, making it the tallest waterfall east of the Mississippi. I'd love to go back again in the spring when everything is green and the water is flowing a bit more. Still, it was an impressive waterfall and a fun hike. Though I'd go up the right way next time!</div>
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Once we were past the falls and headed back towards the visitor center, Luke had a little fall and scraped up the palms of his hands just a bit. We made a bit of a detour off the side of the trail to rinse his hands in the cool stream and let the boys play on the rocks a bit. They loved jumping from rock to rock across the water, and picking up the smaller ones to throw in and make a splash. </div>
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There were several playground areas back near the visitor center, so we spent some time playing for a bit. Inside the center they had a section of live reptiles - mostly snakes and a turtle or too. Luke had seen a display of stuffed birds before the hike and had not stopped asking for one. That is until he saw the stuffed snakes! Isaac has a stuffed snake that he got years ago during a visit to the San Diego Zoo, and Luke has always been envious of it. Well today was his lucky day I guess because I gave in and bought him his very own snake. Isaac was content with a push-pop. <br />
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Before our hike that day I had told the boys we would get a treat afterwards. I had packed lunches for each of us, which we ate during the drive home. Then we stopped at Menchie's once we were back in Woodstock. (Double dose of ice cream for Isaac, but he didn't mind one bit.) Luke always finishes first and then asks to go draw on the big chalkboard.<br />
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Charlie had been on a business trip for a few days and while out at a store one night found a display of Lego sets on clearance. We typically don't buy our boys toys on a whim, but Charlie decided to bring them each home a Lego set. Luke wanted to build his right away when he came home from school. (He is also quick to change into his "comfy" clothes everyday immediately after school.) He still needs a lot of help, but is getting much better at following the instructions and building on his own. <br />
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Our Ward had an emergency prep fair and the Young Women were asked to make a video demonstrating how to turn off household utilities. I was not the one filming, so I didn't have a lot to work with, but managed to put together a decent video nonetheless. <br />
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<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/200201063" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/200201063">YW Utilities</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user11540302">Carrie Wood</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
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In Luke's preschool class they have a big stoplight with red, yellow, and green lights. If the boys stay on green all week then they get to choose something out of the treasure box on Friday. This week Luke chose a red plastic heart necklace to give to me. I was totally charmed and flattered by my sweet boy and his choice to pick something for me rather that himself. I wore my new necklace with pride for the rest of the day. <br />
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One of my goals for the year is to read more books, and I finished my first one this week. Andy Warhol was a Hoarder by Claudia Kalb. It's a collection of essays analyzing possible mental disorders of famous personalities throughout history. It was a fascinating read and I enjoyed learning the history of people such as Abraham Lincoln, Marilyn Monroe, Charles Darwin, Fydor Dostoyevsky, Christine Jorgensen, and Betty Ford. <br />
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On Saturday we drove down the Barrett Pkwy to go to Hobby Town. The Pinewood Derby is coming up and Charlie likes to get the boys cool decals and accessories for their cars. After shopping we decided to stop for lunch at Red Lobster. We haven't eaten at a Red Lobster in at least ten years, so the boys had never been. Isaac is a seafood lover and was so excited to see king crab legs on the kids menu.<br />
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Charlie had to help him quite a bit to crack the shells and pull the meat out, but Isaac thought it was the coolest thing ever - especially the one with the claw on the end. Something tells me it won't be another ten years before we go back. Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-66557974891244286152017-01-22T20:47:00.001-08:002017-04-12T17:50:00.920-07:00Week Two - Snowed In, STEM Night, and a New Year's ResolutionFreezing rain preceded the snowfall last Friday, resulting in extremely icy and slick roads. Our stake cancelled all church meetings for Sunday, January 8th. We enjoyed a quiet, uneventful day at home, with the exception of some happy news that Charlie and I received that night - a positive pregnancy test! Finally, after months of trying. I have so many mixed emotions. I am thrilled, but also have a lot of anxiety about the likelihood of this pregnancy failing. <br />
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School was cancelled on Monday. The stir crazy was starting to set in. Charlie left on a business trip. His Subaru with 4-wheel drive managed to get out of our neighborhood, but I wasn't about to chance it in my van. There are steep hills in all directions and we were seeing (on Facebook, and Charlie first hand) and hearing reports of cars sliding all over the place. So I stayed put. </div>
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The boys and I made Pokemon characters out of perler beads, and tried out a new XBox game from Christmas that we hadn't had a chance to play yet. As you can see, Cracker just wanted to soak up any bit of sun he could find. </div>
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We also did some bird watching. I absolutely LOVE having a bird feeder. Janelle sent it as a birthday gift when we first moved to Georgia. I am still amazed by the number and variety of birds we see. I also found this art print that I love, titled "Backyard Birds of Georgia" with drawings of the different birds and their names. I framed it and hung it near the back window so that we can quickly identify the birds we see. The boys and I have so much fun doing this together. As it turned out, the snow made for a perfect bird watching day. Since the ground was covered, we received a plethora of hungry birds on our feeder that day. I can never get really good photos of them from the window, but in this photo you can see at least one Eastern Blue Bird (one of my personal favorites) sitting on the feeder. </div>
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That night we played games and ate up some remaining Christmas candy. We sent a photo to Charlie to say hi. We played two rounds of Go Fish (Luke's pick) and two rounds of Jenga (Isaac's pick). </div>
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School was cancelled on Tuesday. We started losing our minds. It wasn't so much that we missed school, but not leaving the house for four days was getting pretty old. Luckily by the afternoon most of the snow had melted and the Sheriff's department was reporting clear roads. So we ventured out into the world! Luke needed to have hearing and vision screenings done for some school assessments. We still have not found a pediatrician here in GA, and I knew the health department would be a quick in-and-out, so we just went there. </div>
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On the drive over I gave Luke a quick explanation of what to expect, but he was not very excited about the whole thing - insisting that he could hear & see everything just fine! </div>
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The nurse was super friendly and nice and Luke warmed up to her right away (he usually gets very shy around strangers). She asked about our dog and then told us she has two dachshunds of her own. Ah ha! A fellow dachshund lover. I knew I liked her. </div>
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Just as he said, Luke's hearing & vision are perfectly fine. He weighed in at ?lbs and is ?inches tall. He's still our small guy but is catching up just a tiny bit. He said his favorite part of the test was when they took a picture of his eyes with what looked like a big hand held price scanner gun. I had never seen that before. I guess they do that now instead of having them read a letter chart. </div>
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On Wednesday life resumed as normal. Hallelujah! I went to the gym for my Body Works class and did a bit of grocery shopping.</div>
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After I picked up Luke from school on Thursday we drove through the car wash to get the salt from the roads off of the van. He loves driving through and asked if he could take his seatbelt off. He said the big long tentacles swirling around the top of the car were those of a giant jelly fish trying to eat us!<br />
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He loved helping to vacuum the car out too.<br />
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That night was STEM night at Isaac's school. (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) The first three are all things Isaac loves and he really wanted to go. Charlie had dinner with an out of town friend so Luke got to come to STEM night too. First up was building marshmallow catapults out of Popsicle sticks. Next we moved on to coding. The activities were geared towards older children but I was surprised how well Luke did with the Angry Birds coding game. He was very intent. Isaac loved driving a robot around the room by using an iPad with a coding program.<br />
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We then moved on to a center where we tried to build air powered cars using paper, drinking straws, masking tape, and lifesavers as wheels. Our car wasn't very successful, the boys ultimately ended up eating the lifesaver wheels, and we left. </div>
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We found Isaac's owl again in the front hall, and he wanted to be in the picture this time. </div>
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We had to cut STEM night short and hurry to the church. Isaac's Cub Scout den was building stools with Sister Futral (they are pretty cool - I should get a picture), and he didn't want to miss it. I also needed to get to YW. </div>
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The bishop had asked the YM President and I to plan our joint activity for the month to introduce the new 2017 mutual theme, which is James 1:5-6 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God." My presidency came up with the idea of doing a game show incorporating elements from Jeopardy, Family Feud, and Who Wants to be a Millionaire? I put together 60 trivia questions in different categories such as Book of Mormon, Church History, Name That Hymn, etc. The youth were grouped in teams and when it was their turn for a question they had the option of using a "lifeline" for help by asking the Bishopric, the Elders, or the Sisters. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask!" We had a really good turn out and the youth seemed to enjoy it. Micki and I went to the building that morning after our walk and set up the game board and tables. Then I asked Adam to be the host and get everything started since I knew I would be late that evening. These are bad pictures, but oh well. </div>
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Luke loves coming to the church with me on Thursday nights. Isaac has scouts but Luke gets to hang out with the YW (including his favorite baby sitters) and whatever other kids happen to be there. On this night he kept busy by stomach surfing on longboards across the back of the cultural hall along with Tanner and Drennan (sons of my presidency members). </div>
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On Friday I went to Costco. I saw these gorgeous succulents near the check out and ended up buying them for our mantel/bookshelves. It was a total impulse buy. Oh Costco, you get me everytime! </div>
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Luke brought home this paper from school and it cracked me up. </div>
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Charlie ran a 10k Turkey Trot in Hilton Head when we were there for Thanksgiving. They also had a kids fun run and a 5k, so we decided that next time we would all participate. Luke is determined to run the 5k and has been talking about how he is going to run a lot to practice for it. It just makes me laugh to see this as his New Year's Resolution, since it is a goal more typical of someone 30 years his senior. </div>
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On Saturday morning I attended a BYC breakfast and planning meeting at the bishop's home. He had the youth do a trust fall as a team building exercise. Emily and I lucked out being at the end of the line since we only ever caught the hair of the tallest participant. </div>
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That evening we drove to Atlanta to see one of Charlie's old coworkers whom he worked with at Bradshaw in California. Renee was in town for a trade show so we picked her up and took her to dinner at The Flying Biscuit and then for ice cream at Jeni's. </div>
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Jeni's is swoon worthy and easily the best ice cream I've ever tasted. I tried three new to me flavors this time and loved them all. Roxbury road, salted peanut butter with chocolate flecks, and sweet potato eclair. It is probably best that we don't live closer. </div>
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Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-35299786475292610842017-01-09T06:37:00.001-08:002017-02-20T10:11:48.850-08:00Week One - Snow! I am terribly behind on our family blog, but I have not yet given up on the idea of getting it up to date. For starters, I thought weekly posts would be a good idea for 2017.<br />
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I am writing this post from an app on my phone because I've been having some issues with my computer. So we'll see how this goes, and here's to a new year of blogging! <br />
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We spent New Years Day driving home from our trip to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky. We got a later start than planned and also hit traffic, so the drive was a little less bearable than on the way there. Still, having the rear DVD system and two iPads for the boys makes even the worst road trips pretty easy. </div>
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We had to stop for lunch and I honestly just couldn't stomach the idea of fast food, so Charlie and I decided on a Japanase steak house in Smyrna, TN. Luke ate only edemame, Isaac had a bowl of steamed rice and a CA roll, and Charlie and I shared a few other sushi rolls. Isaac snapped this selfie of the two of us. </div>
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Charlie and the boys all had Monday off. We spent the morning taking down and packing up all of the Christmas decorations. Then I had to go to the school for Isaac's annual IEP meeting in the afternoon. He has come SO far since his first IEP when he entered the school system six years ago. I remember the anxiety and preparation that used to go into those meetings. This one was such a breeze in comparison. </div>
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Tuesday it was back to school and back to work. It was a nice long break and we had some wonderful family time, a nice Christmas, and a fun trip. By the end of it all I think every one of us was ready to get back to our routine. I got the house cleaned up and hosted a YW Presidency meeting that lasted all morning. I think we were all enjoying the adult/girl time and just got carried away chatting! </div>
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On Wednesday after the gym I drove to Sprouts, which is a 30 minute drive. I miss Sprouts in the worst way. It is my absolute favorite place to shop for food and I have been so disappointed since moving here because there is not one close by. I only end up going about once a month or less, but this was a particularly good trip. I hadn't been in a long time and I felt like there were so many good deals & so much yummy fresh food. I was seriously so giddy! I know I'm a nerd. I snapped this photo to send to Charlie of all the things I bought. </div>
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4 grapefruits, 12 avocados, baby carrots, 8 apples, 6 onions, cilantro, jalepeno, 4 sweet potatoes, butternut squash, 2 lbs cuties, celery, 4 russet potatoes, 5 tomatoes, red grapes, 7 limes, 2 lbs strawberries, 2 boxes blackberries, 3 boxes blueberry granola bars, 2 boxes chicken broth, pistachios, Justin's almond butter, </div>
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garlic, fudge, 5 bottles of green juice, our favorite tortilla chips from CA!!! (that we have not found until now), 3 blocks of cheese, cheese curds, 1.5 lbs wild Atlantic salmon, 1 lb Italian sausage, 1.5 lbs carne asada, sour cream, 4 fage yogurts, and 12 siggis yogurts</div>
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As I was putting everything up at the check out I was thinking I probably spent $200. Nope. Only $133. I love Sprouts! Love it. </div>
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On Thursday I was signed up to volunteer for Isaac's teacher. I wish there were more opportunities to actually be in the classroom, but even being "copy helper" gives me a chance to work with his teacher a bit and keep up to speed on what's happening in the classroom. I did run into Isaac in the hallway while he was coming back from his social skills lunch group. He wanted me to see his artwork that was chosen to go in the main hall outside the front office. What a cute owl! </div>
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After I picked up Luke from preschool we had to stop by Publix so I could pick up some treats for that night's YW activity. We decided on donuts from the bakery. Well there is no way Luke was going to miss out on donuts so he convinced me to buy him a chocolate frosted one to eat at home. After seeing the mess on his face he wanted to send a selfie to Charlie at work. </div>
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On Friday afternoon Isaac brought home his second report card of the year with another round of straight A's! We are SO proud of him. He is a super smart kid, but really struggles with his study skills. Keeping on task and getting his work done is sometimes a challenge, but his teacher this year has really worked with him and his IEP team has all helped too. Keep up the good work Isaac! </div>
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I forgot to take a picture of Isaac with the report card so we snapped one this morning. Luke wanted in on it too. And Cracker. </div>
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Friday night it snowed! It doesn't snow too often here, so with a couple of inches in the forecast there was lots of talk and anticipation leading up to the storm. It started out as freezing rain and eventually turned to snow. We woke up to about 2 1/2 beautiful inches the next morning. </div>
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The boys were so excited to go out and play! Unfortunately we don't have the right clothes for playing in the snow but we made do with what we have. We played in the neighbor's yard for a few minutes before heading to the golf course for sledding! </div>
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Luke only got a handful of runs in before he started melting down. He only had a pair of knit gloves on and his earlier attempts at making snowballs had soaked them through. After about 15 minutes of sledding he was crying because of his freezing hands, so I took him to the car to warm up. I got one good run down from the top of this hill, which wasn't super steep but if you got on the right angles you could go pretty far. </div>
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Back at the car Luke declared he would never leave the house again until the snow was gone! Poor kid. </div>
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I ended up taking him home while Charlie & Isaac stayed behind with the neighbors. This was the road going back to our house. It wasn't a ton of snow, but because of the freezing rain that preceded it the roads were really icy. I was thankful for Charlie's Subaru and the 4-wheel drive. </div>
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After lunch we managed to convince Luke to go for round two. The neighbor lent him some warmer clothes and we reminded him not to pick up snow. Round two went much, much better. Both boys had a blast! There were several friends from the neighborhood there and we tried out a different hill with a little bump in it that was really fun. Isaac surprised me with his gumption. He would get a running start, land on his knees, and take off for some remarkably fast runs. Charlie had fun going down with both boys while I mostly took pictures or helped with launches at the top. </div>
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We had fun! But we all froze. The wind chill brought the temperatures down to around 10 degrees, which is way colder than I like. Cracker doesn't like it either. I took him out front for a potty break and he wouldn't walk even one step. (He prefers the covered deck out back that has dry ground.) </div>
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That night we went out for dinner to celebrate Isaac's report card. We let him pick the restaurant so we ended up at Chili's. His first choice is always Del Taco, but we managed to talk him out of it this time. We were surprised at how much ice was still on the roads. They were quite bad in some spots and retrospectively we decided we probably should have stayed home. But we did make it home safely and then we stayed put! </div>
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All church meetings were cancelled today due to the icy roads, and school is already cancelled for tomorrow. </div>
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Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-53138195532498862942014-12-14T14:16:00.002-08:002014-12-14T14:19:06.154-08:00PrivateI obviously have a lot of catching up to do on our blog, but before I do that I've decided to go ahead and make our blog private. Not that there is much traffic here anyway. Please let me know if you happen to stop by here now and then and I will send you an invite. Seriously, don't be shy! We would love to share with friends and family - we'd just like to keep some of the more personal things from any psychos, etc. Thanks!Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-91974028824561286922014-08-10T23:37:00.000-07:002014-08-12T23:44:04.389-07:00Birthday Weekend in SeattleWay back in February Mikael and I had been texting each other and scheming ways of how we could plan a trip to see each other. It was getting complicated because we both had busy schedules, traveling husbands, and budgets. It was looking like a no go. But a few days later Mikael's sneaky husband Derek got ahold of my number and started texting me about planning a surprise getaway for Mikael's upcoming birthday. I thought it would be a pretty awesome birthday gift to myself too, so I talked it over with Charlie and set to work making plans. It was absolute torture trying to contain my excitement and I was seriously dying not being able to talk with Mikael about it. She kept texting me trying to make plans (unaware that flights had already been booked) and I had to keep making up excuses of why I didn't think it would work. Finally her birthday came around at the beginning of March and Derek had wrapped up the plane tickets as a surprise. Well wouldn't you know it, she wouldn't even open them that morning but insisted on waiting until Derek came home that night. AGH. So finally she opened the tickets, we exchanged lots of screaming excited texts, and began our countdown to the first weekend in April. <br />
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I told Mikael that I would make the famous Wood family Surprise Cupcakes for her birthday, so even though they were a month late I did still load up a container of cupcakes and carry them on the plane with me. We arrived Thursday night in Seattle and took the train downtown where we stayed at The Roosevelt Hotel. We spent that first night staying up late eating cupcakes and talking nonstop until we were both too drowsy to make any sense. <br />
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Friday morning we slept in. We had blackout curtains and there were no children there to wake us. It was glorious. But we did have a lunch reservation at noon, so we eventually had to get moving. We got ready for the day and then walked across town to the Space Needle. I always enjoy going up to the high point of a city to get a view of the surroundings. The weather was clear and sunny and gorgeous that day and the views from atop the Needle were incredible. We had a leisurely lunch in the revolving restaurant and enjoyed checking out the full 360 degree view of Seattle. <br />
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We kept seeing these billowing clouds of dessert being served at other tables and decided that we needed an "Oribter" too. Mostly we just wanted to take pictures of it and Mikael sent a video to her kids. <br />
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Mikael sent this picture to her dad. It's not the most flattering, but I love it. We were having such a blast being kid free and chatting up a storm and laughing at our own dumb jokes. <br />
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Next we walked over to Pike Place Market and just wandered the stalls admiring the gorgeous flowers, fresh fruit, and arts & crafts for sale. Luke was really into pigs at the time (like he was constantly declaring "I'm a pig" and making oinking sounds in response to questions), so I of course had to take this photo for him. <br />
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We walked even further down and along the waterfront just enjoying the beautiful day and each other's company. I'm sure we logged quite a few miles that day walking all around. We stopped and did a bit of shopping on our way back to the hotel, and then laid down to relax for awhile before heading back out for dinner. <br />
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We were both craving sushi and just happened to strike up a conversation with a guy in the elevator who directed us to a place called Dragonfish just across the street that had sushi happy hour. Perfect! This may have been my favorite night of the trip. We ordered a half a dozen little dishes to share and sat and talked and snacked. After we'd already paid the bill and were getting ready to leave, I looked at Mikael and then confessed "I'm still hungry!" I was starving actually. So we ordered a whole second round of food and laughed and talked and ate some more. It was seriously such a fun night. <br />
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The next morning we had big plans to go see the Fremont Troll. I mapped it out on my phone and found a good 3 mile route that would take us right to him. We laced up our running shoes and set out on our way. Unfortunately I have a TERRIBLE sense of direction and started us off going the exact opposite way of where we should have gone. After about a mile of super steep hills through a somewhat sketchy part of town Mikael wised up and suggested that I check my phone. Sure enough we were now one mile further from Mr. Troll. Um, oops. Sorry about that Mikael. <br />
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But despite the extra two miles that I added to our run that morning, we had a blast. I wish we lived closer for so many reasons, but running together everyday would be a pretty nice perk too. The miles went by that much quicker with a friend to talk to and push me along. The weather was overcast and cold with a bit of a drizzle and I loved taking in the city as we ran. <br />
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The Troll was pretty cool. It's a giant sculpture constructed underneath a bridge and he's holding a VW Beetle in his left hand. We lucked out to arrive in between waves of tourists and get some fun pictures. Mikael, of course, is kissing the troll because for as long as I've known her she has always posed this way with statues. Just one more reason why I love her. <br />
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Since I had accidentally turned our 6 mile route into an 8 mile one, we decided to take the way back a little easier. We stopped and took silly pictures and walked the last mile back to the hotel. There was a light rain by then and we were chilled to the bone. Time for hot showers and some good food. <br />
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Our next stop was Nordstrom Cafe. I love that Cafe. I almost always order the exact same thing: the mixed berry chicken salad. Love it. And even more than I love the salad I love their cake. The Boston Cream just barely beats the Lemon Coconut. I was so looking forward to enjoying a big slice of birthday cake and was pretty heartbroken to discover that the flagship store didn't serve any cake at all! We had to substitute by sampling a few different dessert bars, which were pretty awesome too, but I was still sad about my cake. <br />
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We walked around the mall and stopped in a few stores. Mikael wanted to go into Brookstone. I didn't really get it until she pulled me over to the massage chairs. She told me she always did this with her mom when they were shopping. I had no idea people did this but we got the last two empty chairs. I was reluctant at first and felt like the sales girl was giving us the stink eye, but I eventually settled in and let the chair work it's magic. We sat and talked some more and relaxed in those massage chairs for at least half an hour. It felt heavenly, especially after all of the walking and running we'd done over the past two days. <br />
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It was rainy and cold and we didn't have anything else planned. We got the crazy idea to go searching for frozen yogurt. Not just the boring mall kind, but the self serve kind where you can pile in tons of flavors and toppings. We used our phones to find a Menchie's a little over a mile away. That didn't seem too bad. Really? What were we thinking? That felt like the longest walk ever in the rain and on busy roads and with our tired feet. But we finally made it and dished up our little cups of frozen goodness. It took awhile before we had the courage to head back out in the rain again, and when we did it was straight back to the hotel.<br />
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That night we were overcome with laziness. Or just exhaustion. We laid on our beds and searched Yelp for the closest possible restaurants. We even started searching for delivery options. We just didn't want to walk anymore. Neither of us felt well and we probably should have just called it a night. Instead we decided on PF Changs. And then we somehow got talked into a three course meal for two. It was WAY more food than either of us could eat and we ended up bringing most of it back in a doggy bag and ate the dessert for breakfast the next morning. <br />
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Luckily we were both feeling revived and refreshed the next day and ready to set out on foot again. We headed back to Pike's Place and picked up some macaroons that we'd spotted at a French bakery on our last visit. I bought a purse, which I have still never used, and has turned into a big joke between Mikael and I. We searched for lunch but really just wanted a salad and so we headed back to Nordstrom Cafe for another round of mixed berry and chicken goodness. <br />
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Finally it was time to pack up and head home. The train station was right across from our hotel, which was super convenient, and took us straight to the airport. It was so sad to say goodbye but we really had such a fabulous and fun time together. It was a much needed break from everyday life for both of us and the only time Mikael and I have spent alone together since parting ways in Provo ten years ago. We snapped a series of goofy selfies together and then said our sad goodbyes. We both had a blast and agreed that it was the best birthday gift to ourselves ever! Probably a little expensive to make a yearly thing, but it definitely needs to happen again soon.<br />
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As much as I loved my trip, I was equally as happy to come home to all of my boys. Charlie was Super Dad and kept the boys busy doing fun stuff all weekend. They went on long scooter rides (to drop off and pick up the car for repair), went to the beach, ate lots of junk food, and had movie night. They started out with Isaac's pick of Volcano vs. Airplane on Netflix but then quickly decided it was too scary and opted for Frozen instead. Good choice! This was their first time seeing it and Luke fell so in love with it that they ended up making a run to Target to buy it on DVD. Anyway, they all had a fun weekend together (except for Cracker who had to get more teeth pulled at the vet), but I think they were glad to have me home. <br />
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The next day was my actual birthday so we celebrated by going out to dinner at El Torito Grill. They always send me a coupon for a free meal on my birthday and I can't pass it up! <br />
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Then Charlie made me this really fantastic chocolate, nutella, and strawberry birthday cake. It is maybe my new favorite cake ever. And this was maybe one of my favorite birthdays ever. Thank you Charlie and Mikael for making it so memorable! <br />
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<br />Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-47698282312716532102014-08-05T23:33:00.002-07:002014-08-07T22:46:48.655-07:00Luke's 3rd BirthdayThe first week of June we celebrated Luke's 3rd birthday. It kind of breaks my heart to see him growing up so much, but at the same time I just love watching him learn and grow and develop such a charming and hilarious little personality. He is such a lovable and funny little guy and has brought so much joy to our family over the past three years.<br />
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Here he is on the night before his big day, showing me he is two little fingers for the last time. And of course clutching onto Blue Mouse and his googins for bedtime. <br />
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He had been eyeing his wrapped gifts for days ahead of time and was just dying to open them all up first thing the next morning. We picked two to open and then we saved the rest for a little later in the day when Isaac got home from school. Charlie had been traveling that week and didn't make it home until the evening, and I thought it would be too cruel to make Luke wait that long. <br />
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In the weeks leading up to his birthday we had several discussions about what gifts he wanted most. His top four requests were: 1) An ice saw, or a "cut the ice" saw as Luke would say. If you've seen the movie Frozen, you know the scene at the beginning where the men are cutting ice and singing the Frozen Heart song. Luke LOVES that part and reenacts it by jabbing the ground with any long object he can find and singing "Huh!... Huh!... Huh!" He reeeeally wanted an ice saw of his own. 2) A pet blue mouse that talks. I mentioned this in my last post. I don't know where he got this idea, but luckily he was pleased as punch with the cat toy that my mom brought when she was visiting. 3) A monster truck with a hat on it. Don't know where he got that idea either, and I couldn't find one (maybe I should have just glued a hat onto a truck, but I didn't). 4) A digger with two shovels on it (a backhoe loader). <br />
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Before we started opening, Isaac & I sang Happy Birthday to Luke. He loved it. <br />
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I was really worried about making his ice saw dreams come true. Toy ice saws do not exist. I decided to go with a chain saw and luckily it was a huge hit! Although he has never once said a word about cutting ice with it. It is strictly for cutting trees. This kid knows his saws.<br />
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I also got him a tool box filled with tools, including a small saw, just in case the chain saw was a flop. He loves the little tools too and has had fun "fixing" all sorts of things around the house. <br />
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His Wood Grandparents sent him a Batman Imaginext play set and some extra figures to go with it. This has been a really fun toy that's gotten lots of use. He especially loves the Batman figure and his motorcycle, and a little plastic penguin (I think it goes with the Penguin villain guy) that Luke calls "Speedy Duck" and takes it in the bath with him on a regular basis. <br />
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He also got his backhoe truck, an Imaginext airplane (because he always wants to take Isaac's), a Disney Planes play set from his Stran Grandparents, and a Switch & Go dinosaur that Isaac picked out for him. He was delighted with all of the new things to play with and was pretty awesome about sharing with Isaac too. (Though he wasn't that happy about Isaac's help in opening all of his gifts.) <br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="375" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/102600775" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> </div>
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<a href="http://vimeo.com/102600775">Luke's 3rd Birthday</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user11540302">Carrie Wood</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</div>
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When Charlie got home we headed out for dinner at Chik-fil-a. Luke's request. I don't think he likes the food that much. It is the playground that has stolen his heart. We managed to convince him to eat a few bites of dinner before running off to play. <br />
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Back at home it was time for cake! Luke had requested an Oreo cake and was maybe more excited about the cake than his presents. I found a recipe on Pinterest and set to work. It turned out looking pretty awesome, but the cake itself was terrible. Actually the frosting was the bad part. It was WAY too much butter and despite my adding an extra two cups of powdered sugar at the end, it still did not taste sweet. Luke loved it anyway. <br />
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This is why we never bother to hire a photographer for family pictures:<br />
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We sang Happy Birthday....<br />
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And just as we were finishing, Isaac jumped in and blew out Luke's candles! Brother of the year. You better believe there were a lot of tears after that. <br />
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So we lit them up again, and this time Isaac stood back with his sheepish grin and let Luke do his thing.<br />
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Grandma & Grandpa Wood called to talk to the Birthday boy. Luke loves talking on the phone and made sure to show them how old he was that day. <br />
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I'm pretty sure our boys won't always be satisfied with simple family celebrations, but for now I think they are perfect. We had a fun and happy day and Luke was all smiles. We love this little Luke of ours. <br />
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Here's a few fun facts about Luke at three years old:<br />
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<li>His favorite things to eat are chocolate (Nutella) toast, macaroni & cheese, triangle Triscuit crackers, chocolate cat cookies from TJs, strawberry yogurt, ice cream, Oreos, watermelon, strawberries, bananas, Cheerios w/ milk, and cinnamon raison toast from TJs. He has quite the sweet tooth and would eat treats or snacks all day long if I let him. He rarely finishes his food (unless it is a treat), which drives me totally crazy. He also loves to drink (anything but water) and requests drinks all day long. </li>
<li>He loves going to the park and climbing on the playground, going down slides, and having me push him in the swing. He's very particular about his feet getting dirty though and is really bothered about sand in his shoes or any mud that might get stuck on the bottom. </li>
<li>He has been fully potty trained (including bedtime) since 28 months and has only very rarely had an accident. </li>
<li>He loves to find spiders in our house. Who knew we had so many tiny spiders hanging out in the remote corners of our house? He gets SO excited every time he finds one. </li>
<li>Luke is very enthusiastic about pretty much everything in life. His excitement is a bit hilarious and he makes everything more fun. He loves to go anywhere and everywhere. His favorites are the pool and the lagoon, Target to look at the toy aisles, the park, Chik-fil-a, and riding scooters on the road. And he loves taking baths. </li>
<li>His favorite TV shows are Caillou, Cat in that Hat, and Phineas & Ferb (thanks to Isaac). His current favorite movies are Frozen, Despicable Me, and Home Alone. </li>
<li>He is a talker and always has a lot to say. He speaks really well for his age but of course still has a handful of mispronunciations. Some of which I find to be really adorable. He calls the minions from Despicable Me "mingons," Lighting McQueen (another favorite) is "My-a-queen," bananas have always been "banas" until just recently. He has some trouble with his "l's" so he calls himself "Wuke," says "pweese" instead of please and when he wants me to pick him up says "wet me up!" When he needs to use the toilet he always says "I'm supposed to go to the bafroom!" He says those exact words every time. He's recently started using the word "actually." He uses it appropriately for the most part, but it still cracks me up every time. At dinner time he always says (just as we are sitting down) "WAIT! We can't eat yet! We forgot the blessing!" And then he loves to be the one to say it every night. </li>
<li>He loves to play with his Imaginext Rescue City and Batman play sets. He gets all of his guys and acts out all kind of play scenarios using different voices and everything. It is hilarious to watch. For some reason he has become really attached to the only girl figurines that we have: a random Polly Pocket doll that we got in a kids meal once, Kelly - the girl from Handy Manny, and Uniqua from Backyardigans. They are some of his favorites, along with Pablo from Backyardigans, Batman, and the "golden guy" who is just an Imaginext guy with yellow clothes. He also loves it when I help him to build big crazy trucks and flying ships with his Duplos, and he has recently started playing with trains a lot and having me build tracks all around his room. </li>
<li>Whenever I do reading time with Isaac, Luke stays close by because as soon is Isaac is done reading, Luke knows it is time for me to read and he comes running. His favorite book is a Dr. Seuss book called A Fish out of Water. He will sit and listen to that book over and over for as many times as I will read it. </li>
<li>His favorite color is blue, but he also loves anything that is "golden" (yellow).</li>
<li>He really wants to grow bigger. He saw an episode of Caillou where Caillou was told that if he drank his milk that he would grow bigger. Luke has never been a milk drinker, but he has recently started to request it because he wants to grow. He has also taken to standing on tables and chairs and then declaring "I'm bigger!" I'm not sure if he realizes that he's actually on the smaller side for his age. He has just recently started wearing 2T shirts and most of his pants are still 18-24 months. But he is such a cute little thing - I don't really want him to grow. </li>
<li>He sleeps with his two "mouses" every night. Mousey, aka Cookie Monster Mouse, and Blue Mouse - the squeaky cat toy. He also still sleeps with his pacifier "pa" and his baby blankets which we call "googins." When I put him to bed he loves to give me goodnight kisses, which pretty much melt me. He tells me "how about goodnight kisses?" and then proceeds to give me at least a dozen of them before popping the pacifier back in. He's also been telling me lately "Mom, I like you" just randomly throughout the day. I like you too Luke. </li>
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That's kind of a lot. And I could write more. He can sometimes be a little stinker with a lot of attitude, but he is also quite the charmer with an adorable and lovable little personality. He is a joy! Happy Birthday little Luke. </div>
Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-81934156891697871902014-08-04T22:00:00.002-07:002014-08-04T22:00:40.700-07:00The Month of MayI opted not to do the 365 blog this year, thinking that I'd make sure to be extra good about keeping this blog up to date. Well obviously that hasn't happened. But in an attempt to get caught up I thought I'd clump a whole month worth of memories together in this post for now. <br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3d85c6;">Cracker's Birthday</span></h3>
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We consider our dog to be a member of the family, and so of course we have to celebrate his birthday every year. This year he turned 11! He's an old man dog. He's stubborn and grumpy and lazy and yet we love him more than ever. </div>
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He had to have several teeth pulled earlier in the year so we've switched him to soft food which he has been enjoying. Instead of serving him a birthday dinner of table food like we've done in the past, we just stuck with dessert this year. We had an ice cream party and served Cracker up his own little scoop of plain vanilla. (And no he does not normally eat at the table, I'm just a big nerd and wanted to stage a photo op.) </div>
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Our new house looks out onto a somewhat busy road and Cracker loves to be able to sit by the front windows and watch for any danger that might pass by. You know, like a kid on a bike or another dog out for a walk. Then he turns into full on crazy mode and growls and barks his most ferocious barks until he's scared them off. Then he returns to his post to protect us from the next passerby. Unfortunately he is too short to see out any of the front windows unless we give him a lift, so he usually has to rely on his ears to alert him of potential villains. </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3d85c6;">Mother's Day</span></h3>
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For Mother's Day this year Charlie bought me a beach cruiser! We went a week ahead of time to pick it out so that I could choose the color and everything. I was a little hesitant about getting on a bike again. I had only ridden once in the past 20 years (the day Charlie proposed) and that was a wobbly ride! But I actually love my new bike and love riding it. The boys brought their scooters out for my test ride around the cul de sac. We've been on several family bike rides since then and it's so much fun!</div>
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On Mother's Day Charlie made us a nice dinner and then helped the boys to make a dessert pizza. It was a giant brownie topped with a cream cheese icing and all sorts of crazy toppings. It ended up being just a little overboard, but the boys had SO much fun making it, so what's not to love about that? </div>
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I am so grateful for my little family and love the opportunity that I have to be a mother to my crazy, sweet, and handsome boys. </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3d85c6;">The Stran Family</span></h3>
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It is hard for my sister Sandy and I to get our kids together much during the school year since we both have busy schedules and we live 30 miles away from each other (plus traffic). One night when both of our husbands were traveling for work she loaded up her van and brought the cousins out to play. It was a fun and crazy night with six kids exploring the new house and dragging out as many toys as possible. We managed to gather them all together for dinner before setting them loose again. </div>
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My boys have been obsessed with "riding scooters on the road," which means around and around the tree circle in the middle of our cul de sac. It's actually really great because there are never any cars except for our neighbors. It looked kind of like a roller rink with so many kids going in circles that night. </div>
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We finished the night off with ice cream. Cute Emma was so excited to get her own little cone. </div>
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At the end of the month my parents drove down from Utah to help my brother Brian and his girlfriend Sarah with their move. I hadn't seen my brother in nearly two years, so it was great to finally get together - even if it was just for an hour. It was a quick trip for my parents and unfortunately Lisa and her family weren't able to make it, so we were one sibling away from having our whole family together. </div>
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I didn't bring the nice camera and my iphone photos didn't turn out that great, but this is Sarah (Brian's girlfriend), Wendy, and Brian. </div>
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My parents with six of their wiggly grandchildren. </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3d85c6;">Isaac & Luke</span></h3>
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These boys are always up to something! Isaac came in one day with all of his light sabers, Longy the snake, and some of his other "gear" and asked me to take a picture of him. I can't remember now what he was playing (probably either spies or snake hunting or something), but I thought it was funny. </div>
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Luke wanted me to take a picture of him with Mousey. Mousey, also known as Cookie Monster Mouse, was a Christmas gift from my sister Lisa. It's actually a little stuffed hamster, but when Luke opened the present he immediately declared that it was a mouse and he has been in love with it ever since. It's funny what kids get attached to. Anyway, Mousey disappeared for almost a month. I turned the house upside down looking for him and had a new "mouse" sitting in my amazon shopping cart when we finally found the original Mousey zipped up inside one of Isaac's stuffed animals. Isaac! Anyway, Luke was absolutely delighted to have his little friend back and has resumed sleeping with him every night since. </div>
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Luke acquired a second pet mouse when my parents were visiting. My mother had asked me what Luke wanted for his upcoming birthday. He had some pretty funny requests, including "a pet mouse that's blue and talks." Well, never say never because my Mom brought Luke this blue squeaky cat toy and he is over the moon for it! Apparently it's exactly what he wanted. His name is Blue Mouse and he has taken his place right next to Mousey in Luke's bed every night. You can see him sitting atop one of the spires of Luke's block castle in the photo below. </div>
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Luke had to do a make-up OT appointment in the afternoon one day. It wasn't enough time to leave and come back so I brought Isaac's homework along and we sat in the car under a tree with the windows down. It was a beautiful day and Isaac loved sitting up in the front seat. When it was time for reading he stretched out and put his feet up on the dashboard. It was one of the few times in the entire school year that he did all of his work without one bit of complaining. He asked me if we could do homework in the car everyday. I wish we could buddy, but I think with Luke climbing around and honking the horn it probably wouldn't be quite as productive. </div>
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Isaac's school had a Star Wars themed family fund raiser night. They did a good job of selling this event to the kids while at school because Isaac came home in a whirlwind of excitement telling me all about it and begging to go. So of course I bought tickets, and being the mean mom that I am, used them as bribery for a few weeks leading up to the event. It was a fun night filled with Jedi training, Storm Trooper shoot-outs, droid building, and the ultimate light saber battle with Darth Vader. Isaac and Luke both loved, loved, LOVED it. I should have taken more pictures. </div>
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On another day the Kindergarten classes invited all of the parents to come in and read with their children. It was fun for Isaac to be able to show me the journal he'd been writing in and read me some of his entries. Afterwards we all sat at the lunch tables and had snacks. I was also able to volunteer several times throughout the school year and Isaac always loved it when I was there. </div>
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One day while out riding scooters, Luke decided that he needed a rest. So he pulled up to the driveway and just laid down. I guess Isaac thought that seemed like a good idea too because he quickly came and joined him. So though this may look like an epic scooter crash, it's really just a relaxing little break. Silly boys. </div>
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We have a squirrel that frequents our backyard. We have a row of trees lining the fence and we often spot him climbing around in there or running along our fence and sometimes he comes down and explores around the yard. The boys go nuts whenever they see him out the window and usually race outside - because Isaac is convinced that he can catch him. But of course the moment that squirrel hears them open the door he bolts. So one day Isaac & Luke decided to set a squirrel trap. I'm not exactly sure how it was supposed to work, but they were convinced that the stuffed squirrel with a big plate full of food would certainly be enough to lure in the real squirrel. The only one that was ever fooled was Cracker who spotted the decoy out the back window and went berserk. </div>
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A few weeks before Luke's 3rd birthday the school district evaluated him to determine his eligibility for continued services. We knew that he was likely just fine, but went ahead with the evaluation anyway. He got to attend their preschool for three weeks and he loved every second of it. Each morning the teachers would come out with their wagons and a few lucky students would get to ride back to the classroom. Luke loved those wagons. He also loved playing on the new playground and all of the new toys and songs and the teachers. One day they even got to attend an assembly with the Lizard Wizard who brought all kinds of snakes, turtles, frogs, and other creepy crawly things. Luke got to go up on stage and hold a tiny blue frog. I'm a bit sad that he won't actually get to attend ECLC in the fall (Isaac spent three years there and it's a great little school), but of course thrilled to know that he is right on track with all of his milestones now. </div>
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Here's Luke all wrapped up after a bath. We don't typically do baths everyday but we had a long streak where Luke would request baths multiple times a day just so the he could play in the water. So we had a lot of baths and a lot of soaking wet floors. Good thing he is so cute.</div>
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Isaac, all stretched out and ready for bed. Every night we say prayers and I tuck him in and kiss him goodnight, and then he hops right back out of bed and plays in his room until he feels sleepy and asks me to come back and tuck him in all over again. </div>
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One day I came in the family room to find them sitting like bookends on the arms of the couch and watching TV. I'm not sure how this came about as they are usually fighting and sitting on each other in order to claim the couch seat that is closest to the TV. </div>
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After spending a Saturday afternoon at the pool, Isaac came home and wanted to lay in the backyard sun to get warm. Luke loves to do everything that Isaac does, so he sprawled out right next to him. My two little sunbathers. </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3d85c6;">Angel's Game</span> </h3>
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Charlie wanted to take Isaac to an Angels' game. He kept asking if I wanted to come too, but I assured him that I was fine staying home and that it would be too difficult to keep Luke entertained through a whole game. But Charlie bought four tickets anyway, and this is where I will admit that I was wrong. Luke was thrilled to be able to go the baseball game and we all had a really fun night. </div>
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Luke was in awe of the fireworks during the opening part of the game when they introduced all of the players. He called them "rockets" and talked about them for days afterwards. </div>
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We brought snacks from home but every time the vendors walked past our seats shouting about popcorn, candy, and ice cream the boys would beg to have some. We bought them each a cup of those dippin' dots ice cream things. Despite their solemn expressions in this photo, they loved the ice cream. </div>
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Isaac's favorite part of an Angels' game is always when the Rally Monkey comes on the big screen. They show funny video clips with the monkey starring in random scenes from famous movies and then they play the song "Jump Around." So of course Isaac has to jump around too! </div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/102594733" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> </div>
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<a href="http://vimeo.com/102594733">IMG 9993</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user11540302">Carrie Wood</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</div>
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The Angels played the Tampa Rays that night. The game was kind of slow, the Angels were losing, it was late, and the boys were getting tired so we left somewhere around the 7th or 8th inning. In the bottom of the 9th they scored four more runs to win the game! And we missed it. Boo. But we still had a great time and hopefully we can make it to another game before the season ends. </div>
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Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-8328449189989286892014-07-28T22:36:00.000-07:002014-08-07T22:41:09.351-07:00Last Days of SchoolBy the time Regional Center determined that Luke no longer qualified for services, there was only one month left until his third birthday (at which point he would exit their program anyway). They gave us a 30 day exit contract so that he could attend his program at ICEC right up until the day before his birthday. Isaac and I got to go celebrate with him on his last day.<br />
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I warned Isaac that he might need to sit in the back of the room with me so as not to disrupt the class too much, but his old teachers Miss Julie & Miss Coley invited him to come right on up into the circle. And he had no qualms about joining in with all of the 2 year olds for music time. </div>
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Luke got to pick the last song for the day and he chose the "surfing" song. The teachers handed out paper surfboards to all of the kids and they danced and did hand movements while they surfed through the song. You may notice that Isaac's pose is the exact same one he pulled for "surfing" the subway trains of China. </div>
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Next it was time to sing Happy Birthday to Luke. Miss Julie played her guitar while Miss Coley sat with Luke and Isaac helped lead all of the kids. </div>
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And finally Luke got to open his present! Every kid always gets a little backpack on their last day at ICEC. Isaac still has his and uses it as his "spy" backpack, so Luke was really excited to have one too. </div>
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We handed out little gift bags for all of his friends with Hot Wheels cars and Oreos (Luke's picks), and gifts for the teachers. Luke was over the moon about getting his own little cellophane bag with a car and cookies. I tried to get him to take photos with each of his teachers, but the little stinker kept pulling silly faces instead of smiling. Goodbye Miss Coley, Miss Julie, and Miss Nicole! We will miss you. </div>
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We also had to say goodbye to Miss Lise who was Luke's Occupational Therapist. She was so wonderful! Luke loved going to school in Miss Julie's class, but he loved his OT appointments even more. He was always SO excited to see Miss Lise and would quickly tell me "bye Mom!" as soon as she walked into the lobby to get him. They always played fun things like searching for plastic animals stuck in silly putty, spraying the mirrors with water & cleaning them, drawing huge pictures on butcher paper, picking up plastic bugs with tweezers, playing the worms in the apple game, and all sorts of stuff. We will miss her so much! </div>
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I think the Irvine School District had a goal to keep kids in longer than any other school in the country. The last day of school was not until June 25th! By the time that last week rolled around we were all very ready to be done. </div>
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For Isaac's last day all of the Kindergarten classes walked over to Springacre park and had a pizza party. It is a smallish park and it turned into total madness with 80+ Kindergarteners, plus younger siblings, parents, and teachers. We were glad when that part of the day was over. </div>
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Next we walked back to the school and the parents formed a balloon tunnel for all of the graduates to walk through. The students all received graduation hats, diplomas, and candy leis but I was glad that there was not an actual ceremony. It is only Kindergarten after all. </div>
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Here is Isaac with his teacher Mrs. Hurwitz. She was really wonderful this year and very supportive and loving towards Isaac. </div>
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These are two of Isaac's friends, Chris & Ivanna. They were both in a different class, but Chris is in our ward and he and Isaac had several play dates together this year. Ivanna was in Isaac's class last year at ECLC. Isaac's best friend in his class was probably Ivan but he moved back to Russia just before the end of the school year. I also heard a lot about Lilly, and Yusakoo from his class, and he also played with Aiden from another class at recess. </div>
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I don't know where this kid gets his poses. </div>
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We ran home to change and then quickly headed to the lagoon for a big last day of school celebration. I didn't take any photos over there, but the boys had a great time. And they sure are happy to finally enjoy summer! </div>
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Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-1147224235657594692014-07-21T22:28:00.001-07:002014-07-21T22:28:08.639-07:00San Francisco for Memorial DayAbout a week before Memorial Day we planned a somewhat last minute trip to San Francisco. It is one of our favorite cities and we hadn't been there in almost five years. Charlie had some Hyatt points to use up, so we booked a hotel, called up the dog sitter, and headed on our way.<br />
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The drive was super quick and easy, despite it being a holiday weekend. Charlie routed us around the LA traffic and by the time we hit the 5 it was smooth sailing. Only one stop and we made it in about six and a half hours. We stayed at a Hyatt in Emeryville right at the base of the Bay Bridge. The boys' favorite feature of the room was the balcony overlooking the train tracks. Um yeah, a little noisy, but hey it was free. <br />
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After checking in and getting settled a bit we headed out to explore the nearby peninsula and watch the sunset, before going to grab dinner at a local diner. <br />
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The next morning Charlie and I traded off going for runs along the coast line before grabbing breakfast. By mid morning we were in downtown San Francisco meeting up with my friend Amy and her two girls (Paul was busy with home renovations). We met at the cable car turn around on Powell and Market Streets. In all my trips to San Francisco I had never ridden the cable car and we thought it would be fun for the boys too. Well we should have done a little more research because this was the WRONG spot to get on! We waited nearly two hours in line with whiny children (ours, not Amy's), when we could have easily walked one block up and jump right on. We were quite exasperated once we realized this. <br />
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At least it was cool to watch as the cable cars reached the end of their route and were turned around on a giant turntable before loading up again with passengers to head back down to the wharf. (I promise not every photo is of the back of my boys' heads.)<br />
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Charlie bought a few bags of chips from a nearby street vendor to rejuvenate the kids a bit. I was trying to capture a cute shot of Luke and Clara with their orange faces and fingers, but instead ended up with this rather hilarious photo bomb from Isaac. <br />
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I think I always set too high of expectations for photo ops. I imagined us all hanging off the side of the cable car while cruising down a quintessential San Francisco hill with the wind in our hair. But alas we were all jammed <i>inside</i> of the car with barely enough elbow room to get any photos at all! Once I got past my disappointment we all had enjoyable ride. Except for sweet little Rose who wailed the entire time. Her mother reports that the poor girl does the same thing every time she rides in the car. <br />
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Everyone (except for Isaac) agreed to humor my attempt at that imagined cable car photo before we got off. Not quite the picturesque gem I was hoping for - but fun anyway. <br />
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We walked around the wharf for awhile and Amy got Rose settled while Charlie took the boys and Clara on a tour of the old Balclutha pirate ship that was docked at the pier.<br />
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We had lunch at the super crowded Boudin restaurant and then boarded an old fashion trolleybus to take us back into the city where we had parked. Clara and Rose were both ready for naps and I'm pretty sure that ride felt like the longest one ever for Amy as she was trying to hush baby Rose while simultaneously attempting to keep Clara from falling over in sleepiness. <br />
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Thank you Amy for braving the city with your two little ones in order to see us! It is always wonderful to catch up and spend a little time together.<br />
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After parting ways with Amy we did a little bit of shopping and then walked towards China Town. When we told Isaac our intention of visiting China Town he nearly broke down with a sobbing wail "No! Not China again!" (he is just a little dramatic). Though he actually enjoyed many parts of our China trip and had a lot of fun experiences, there were also several things that he did not like about China and he is very quick to let you know about that. Despite his protests, we strolled down a block or two of China Town before moving on.<br />
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I forgot our stroller for this trip. I didn't give much thought to how much we would be walking and just completely forgot to load it in the car before leaving Irvine. By about 2:00 that afternoon my arms were aching from carrying Luke who had zonked out in my arms. It is rare for him to nap, but he was up late the night before and had been walking all morning. We found a City Target and purchased a $14.99 umbrella stroller. Best purchase ever! <br />
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On our way back to the car we passed a restaurant called Super Duper with a sign out front advertising chocolate dipped organic soft serve ice cream cones. That sounded wonderful to me and it was. I also wasn't sad when I had to eat Luke's ice cream cone too since we were unsuccessful in waking him from his deep slumber in the stroller. <br />
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Our last stop for the day was Lombard Street. Once again, we waited in a too long line to get to the top of the street (when we could have cut in from a side street closer to the top). We kept telling the boys how it was such a fun and crazy street to drive on, but once we finally began driving down it they were totally disappointed. Mostly I think because we had to drive so slowly due to the traffic, and also because the tall rows of bushes make it hard to get a good view of the actual road.<br />
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As you can see, Isaac was totally unimpressed. <br />
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They were both much more excited about driving down the big straight hills that they could see all the way down. Those were the "roller coaster" hills. <br />
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We drove the long way back to our hotel in order to go across the Golden Gate Bridge. Luke was disappointed that it wasn't actually golden. (He has adopted the favorite color "golden" from Isaac and labels everything yellow as such.)<br />
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That night we browsed around the local mall and then ended up at a dive Mexican restaurant for dinner. <br />
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The next morning brought us back to the city for more fun. Our first adventure was a Bay cruise that went under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz. The weather was beautiful, but the wind did a number on everyone's hair. And now for the photo overload.<br />
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I loved going under the Golden Gate Bridge. It is really magnificent. I've loved this bridge since I was a little girl - long before ever visiting it in person. My family had a whole collection of jigsaw puzzles (I love puzzles) and my favorite was always the 1,000 piece puzzle of the bridge - despite about 800 of those pieces being all blue ocean and sky. Little did 8 year old Carrie know that the Golden Gate Bridge would someday be the backdrop to her marriage proposal. Really, how could it get any better than that?<br />
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Luke got tired, or bored, or both (he was not asleep). <br />
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We looked into doing a tour of Alcatraz, but the available times were no good and we figured the boys wouldn't have much patience for it. However, Isaac was totally fascinated by The Rock and unloaded his typical question barrage as we sailed around it. <br />
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Once back on land, we walked over to see the Sea Lions at Pier 39. This was possibly Luke's favorite part of the entire trip. I think Luke could have watched those big slippery fellows waddling and splashing around for hours. But we were hungry. <br />
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While heading towards food, we passed a street performer who was swallowing a metal clothing hanger that had been straightened into a long spear. We were initially intrigued but then quickly encircled by a crowd and Isaac was captivated and then we were stuck. So we ended up watching a 20 minute performance and dropping $5 into a hat. I didn't really appreciate all of the innuendos, but the guy was at least fairly entertaining. <br />
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We grabbed a quick lunch of fried shrimp, fish, calamari, and french fries and ate outside on the busy sidewalk. <br />
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Next we hopped on another trolleybus to a cool neighborhood in the SOMA (South of Market) district. Charlie wanted to visit a store called Timbuk2 to get a new laptop bag. Meanwhile I took the boys to play at a nearby park with this cool climbing structure. It ended up being a lot of drama because Isaac really wanted to climb to the top but was too scared to do it and backed down at least a dozen times crying, while Luke had no fear - even though his short little legs kept slipping through the ropes - and he persisted in climbing higher than where I could reach him. Totally exasperating. <br />
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After dragging them away from the play structure we trudged up a very steep hill to reach Alamo Square Park. I kept having to encourage Isaac on the way up, reminding him that this climb was sooo much easier than the Great Wall of China. He wasn't convinced but persevered anyway. I had been bugging Charlie to go see the Painted Ladies, which are the famous row houses from the opening credits of the TV show Full House. He humored me in going there, but upon arrival we were both taken by surprise with the grandeur of the place. <br />
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Alamo Square Park not only offers a phenomenal view of the city, but it's also a lovely park with huge shady trees, sprawling green lawns, charming play grounds, and surrounded by colorful row houses & beautiful architecture. It easily jumped into my top few favorite spots in San Francisco. The boys spent a long time playing on the playground and swings before we wrapped up our day. <br />
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We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Oakland and called it a night. The next morning Charlie & I each got a run in before loading up the car and spending our Memorial Day on the road back home. It was another quick drive and we even had time for a trip to the pool back at home. Thanks to Charlie for planning such a fun and spontaneous little get away! Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-70189407665647367902014-05-28T21:42:00.000-07:002014-05-28T21:42:04.969-07:00China, Part 4 - Back to ShanghaiWe were happy to arrive back in Shanghai. The city is much cleaner and more modern, is much easier to get around and feels a little less foreign than Beijing, so in a small way it felt like coming back home after being away for a few days. <br />
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We used more of Charlie's Hilton points and stayed at another Doubletree here in Pudong. It was spacious and clean and comfortable. After checking in we realized that we hadn't tried out our paper masks yet that our friend Sunny sent before our trip. I had been texting Mikael and she asked if we saw anyone wearing the gas masks. No, only the paper ones. But they did have the full masks available in every hotel that we stayed at.<br />
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After getting settled we headed downstairs to meet Sunny in the lobby. Charlie used to travel to China with his previous company and Sunny was one of his contacts with the factories that he worked with. She has kept in touch and followed our blog and has sent several packages of toys and treats for our boys over the past few years. She lives in Taiwan but had to be in China that week for work and so she taveled to Shanghai for the weekend to meet up with us. <br />
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We visited in the lobby for awhile and then took a cab back to the Lujiazui area, where we had stayed earlier in the week, to have dinner. Xiaolongbao, otherwise known as Shanghai soup dumplings, were the one thing that I had read about and wanted to try. One of the most famous spots for these dumplings is Din Tai Fung, which is actually a Taiwanese chain but to most Westerners the cuisine is still considered to be Chinese. Din Tai Fung has several international locations and I just read that they are opening a restaurant at South Coast Plaza (our local mall) this summer! So much for being an adventurous eater. Ha. Anyway, the restaurant is quite famous and so there was a bit of a wait.<br />
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I spent some time looking over the menu while we waited for our table. Even though there was an English menu, I was glad that we had Sunny along to help guide our choices a bit. Hmm... should we get the sponge gourd or the shark fin? The black fungus or the shredded jelly-fish? <br />
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We ordered a few vegetable dishes to start including spicy cucumbers, sauteed string beens, and some sauteed greens with garlic. We also had shrimp fried rice (which Isaac loved) and some hot tea. <br />
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Next came the dumplings. I don't remember which ones we ended up ordering but I think there was some combination of pork, chicken, and crab. They are cooked in tall bamboo steamer baskets and each layer of the basket had a different type of dumpling. The traditional way of eating these is to bite into the skin and drink the hot soup out first. Then you can dip the remaining dumpling in vinegar and fresh ginger. <br />
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The dumplings were delicious. We told Isaac they were just like the "slimy tacos" (that is what he calls potstickers) that he eats at home. He tried a few of them and gave them one thumb up - which is actually pretty good for Mr. Picky eater Isaac. I don't think Luke ate much of anything but he did drink his fair share of Perrier. We had sweet taro dumplings for dessert which had a lightly sweet sort of thick pasty filling. <br />
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We were able to take the subway back towards our hotel and had just a little bit of a walk from the station. While walking we passed by this street cart selling an assortment of different meats and vegetables on skewers. There was a large grill set up right next to the cart cooking up the food. It actually looked somewhat appetizing, though I wouldn't want to guess what kind of meat they were selling, nor would I ever be brave enough to eat street food in China. <br />
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It turned out to be a bit of a late night for us and Luke was completely zonked out in the stroller. I transferred him to the bed and half changed him to his pajamas, and he didn't even bat an eye. Our boys are pretty light sleepers so this was almost funny to me to see Luke so sound asleep. <br />
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The next morning was Easter Sunday and we were so excited to be able to spend it with the Morgan family. Their church meetings began at 8:30 so we had to hurry that morning to get out the door and begin our journey there. We took the subway and then walked a few more blocks to the building where they meet. Sunny was also able to join us, which was a neat opportunity to be able to share a bit of the gospel with her. Sunny took a nice family Easter photo for us in front of the church building. <br />
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The Chinese government allows for the LDS church to hold services in China but only under certain conditions. Church members are not allowed to proselyte in anyway or to distribute Church materials to Chinese citizens. Church meetings are only open to those holding foreign passports, and a letter is read from the pulpit at the beginning of Sacrament meeting explaining these restrictions. The letter is written by Church officials and quotes the portion of the Twelfth Article of Faith about "obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law." There is a guard near the entrance of the building who ensures that no Chinese citizens enter the meetings. It was all really fascinating. <br />
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The church rents a conference space in an office building for it's Sunday meetings. There are two branches in Shanghai that meet here. Coincidentally the office tower has a steeple on top and this was how Kirsten instructed us to find the building. <br />
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There is an escalator on the outside of the building (you can just barely see it in the bottom right corner of the above photo) that takes you up to the Conference Center doors. The room where Sacrament meeting is held is spacious yet cozy and we really enjoyed being able to attend. We sat with the Morgans and they introduced us to a few other branch members. We knew our boys would have a hard time going to their respective classes in an unfamiliar ward, so we left after Sacrament meeting.<br />
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We went back to our hotel for a bit and stopped by the fake market again before heading over to the Morgan's home for lunch. Their home is in a lovely and peaceful gated neighborhood. The buildings are attached, but the homes are quite spacious inside. They gave us a tour of their beautiful four story home. There were so many interesting feature such as the heated marble floors, the concrete walls, the air purifiers, the extra kitchen for the servants to prepare the meals in, and the seven toilets! Disney gave them an allowance for furnishing the home and Kirsten did a fantastic job choosing everything and decorating. We were seriously impressed. <br />
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It was such a treat to have a traditional American Easter meal and it was some of the best food that we ate all week. Kirsten special ordered a ham, and made cheese potatoes, asparagus (green and white - which is German because Kirsten grew up in Germany and white asparagus is an Easter tradition there), rolls with jam, and strawberry shortcake for dessert. <br />
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After lunch we sat and visited for a bit while the younger kids ran downstairs to play. It was so interesting to hear Ben tell us all about the new Shanghai Disney park that he is helping to build. He is a ride engineer and is part of a team that is building one of the roller coasters for the park. Isaac was having a blast playing foosball with Kate and he also fell in love with her pet hamster Casey. He and Luke both had sweaty heads from playing so hard down there. Isaac is still talking about Casey and how he wants to have a pet hamster of his very own. <br />
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Charlie and Ben were assigned the task of hiding Easter eggs in the green space across the street. Ian, the Morgan's eldest son, deemed himself too old to participate in the hunt but the other five kids were eager to set loose and fill their baskets. <br />
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Little Lucy and Luke took turns dragging Lucy's pink scooter around the hunting grounds. <br />
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Here is the attempted Easter photo of my boys with their sweaty hair. <br />
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While we were outside Kirsten pointed out the garbage collector coming down their street. You may notice that their garbage can is ridiculously small by American standards, but I believe Kirsten said the trash is collected something like three times a day! On a bike. It baffles me how this city can be so enormous with such incredible architecture and infrastructure and yet they are still collecting garbage three times a day on a bike.<br />
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Back inside the kids were happily dumping out the contents of their eggs and gobbling down enough candy to feed a small army. I was so grateful to Kirsten for hosting an egg hunt because it was the only fun Easter thing my kids did this year (I skipped doing baskets and luckily Isaac never even said a word about it). <br />
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I was a little sad to leave the comfort and peace of the Morgans' home to head back into the craziness of the city, but we had promised the boys a trip up to the top of the "Favorite Tower" and we couldn't skip out again a second time. <br />
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In hindsight we realized that Sunday afternoon was probably the absolute worst time to visit one of the top tourist attractions in the city. It wasn't that the line was so long, it was that it didn't move. We seriously stood in the same spot for what seemed like an eternity. The bottleneck was the elevator to go up and apparently the tour groups were granted first priority to the elevators. A bus would come and everyone would go right on up while our line remained at a stand still. It was totally infuriating and we were getting super frustrated by the whole ordeal.<br />
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The family behind us had young children and they kept pushing past us in the line, and then the parents would push past us and just stay there - like totally cutting in line. Yet at the same time they were snapping hundreds of photos of our boys and offering them soda and licks of their daughters' lollipop (which both Isaac and Luke were eager to take - GROSS - though luckily I was able to prevent that from happening). They also had a baby girl with the splint pants who flashed us with way more than we needed to see. Oh seriously, this line was just torture. At first I insisted that Isaac and Luke stay off of the floor and then after an hour or so I just gave up. <br />
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By the time we made it up the elevator Luke had fallen asleep. This was his "Favorite Tower," the thing he'd been begging to do all week, and here he was passed out in my arms. We tried waking him but he was completely out of it. We were also getting worried that the line to go back down might take just as long as the one going up, and we had tickets for a show that evening so we didn't want to get trapped in the tower. <br />
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We hurried along the observation deck and stopped to take in a bit of the view. We opted to skip going all the way up to the very top because the line for the next elevator was just way too long, plus it was so cloudy that we figured there wouldn't be much of a view anyway. It was super crowded and we were feeling a little claustrophobic and impatient. <br />
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The part that I was most eager to see was the glass bottom observation area. I've never had any fear of heights and I thought this feature was awesome. I was hoping to get a cool photo like one of <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=pearl+tower+glass+floor&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=NDaEU6inDITioASx5IK4Cg&ved=0CCcQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=563">these</a>, but Charlie was in a hurry to get out of there so we wouldn't miss our show, and Luke was still sleeping in my arms so I couldn't maneuver my camera to get a good shot. So I did what any loving mother would do and laid Luke down on the glass floor. I thought it would be a great photo if he laid there sleeping, and if not then at least he would wake up and get to enjoy a bit of the tower before we had to head back down. And then I actually felt terrible when he awoke startled and started screaming. Mother of the year. Isaac wanted nothing to do with the glass floor and wouldn't set one foot on it. <br />
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Surprisingly, there was no line at all to get down and we were back on the ground in no time. We stopped to take some photos with the faux Wall before heading on our way.<br />
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It was dusk by the time we got outside and everything was beginning to be lit up. The steps up to the tower had a really cool light show going on. I regret not catching some of this on video because the boys were having so much fun playing here. And I wish we could have stayed a bit longer, but we needed to get going.<br />
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Since we missed the acrobatic show in Beijing we decided to see one in Shanghai instead. The theater was on Nanjing Road in the high end shopping area, and the street was all lit up at night with colorful lights. We got to our seats in plenty of time and I did my best to keep the boys entertained until the show started. I wasn't quite sure what to expect or whether they would last through the whole thing.<br />
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There were some really incredible acts, but I can't say that I was blown away. I think the show in Beijing or the larger theater in Shanghai that is out by the airport maybe have the more extravagant acts. The show we saw was kind of random and included acrobatics as well as a comedy routine, some magic tricks, and a few diabolo (kind of like a spinning top on a string) acts. I was a rebel and snuck a few photos and video clips but they did not turn out great. These two guys did a routine where they lifted and balanced each other in a myriad of crazy positions. In the photo below, the bigger guy is balancing the smaller guy by his head in one raised hand. Wow. Then there was this lady who kept balancing stemmed glasses on her nose until she was eventually carrying a whole pyramid of them, and THEN she started climbing this see-saw ladder thingy. I really couldn't believe it. <br />
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Isaac and Luke both loved the group of guys who did flying leaps and tumbling across the stage through different arrangements of hoops. Luke kept shouting "Woah!" and "Wow!" and giggling in delight. It was pretty fun to watch with him. <br />
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Luke gave Isaac another head massage on the subway ride back to the hotel. Kind of a strange sort of affection but they both seemed to think it was pretty fun. We said goodbye to Sunny, grabbed a very late dinner, and crashed into bed.<br />
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The next morning was our last day in China. Our flight was scheduled to leave that evening at 9:30 pm, but during breakfast we got a message from the airline telling us that our flight had been cancelled and we were rebooked for the next day! We loved our trip, but were not super keen on the idea of being stuck there for an extra day. Charlie was able to call and get us on a different flight for that afternoon leaving around 3:00. So unfortunately that cut our site seeing day short by a lot, but it seemed like the better alternative.<br />
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Kirsten and Driver Lu came to pick us up after breakfast and take us to a few cool spots. Our first stop was the Pet Market. What a crazy place! There were all sorts of birds in cages, but they looked more like wild birds rather than the tropical sort that you normally see as pets in the US. There were tiny turtles and frogs (rainbow frogs? I think they were injected with dye - poor things), hamsters and chinchillas, and tons of different kinds of fish. The most shocking to me were the cicadas and crickets. I had heard of the Chinese fighting crickets before but was surprised at how real this sport is over there. And the cicadas, I don't know, I think they keep them as pets for the sounds they make? But they are so creepy looking to me. Eew, just eew. <br />
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There were these huge buckets full of grub worms that are used to feed various animals. Isaac had no problem walking right up and sticking his finger in. So gross. <br />
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This bird said something that sounded like "What's up?" but I'd be surprised if he was actually speaking English. And he also had an extremely loud squawk that Isaac said sounded like a fire alarm. <br />
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The crickets. There were dozens of shops and tables dedicated to the sale of fighting crickets. This is a legit thing over there. They raise male crickets for fighting and they bet on the fights. They also sell these elaborate little cages and "houses" to keep the crickets in. It's pretty insane but also fascinating. I have no idea how you determine which of these critters is a good fighter...<br />
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After the pet market we walked across the street to the Dongtai Road Antique Market. The whole road was lined with shops selling various collections of "antiques" most of the stuff was not actually antique but just a lot of kitschy souvenirs made to look a little bit old. It was still fun to wander around the stalls and see everything. There were countless buddha and dragon statues, ceramics, toys, fans, foot binding shoes, Mao memorabilia, and pretty much everything else you could imagine. <br />
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The store with old fashioned suitcases was fun to browse through. The boys loved the table full old painted metal vehicles. I had been wanting to buy one of the beautifully painted vases that I'd seen all week and finally decided to get one here - though I'm pretty sure it's not actually an antique, but I don't really care whether it is or not. Charlie picked out a set of colorfully painted little bowls. <br />
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Driver Lu came to pick us up again (so convenient, right?) and then took us over to Tianzifang, which is a kind of trendy neighborhood full of art galleries, cafes, and shops. We walked around for a bit and peeked into some of the stores. We were starting to run low on time and so we didn't stay long here before heading back to the hotel. I was disappointed that we didn't get a chance to visit Fuxing Park where all of the older Chinese people hang out and do ballroom dancing, play games, and do tai chi. <br />
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It was really great to have Kirsten showing us around because we probably wouldn't have thought to visit such unique places if she hadn't taken us, and I loved getting her insider perspective on everything about Shanghai. Thanks Kirsten for being such a great hostess and tour guide! <br />
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Back at the hotel we finished packing up and then grabbed a quick lunch at their restaurant before calling a cab to take us to the airport.<br />
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Nihao China, and zai jian. It was such a fascinating experience. I feel so fortunate to be able to travel as much as we do and to take our boys along on such great adventures. We had a really fantastic trip. <br />
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The flight home felt long but not unbearable. It was made longer by having to stop in Chicago before going on to LAX rather than flying direct as we had originally planned. The boys did great though and everyone managed to get a little bit of sleep. <br />
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And then we were back home dealing with vacation aftermath. I think Luke's bed head the next morning was a good indication of how we were all feeling after that long journey home and a whole lot of jet lag. The time adjustment was much easier going there than coming back and I'd say it took at least ten days before we were all feeling rested and back to a normal routine. <br />
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Then there was the laundry. As Isaac will quickly tell you, China stinks. There is a certain smell that is just pervasive everywhere you go. Everything we brought with us needed to be washed. Nine days times four people = a whole lot of laundry. <br />
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Karl and Janelle were so gracious to offer to come and stay with Cracker while we were away. We had a dog sitter for the first few nights, and then they came and enjoyed a week of vacation in sunny California. Karl came and picked us up at the airport when we arrived.<br />
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And the "Favorite Tower" is still a favorite topic of conversation for Isaac and Luke. Luke even insisted that I help him to build one with his Duplos. I hope that they both have some great memories from this trip. Though Luke will probably have to rely mostly on photos, I hope that Isaac will retain some of it. And someday when he starts learning about things like The Great Wall of China in school, he can say that he's been there! Now that is pretty cool. <br />
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<br />Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-9283358536720564442014-05-19T00:05:00.001-07:002014-05-19T00:05:30.598-07:00China, Part 3 - BeijingAfter leaving the Great Wall, we had a two hour drive back to the city because we were stuck in more traffic. The last 10 miles or so took a whole hour. It was interesting to catch glimpses of different parts of the city as we passed slowly through it. <br />
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This apartment building with so many windows was very representative of the types of apartments we saw all over the city. It seemed the older buildings were not as high whereas the newer ones were all huge concrete towers, with SO MANY tower cranes everywhere! My boys love tower cranes and they certainly got their fill of them on this trip.</div>
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We eventually made it back to our hotel and took a few minutes to rest before heading out again. We needed to purchase train tickets to get back to Shanghai in a few days. It was really nice at the Mandarin Oriental that they handled everything for us and just delivered train tickets to our room. Not so much at the Doubletree. They did point us in the general direction of the train station but we had a long walk to get there. It didn't look that far on the map, but the city blocks in Beijing were big and everything seemed further than it looked.</div>
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It was interesting to walk the city streets and get a close-up view of everything going on. We walked over a pedestrian bridge and saw this make-shift market below. This is so representative of China. Produce being sold off the back of bicycle trucks, hawkers with various goods spread out on the sidewalks, rows of parked bikes, and there is even a little meat stand at the base of the staircase with an assortment of who knows what kind of meats on kabobs. </div>
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In this next photo there is a group of men in chef uniforms standing together on the sidewalk across the street. It looked like they were having some kind of team huddle before the dinner hour. You can also see all of the white fences that lined many of the major roads we walked down. The far right lane would be sectioned off by these fences, which I assumed was for bike and pedestrian traffic, but we still had to use extreme caution because there were also motorcycles and cars that would randomly appear in these lanes and that seemed just fine by everyone too. There are traffic lights but the motorcycles and bikes don't really follow them, they just go whenever and wherever they want. Sometimes the cars do too. It is really crazy and quite dangerous. </div>
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Beijing was really not pedestrian friendly at all. The sidewalks were so haphazard and the bike/pedestrian/motorcycle/car/whatever it was lane was not much safer than just walking down the middle of the road. We did use the subway but the stops were fewer and farther between than in Shanghai, so it was usually a long walk to get to a station. We tried to hire cabs but on several occasions the driver would look at our destination (written in Chinese - they don't speak any English) and then just refuse to take us there. </div>
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When we finally arrived at the train station Charlie took on the task of buying train tickets from a ticket agent. We had looked online ahead of time to find the train and time that we needed - and it's a good thing because if we had to go off of that giant board up above us we never would have gotten anywhere. There were generally less English speakers in Beijing than in Shanghai. Luckily the metro signs and many of the signs for tourist attractions were written in English as well as Mandarin so we could at least get around that way. I read that much of this was done for the Olympics in 2008. </div>
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We had used up a good chunk of time getting to the station and finally getting tickets, but we were glad to have that taken care of. Luke had fallen asleep in my arms and Isaac was hanging out in the stroller because he was so tired of walking. We were not really close to anything, so we set out on foot again making our way towards the city center. </div>
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We arrived outside of Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City right around dusk. There was really high security in this area and we had to go through a bag check and metal detector before gaining access to the walkways. It felt a little like D.C. with the wide open spaces, political buildings, and museums all around. There was also a lot of white cottony stuff blowing around in the air that we later figured out was some type of tree seed, but the boys thought it was funny when I told them that a giant stuffed animal must have exploded. </div>
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We walked towards Qianmen Street at the south end of the Square. Qianmen is a wide pedestrian shopping street that was rebuilt for the Olympics and is filled with souvenir shops, restaurants, and trolleys that run up and down the street. It was pretty all lit up at night and felt modern and clean compared to most other parts of the city. My photos didn't turn out that great because when we set out for the train station I didn't realize we'd be out all night and didn't bring my camera along. </div>
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After walking for a ways we decided on KFC for dinner. We were really unadventurous with food on this trip. Charlie has been to China several times for business and has eaten in very nice restaurants, but even there he says the food is not that good. It is hard to order because you don't <i>really</i> know what anything is. American Chinese food is very different from actual Chinese food. Now looking back I wish that we had eaten at least one traditional Chinese meal, but while we were out and about it usually felt more important to just find something convenient and that the kids would eat. And they will always eat french fries. </div>
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We don't ever eat KFC at home, but after a very long day (remember we started our morning at the Great Wall) and only munching here and there on snacks, it tasted pretty good. Luke saw a sign in the restaurant advertising ice cream sundaes and started begging to have one. Charlie gave in and Luke was delighted! Isaac stole all of the mini Oreos off of the top of the sundae and Luke ate the rest. Also notice the girl in the pink & white stripes in the top corner of the photo. She sat there and stared at us throughout our entire meal. Like did not take her eyes off of us for even a second. It was creepy. </div>
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After dinner we stopped in a few shops to look around. Luke was once again ambushed by the Chinese wanting to take photos with him. The shop workers really loved him too. </div>
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I realize that this next store was just a giant tourist trap, but it was gorgeous! I loved all of the bright colors and the lanterns and decorations everywhere. We didn't buy anything, but the boys had fun playing with all of the junky little toys and the ladies who worked there. They also loved the display of shiny gold jewelry boxes shaped like various animals. </div>
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At the end of Qianmen Street we stopped to look at our map and decide the best way of getting back to our hotel. It was about three miles away, there were no metro stops nearby, and we'd already had terrible luck that evening with cabs refusing to drive us. Just then we were approached by a couple of guys with rickshaws who were offering us a ride. We knew this would be a little pricier way of getting home but at the moment it seemed like a far better alternative than walking. We negotiated a price (50 yuan per bike, which is about $8) and then off we went! </div>
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We hadn't realized that the rickshaws were motorized and so we were surprised by how fast they were once we got going. I rode with Isaac which was an adventure in itself. He laughed and talked the entire time, talking about a bullet pack and racing the other bikes. It was an exciting ride, that's for sure. The traffic in Beijing is just plain crazy and riding in the open air, zooming around, and hearing all of the horns and city noise was an experience like no other. It felt like we were on the Amazing Race. I kind of loved it, even though it was a bit nerve wracking. Charlie & Luke's bike caught up to us at a stop light and I loved seeing Luke's huge happy smile. He was having the time of his life!</div>
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When we arrived at our hotel the price suddenly changed from 50 yuan per bike to 50 yuan per person! We were totally swindled, but we weren't getting very far with our protests and it wasn't really that much money anyway, so we just paid it and went on our way. The boys were both begging to ride again. </div>
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The next morning we were up and at it again to see the sights of Beijing. We had the bellman at the hotel call a cab for us (which was the only way we were ever able to get a cab in that city) to take us back to the Forbidden City. The drive was slow due to all of the traffic in the city, but SO much easier than walking on those crazy streets. </div>
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Just before entering the security zone around Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City, we passed this sign. Isaac has always been a little obsessed with red circle "No" signs with a line through whatever is not allowed. He always wants to know what they mean. I thought he'd love this one! But instead after we read through (or at least tried to guess) all of the prohibited actions he just got a mad look on his face and declared "This place is mean!" I guess he didn't like the idea of so many rules! </div>
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No dogs. No kites. No roller skating. No balls. No littering. No cars. No sitting on railings. No bicycles. No touching the flowers. No horns. No bicycles with a stick out the back? No raking leaves? No fires. No Chinese symbol (I have no clue what that last one means). </div>
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When approaching the Forbidden City from the southern gate, it is hard to miss the enormous painting of Chairman Mao displayed over the entrance. It is obvious that Mao is revered throughout China and during our visit we saw countless souvenirs of all sorts baring his image. Mao is considered to be the founding father of the People's Republic of China and credited with the modernization of China and building it to a world power. Yet he is also responsible for the deaths of about 77 million Chinese people, and for that reason I find it hard to get behind the whole Mao craze that they've got going on over there. </div>
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This place was crowded! Once inside the outer gate you enter into a large courtyard and there is a long line to purchase tickets to pass through the next gate. Past the ticketed entrance it felt like we were in a moving sea of people, all pushing forward as one large mass through the City. It was weird, because once you pass through the gate it opens up into a massive courtyard but 95% of the people keep moving forward in one direction rather than spreading out to explore. It was just like that insect museum in Shanghai where they were all moving forward almost robotically, with the end as their goal rather than experiencing and enjoying the sights along the way. </div>
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We broke away from the crowd at that point and took a different route through the rest of the Forbidden City. I think we missed some thrones and things that you pass by on the main route, but it felt so much nicer to explore at our own pace and without the mobs of people everywhere. </div>
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The Forbidden City dates back to the early 1400s and was built as the Imperial Palace of the Ming dynasty. Over the next 500 years it served as home to 24 different emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties and was the center of Chinese government. It was known as the "Forbidden City" because it was forbidden to enter within the walls without permission from the emperor. The complex is seriously huge and covers about 180 acres. The buildings are all constructed of wood in traditional Chinese architectural style. The Forbidden City was built over a span of 14 years with over a million workers enlisted in the construction work. I loved the architecture and all of the brightly colored decorative painting, which is all symbolic, but I felt like all of the buildings looked exactly the same. </div>
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The people watching was pretty good here though. We had plenty of requests for pictures with the boys. And by this point I was so jaded with all of the Chinese people taking photos of us, that I didn't hesitate one bit to start taking photos of them. </div>
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I loved seeing this tour group of monks in their robes.</div>
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When I saw this family from afar posing for photos, I assumed they were wearing the traditional clothing for some special occasion. Like to celebrate a family event or something. But just after we passed them I noticed a little store that was renting out the clothing for people to take photos in. It didn't seem so cool anymore after that. </div>
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This next kid almost left me speechless. A woman from California that we met at our hotel had told us about the split pants, but I had yet to see them until now. We had stopped in one of the courtyards for a snack and the family next to us was making a fuss over our boys. Then they sent their young son over to play with Luke & Isaac. Well first thing the boy does is smack Luke in the face. The parents just laughed. Next he puts a death grip on Isaac's hand with his fingernails digging in like claws. Isaac was half laughing and half wincing in pain. Again, the parents laugh. Then the boy runs off and does a squat and we see it... the butt. Now we were the ones laughing. Our boys are totally into potty humor and they absolutely died laughing to see this little bare baby bottom. Perhaps we should have been more discreet, but Charlie and I could not hold back our laughter either at this point. </div>
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These split bottom pants are no joke. Diapers are expensive, so I think starting around a year old, this is how parents potty train in China. And the kids can just squat and go anywhere they want. Here is an <a href="http://www.chinese-traditions-and-culture.com/chinese-toilet-training.html">article</a> that describes it even better. Can you believe it?! This was probably the most shocking thing I saw during our trip. This boy was only the first of many others that we saw. </div>
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So moving on. The gardens of the Forbidden City are near the North gate, opposite of where we entered. I would have liked to have spent more time in the garden area, but it was packed and we were feeling ready to get out of there. </div>
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We exited the Forbidden City out the northern gate and then circled back around the outside of it to head towards Tiananmen Square. There is a huge mote that surrounds the Forbidden City and also thousands of security cameras looming overhead. </div>
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The sidewalk here was lined with beggars sitting every few yards, all with various handicaps and deformities. Some of them were shocking to look at and then I felt really terrible for these people because it seemed to me that they were being exploited. One was singing into a microphone held by his feet, one was painting calligraphy with the stubs of his arms, and others were sitting in strange contorted positions on the ground. Some seemed to have mental disabilities in addition to the physical ones and the whole display was quite disturbing. Isaac was very curious about these people and why they looked so strange and what they were doing, so in a way it was a good teaching opportunity for him to see the struggles that others are faced with and hopefully realize that his life is pretty awesome. </div>
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It was a long walk back to the Tienanmen Square and Isaac kept begging to get in the stroller. This was a constant issue on our trip. Luke mostly wanted to be out of the stroller and walking, but he would either be too slow or too fast and not watch where he was going, so it was much easier to have him riding. But Isaac was always tired of walking and wanting to rest, and often whining that his legs hurt and he couldn't walk anymore. He would jump into the stroller any chance he could get. </div>
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We decided to stop and take a break so we found a grassy area on the edge of the sidewalk and sat down to have a snack. After a few minutes some Chinese people stopped and asked to take a picture with the boys. Then some more stopped. Then more. They would take turns shoving their kids in next to our boys. Then some wanted Charlie and I in the photo too. Before we knew it we were literally surrounded with a crowd of about 30 people with cameras taking pictures of us! It was kind of hilarious and kind of unnerving all at the same time. We were like sitting ducks and they were starting to close in on us. That's when we decided to pack up and get moving! </div>
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We saw very few other American or European tourists while we were there. I'm sure that Beijing sees it's fair share of Americans, but I think that most of the people taking photos of us were tourists themselves from other parts of China. And I'd guess that most Americans don't bring their two year olds to China, so perhaps Luke really was a novelty. In any case, we got a little taste of what it must be like to have the paparazzi following you around! I made this little video because it just makes me laugh. But this still only represents a fraction of the photos that we posed for during the week. </div>
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Tienanmen Square is just that - a square. It's a large city square that spans the area between the Forbidden City, the National Museum of China, Great Hall of the People, and Mao's Mausoleum. (The mausoleum is a huge building containing Mao's embalmed and preserved body that people line up for hours to see. No thank you). </div>
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We didn't spend much time in the square other than to just walk through the middle of it. Neither Isaac nor Luke wanted to walk at this point so we doubled them up in the stroller. That stroller took a lot of abuse on this trip and I'm kind of surprised that it made it home in one piece! </div>
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At the far south end of Tiananmen is the Zhengyangmen Gatehouse. Isaac spotted this building the night before and named it the "Ninja House." As we walked past it I encouraged Isaac to get out of the stroller and do some of his best Ninja moves. He took this request very seriously, and of course Luke wanted to join in too. Luke's moves were all accompanied by a loud "Hoi-ya!" These pictures crack me up. </div>
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And then this lady came and ruined all the fun because she wanted the boys to pose for a picture. The look on Isaac's face says it all! </div>
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After passing through the Ninja gate we made our way to the Hongqiao Pearl Market. It is a huge four story shopping market that sells clothes, toys, souvenirs, bags, shoes, jewelry, etc. We stopped and had McDonald's for lunch before heading inside to shop. </div>
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Each vendor had their own stall or booth where they displayed their goods. We had already been to a "fake" market in Shanghai, but I was still shocked at how many counterfeit products I saw. Shop after shop of fake Ralph Lauren, Tory Burch, Chanel, Burberry, etc. The logos were not convincing enough to look authentic and the quality was obviously lacking which really left me wondering - who buys all of this stuff? As we walked down the rows the vendors would follow us for a few yards asking us "lady, lady, you need a bag?" or "over here, I have cheap price for you!" or "hello, baby, baby, hello - you need a shirt?" (and Isaac would always get SO mad that they were calling him a baby despite our best efforts to explain the translation issues). </div>
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This silk shop was really beautiful, and although they did have an assortment of "Hermes" and a few other brands, they also had hundreds of gorgeous fabrics to tailor make clothing, and a huge assortment of non-labeled silk ties. Charlie bought a few ties here as gifts and for himself. </div>
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While Charlie was shopping the attendants from the nearby stalls gathered to talk and play with Luke. They LOVED him. We stayed here for 20 minutes or so and they made paper airplanes, played games, and swung him around in the air. They of course played with Isaac too, but Luke was seriously such a big hit everywhere we went. </div>
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The third floor was where they had all of the jewelry and the pearls. There were dozens and dozens of stalls with all kinds of pearls, beads, and jewelry. I had no idea which one I should go to, so we just aimlessly picked one and luckily she was very friendly and easy to work with. None of these type of markets in China have fixed prices, so you have to bargain for everything. Normally the first price they quote is five to ten times higher than what you will actually pay. </div>
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When Karl & Janelle visited China a few years ago they bought pearls for all of their daughters in law, and I have really loved mine, so I wanted to have some pearls made for my mother for Mother's Day. The lady showed us various strands of pearls in different sizes, colors, and quality. She showed us how some were more symmetrical than others how some had more even coloring. I eventually chose the set I wanted and then she went to work stringing them on a necklace for me. It was fascinating watching her work as she would string and tie each one so swiftly. I also had her make two jade necklaces for myself and for my mother in law. </div>
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The Pearl Market is right across the street from the Temple of Heaven, but there is a never ending gate all around the Temple of Heaven park, and so we had to walk a long ways before we could finally get inside and purchase tickets. (While walking we passed a grown woman squatting to do her business on the side of the road. Seriously.) </div>
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The Temple of Heaven was probably my favorite place in Beijing. It is like an oasis of greenery in the middle of a polluted concrete city. The Temple complex is a sprawling 660 acres with various buildings, halls, and alters spread throughout. I just loved that it was so full of trees and felt quiet, cool, and peaceful compared to the busy rush of the traffic and city noise outside the Temple walls. </div>
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There were paths leading in every direction, all lined with hundreds of trees. The grass was all fenced off. Every green space I saw in Beijing was fenced off. There were lots of local people there just enjoying leisure activities like walking, biking, playing chess, singing, doing tai chi type exercises, and playing various games. (Some of this can be seen in the video at the end of this post.) </div>
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The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is the most famous in the complex and that is where we went first. When Luke first spotted it's tall round tiered roof he became super excited and asked "Can we go in THAT China?" At some point during the trip he started calling any building with traditional Chinese architecture a "China" and wanted to go inside all of them. </div>
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Unfortunately after climbing the steps and working our way past the crowd to get to the entrance of the "China" we found that it was gated off! Luke and Isaac were both SO angry. It was kind of hilarious because really, what did they think was inside of that "China" anyway? There was a beautifully painted ceiling and pillars and some alters, but it could all pretty much be seen from the doorway. </div>
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They were still super disappointed and I had a hard time getting them to cooperate for any photos after that. We were able to go into the adjacent rectangular hall (or "China") which cheered them up a little, but I think they were just kind of done for the day at this point anyway. </div>
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I took this photo of a tour group on our way out of the park because it was so representative of the hundreds of groups we saw all over Beijing. 99% of the tourists we saw were Chinese, likely coming from cities all over the mainland. There was always a flag for the group to follow (Luke wanted to get his hands on one of those flags in the worst way) and a majority of the groups had hats. This was really funny to me. They were mostly baseball caps or bucket hats and different groups had different colors. This group apparently had reversible faux Burberry bucket hats. Lots of the tourists also wore the paper face masks. </div>
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We left the park around 4:30 and had tickets for an acrobatic show at 7:00. If we were to visit Beijing again I would seriously consider booking a tour (though not the kind with the flags and matching hats) just for the convenience of getting from place to place. It was so hard to get anywhere! From the Temple of Heaven we walked over a mile through the crazy streets to get to a metro station. Then we had to transfer to a few different lines to get to our destination. It was rush hour and the subways were super crowded. </div>
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We had to wait for several trains before getting a chance to squeeze onto one. We were literally packed like sardines on the train. I held Luke so he wouldn't get trampled but poor Isaac was down low where I'm sure it was even more miserable. On the bright side, we didn't have to worry about holding on because we were packed so tightly that there was no where to fall. </div>
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While riding one of these trains Charlie started getting text messages from an unknown number about our show being cancelled. Seriously? They wanted us to come to the 5:00 show instead but there was no way we would make it in time, or to go to the 7:00 opera. Our kids would not sit through an opera. No way. We still had to go to the theater anyway so that we could at least get a refund. The guy there that had been texting us was super apologetic and refunded our money. They ended up selling out the entire 1,300 seat theater to an Amway convention. Thanks a lot! We were pretty annoyed because we had wasted almost two hours and a lot of hassle getting there, and at that point it was too late to go to any other show (there are several throughout the city). There were other sites that we missed seeing too because we had set aside time for this show. Argh. The only redeeming thing was that the theater guy offered to drive us back to our hotel in his personal car. I have no idea why he was so nice, but it was very much appreciated because the walk back would have been long and difficult. </div>
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By the time we got back to the hotel we were all exhausted from a long day of walking. We were hungry and hoping we could find decent food without walking much further. Charlie started searching on his phone and noticed a Papa John's Pizza that appeared to be right next to our hotel. How could we have missed this before? Well because though the sign is the same shape, the Chinese characters made it mostly unrecognizable unless you knew what you were looking for. </div>
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Again, Papa John's is something we rarely eat at home but the Chinese version was not too bad. Mostly we were just really glad that we didn't have to walk anymore! I kind of regret that we were so lame and unadventurous with our food choices in China. But then again, it was kinda nice to just have something edible and that the kids would eat without any drama. </div>
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After dinner we stopped in the mall/supermarket that was connected to our hotel to pick up some snacks for the train ride back to Shanghai the next day. There was a decent selection of American products, but it was also fun to look at the weird Chinese stuff too. This photo was taken right as I told Isaac that the package he was holding was duck brains and he tossed it back into the bin in shock (I have no idea what was really in there, but it certainly didn't look very appetizing). </div>
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This is the view from our hotel window the next morning. Just miles and miles of concrete high rises and a gray sky that was either cloudy or dirty or both. I never saw blue sky in Beijing, it was just varying shades of drab grayish brown. I could see the sun at midday but it was masked by a thick layer of haze. </div>
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We had a hotel breakfast before heading out. We mostly ate fresh fruit, pancakes, and eggs though there were other more ethnic options available - they didn't seem very appetizing, especially at the breakfast hour.</div>
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We took a cab to the train station and set off on our way back to Shanghai. I think the boys were happy to be relaxing instead of walking. They watched Frozen together, played with the iPad, ate snacks and played with some toys. I have to mention that Luke is in love with the movie Frozen. His favorite part is when the big snow monster throws Olaf into a snow drift and Olaf yells "Watch out for the butt!" Luke repeats this line over and over and laughs hysterically at himself. Isaac's favorite part is when they are cutting the ice at the very beginning of the movie. Luke loves the ice part too and currently has his heart set on an ice saw of his very own for his upcoming third birthday. This kid kills me. </div>
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Here's something you won't find in the US. In China they have hot water dispensers all over the place. They were in the train station and on the train and in other public areas. Hot tea and noodle bowls are staples of the Chinese diet and so boiling water is conveniently available in many places. This woman was adding water to her cup of noodles on the train. </div>
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And here is one last shot of Luke with his messy Oreo face. He can't stand to have even the tiniest crumb on his hands or on his clothes but he thinks it is hilarious to have a messy face and always puts up a fight when I try to clean it. </div>
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Farewell Beijing. It was a fascinating experience. There were so many other things that I would have liked to see and do, but they will have to wait for a future visit. To wrap it up, here is a collection of video clips that I took during our few days there. Nothing fancy and I wish I had filmed a little more, but these are fun little glimpses of our visit. </div>
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Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-62927426866522840542014-05-08T00:25:00.002-07:002014-05-26T21:47:10.444-07:00China, Part 2 - The Great Wall of ChinaThough I still have a long list of places that I hope to visit in my lifetime, there may be few that can compare to the marvel of The Great Wall of China. It was a thrilling experience to walk upon such an enormous piece of history and to ponder the work that went into building it. It was easily my favorite part of the entire trip and one of the coolest things I've ever done. <br />
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We hired a driver for the day who picked us up at our hotel and drove us to the Wall. We chose to visit the section at Mutianyu, which is a little farther out but also less crowded, and provides the longest restored stretch of wall for walking. Most of the tours go to Badaling and we wanted to escape the crowds and to visit at our own pace rather than going with a tour, so this worked out perfectly for us. <br />
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We were disappointed when we woke up to a rainy morning in Beijing, but the skies started to clear a bit on our two hour drive out of the city. It is only about 45 miles, but the traffic in Beijing is horrendous and so it took at least an hour just to clear that. There is no requirement for car seats in China and it wouldn't have made sense for us to bring them anyway. We did insist that the boys stay seated, but the seat belts in the cabs were usually tucked away under the seats. So the boys had a lot of fun playing musical chairs during the car ride and taking turns to go sit with Dad up front. Luke is showing off his orange fingers from some cheese flavored snacks in the photo below. <br />
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We finally pulled off the highway and drove through some small and rather run down towns. Isaac commented "This looks like where the Dollar Store is." That had Charlie and I both laughing. There is no Dollar Store in Irvine, but I have on a few occasions taken Isaac to a dollar store in a not so nice part of Costa Mesa. I assume that was what he was referring too. <br />
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We drove on for a little ways and then up into the hills before stopping in a large parking lot filled with buses, vans, and hired cars. Our driver spoke very little English (or maybe none at all) but it was understood that he would wait there for us for a few hours, and that's just what he did. It was still quite overcast, but from the parking lot I could just barely make out the outline of the wall high above us on the mountain which was enough to make my heart flutter just a bit.<br />
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Of course the first thing you see walking out of the parking lot are all of the souvenir shops that line the pathway. Isaac was eager to start shopping when he saw all of the swords, nunchucks, and dragon statues being sold but we managed to coax him away for the time being. We purchased tickets for entry to the Great Wall and also chose to buy tickets for the cable car going up and down. You can climb steps up the mountain to reach the Wall but it is a pretty good hike.<br />
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The cable car ended up being Luke's absolute favorite part of our whole vacation. He is still talking about it and asking when we can go back. Since the top of the mountain was mostly clouded over, I didn't realize how high up it really was until we got going. I'm glad that we didn't choose to walk with the boys. <br />
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And then finally we were there! Almost. The cable car drops you off at a landing with an overlook and a few signs, and from there you climb a short staircase with uneven and very tall steps, and duck under an archway that puts you onto the Wall. <br />
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So there we were on top of The Great Wall of China! Holy cow. That's when my heart started racing and I was so eager to soak it all in but also to start snapping a million photos. I did plenty of both. <br />
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We weren't completely sure what to expect as far as weather, crowds, terrain, etc. and since we had gone without a guide, it was really up to us to explore however we wanted. So we set off walking. <br />
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A distinctive feature of the Mutianyu Wall is the high density of watchtowers. There are 22 of them on this section which is less than a mile and a half long. Each tower was slightly different. Some had steps leading directly up, and others were more like a fortress that you could walk inside of, and then go up to the top.<br />
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For this tower we had to climb a narrow set of about 8 very steep steps to get onto the roof. The steps were broken and crumbling and visitors were working together to pull each other up to the top. <br />
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The further we walked, the less crowded it got. I was absolutely in love with this place. I was initially disappointed about the overcast weather because it obstructed our view, but then I felt that the clouds added to the feeling of mystique and wonder. <br />
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The Wall at Mutianyu was originally built in the mid 6th-century (various sources give different date ranges but it was around the 550s) and then restored during the Ming Dynasty from 1368-1644. This section is less than a mile and a half long, and then it connects to unrestored and crumbling sections on either end. The most recent restoration was in the 1980s but it appears that the majority of Mutianyu is the original construction. <br />
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Mutianyu is easily walkable but the pathway is somewhat haphazard, going from very flat shallow steps, to tall and steep steps, then flat, or a sloping hill with various crumbled or missing stones all along the way. The direction we were headed was generally up hill. <br />
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We had been walking for awhile and enjoying every bit of it. The boys were in good spirits and were being good walkers, though Luke occasionally asked to be carried by Mom or Dad for a ways. Through the mist we could see a tiny spot of red, which was a Coca Cola umbrella at a watchtower in the distance. We made that spot our original destination goal. <br />
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As our red umbrella started getting closer, Charlie & I set our sights on a higher destination. But we didn't break the news to Isaac just yet. He was still having fun but starting to tire. I love these photos of Isaac & Luke together. <br />
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When we finally reached the red umbrella watch tower, we bought some ridiculously over priced refreshment to keep us going just a little further. Okay really the walk was easy up to this point, but the hill coming up was rather steep and Isaac is one who needs lots of encouragement. A few Oreos were enough to get him started at least. <br />
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We rested here for awhile and gave the paparazzi a chance to catch up with Luke. <br />
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Then it was on to the summit! Charlie took Luke on his shoulders, which I'm sure was a workout since I got a little breathless myself at times while going up. I got to be the cheerleader for Isaac. He quickly started complaining that his legs were too tired, and so we started counting steps. I told him he could rest after every 50 steps. <br />
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Isaac needed a lot of encouragement, and it turned out a few other visitors needed it too. I was feeling inspired by the book I'd been reading (Follow the River) and the heroine who is just so courageous and brave and keeps going despite countless setbacks and difficulties. It made this staircase seem easy in comparison to her journey and I was full of enthusiasm. I started cheering on some older American gentlemen who were getting ready to turn back. Could you really come all this way to China, to The Great Wall, to halfway up these stairs, and then turn around? No! We were so close to the top! <br />
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To get onto that lofty watch tower, there is a fairly arduous set of steps to ascend. My legs were starting to feel a bit shaky at this point from all of the climbing, but we were almost there. <br />
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It was exciting to reach the summit, but I must say I was still tempted to go further. Charlie and I both agreed that if we had visited without our children we would have loved to hike for a full day or two along different portions of the wall. But since Isaac's legs were about to "fall off" at any moment, this would have to be our stopping point. <br />
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We rested for awhile and took some photos with the Chinese flag. As you can see in the background, the next portion of the wall required even more climbing and when I suggested it to Isaac he nearly burst into tears. He can be very dramatic. <br />
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What goes up must come down and it was now time for us to begin our descent. That last staircase felt even more precarious going down and Isaac started getting very nervous about falling. We stopped for rests on the way down too. I think he was just done at this point, but we still had a long way to go to get back to our driver. <br />
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By the time we made it back down to the red umbrella, my calf muscles were starting to twitch a little from the climb. Here's a look back at that very tall staircase. I was really proud of Isaac for making it all the way to the top when I know it was hard for him and he didn't really want to do it. <br />
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The weather was finally starting to warm up and clear up a bit, which provided some slightly better views of the Wall sprawled out across the hilltops. The scenery of the surrounding countryside was also really beautiful with may of the trees sprouting their spring green leaves and a few blossoms here and there. <br />
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It is hard to imagine the amount of work that went into building the Great Wall. It stretches across more than 13,000 miles of Chinese countryside. That's about four times the length of the entire United States from Oregon to Maine! Incredible. It represents decades of hard work by thousands of people carrying heavy bricks and blocks of granite up the mountainsides. The Mutianyu Wall is between 23-26 ft high at different points and 12-15 ft across. There is so much that went into building this incredible structure and it was awe inspiring to walk along it and ponder the history of it all. <br />
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Now that the mist had cleared, we could look back up at the mountain we had climbed and see that we didn't quite reach the top after all because it goes on for a little ways after the tower. The restored section ends just about 200 meters from there, and I am still kind of kicking myself that we didn't press on a little further. Next time. <br />
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Luke had to take a break to do some push-ups and frog jumps. And he also had to stop a few more times for photos with the Chinese. Luke was always their first choice for photos and then Isaac. Maybe because Luke is younger? And whenever people had a child of their own, they always made sure to have them pose together with our boys. <br />
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As we were getting nearer to the cable car entrance I became concerned that I hadn't taken enough photos (which can obviously be disproved by the number of them contained in this post). And I was worried that I didn't have a good one of myself on the Wall yet. So I handed the camera to Charlie and instructed him to take more photos of me walking with the boys (how very vain of me - I know). <br />
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The boys had been good sports about our adventure, but they were eager to get back on the cable car. I was sad to leave. We got a better view of the Wall going down since the weather was clearer. There was also an option to take a toboggan slide back down to the base, and we got a few peeks of that too as we were descending. </div>
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As part of the encouragement to keep Isaac going on the Wall, Charlie had promised him his choice of any souvenir he wanted when we got back to the bottom. He had his heart set on nunchucks and so that is what he got. Of course Luke had to have some too. These things make me cringe, but surprisingly our little Ninjas have yet to cause any damage with them since returning home. <br />
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We did a little more souvenir shopping and bought some t-shirts, and embroidered artwork. Isaac got a black t-shirt with golden dragon on it that he calls his "Ninja" shirt and I think he loves it even more than the nunchucks. He changed into it as soon as we got back to the hotel that evening and since we've been home he often changes after school so that he can wear his shirt again and again. <br />
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We made a bathroom stop before walking back to find our driver in the parking lot. The women's bathroom had these useful signs on the stall doors. The sign on the left indicates the presence of an actual toilet (there were only 3 or 4 in a room full of at least two dozen stalls), while the door on the right is home to the squatty potty. Helpful, right? <br />
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The Great Wall of China was spectacular. It's something I have always wanted to see, and something I will surely never forget. I hope that we have the opportunity to go back again someday. There is also a Great Wall of China marathon. Hmmm.... It's kind of fun to think about. </div>
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Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-90592045890048491212014-05-04T22:52:00.001-07:002014-05-26T21:42:29.883-07:00China, Part 1 - Shanghai<div>
Can you believe we went to China? I can still hardly believe it myself. I've had several people ask me "Why China?" and the short answer is "Why not?" I have always had a pretty serious case of wanderlust, so to me it seems like a no brainer to visit such a far off and fascinating country, but I suppose I can also understand that this isn't everybody's cup of tea. </div>
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We have been fortunate to take so many fantastic vacations using Charlie's airline miles. As we were planning our trip for this year we had to consider Isaac's school schedule. Spring break was looking like the ideal week for travel, but that also limited us on available destinations since it is harder to use reward miles during such a busy travel time. Forget about Hawaii, the Caribbean, etc. We actually had tickets booked for Curacao but then changed our minds. Charlie has been to China a handful of times for business and is actually not a huge fan of the country, but being the awesome and unselfish husband that he is, he agreed to go back again with me and the boys. It felt like a good time to go while our kids are at pretty manageable ages (no babies). We also have some friends from our ward who are currently living in Shanghai and seeing Kirsten's Instagram posts over the past several months had really piqued my interest in the country. </div>
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I've decided to break down the trip into a few different posts, so as not to overwhelm anyone - including myself. We flew into Shanghai and spent a couple of days there, before taking the high speed bullet train to Beijing. We visited The Great Wall of China (by far our favorite thing) and spent another day seeing the sights in Beijing before taking the train back to Shanghai for a few more days. <br />
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We left LAX at about 2:00 pm on a Sunday afternoon and arrived in Shanghai around 7:00 pm on Monday evening. It is about a 13 hour flight and a 15 hour time difference. I had assumed that the boys would sleep for a good portion of it, but one thing that I failed to realize ahead of time was that it would never get dark outside while we were on the plane. We were flying backwards across the International Date Line. So at 1:00 am PST Luke was still wide awake and very intent on opening up the window to show me that it was still light outside. He did eventually sleep and overall it was a pretty easy flight, all things considered. </div>
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We took a cab from the airport to our hotel in the Lujiazui area of Shanghai. The cab ride seemed to take forever - partly because our driver was going about 5 mph and repeatedly telling us "un-fah-mil-yah" while traffic was speeding past us. We had the address written in Chinese for him, but it is a fairly new hotel and a bit removed from the other hotels in the area and he apparently had no idea where he was going. </div>
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We eventually made it to the Mandarin Oriental. It was a gorgeous hotel and we had a phenomenal view of the Pearl Tower and the Huangpu River from our room. The service was also incredible and every member of the staff knew us by name for the duration of our stay. I have no idea how. They must have hidden cameras at check in and then quiz the employees on all of the current guests.<br />
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After taking in the view the boys were super excited to try out the big bowl shaped bath tub before turning in for the night. </div>
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We were up bright and early the next morning and eager to see the sights of Shanghai. We had breakfast at the hotel and then set out on foot to explore. <br />
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A funny quote from Isaac while we were staying at the Mandarin Oriental, he said "Mom I love this place - there are so many butlers here!" I don't know how he learned the word butler but he uses it to mean any type of servant, and he loved the idea of so many people waiting on us in China. He has no idea what a good life he has! </div>
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We walked along the river on the Pudong side and then took an electric gondola ride through an underwater tunnel over to The Bund. We had read about the Sightseeing Tunnel ahead of time and thought it might be fun for the boys. It was a weird laser light show with some strange dialogue that I couldn't really understand and some random blow up waving people in the middle of the track. Totally bizarre and kitschy but Isaac and Luke thought it was cool (though Luke was scared of the blow up people - they were kind of creepy). <br />
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The Bund is the waterfront area on the west side of the river. This side, also known a the Puxi side, is the older area of Shanghai. The Bund is lined with classical architecture on one side, and a fantastic view of the modern sky scrapers across the river on the Pudong side. We walked for a ways and stopped to have some snacks (brought from home). The weather was gorgeous that day and I really didn't realize at that point how rare the mostly clear blue sky was. <br />
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Next we turned and walked down Nanjing Road which is the main shopping street. It is a wide pedestrian road and I imagine that in the evening or on weekends it is completely packed. It is said to be one of the busiest shopping areas in the world and at night it is lit up like Times Square. <br />
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I had to stop and use the bathroom. I was forewarned about the "squatty potties" and the need to bring your own toilet paper, so I was prepared. But the concept was still just crazy to me. This may have actually been the cleanest restroom that I used. Most of them were utterly disgusting and I eventually started limiting my water intake so that I could avoid the public restrooms. The smell was usually overwhelming, no one washes their hands, and the floors are splattered and filthy. Even inside relatively clean restaurants and stores, the bathrooms were almost never kept up (they were worse in Beijing than in Shanghai). </div>
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Nanjing Road leads into People's Square which is the city center of Shanghai. It is home to People's Park and several museums and government buildings. The boys were excited to be headed to a park, though I think they had their hopes up for a playground with swings and slides, and this was not that sort of a park at all. After awhile Luke started begging to go on the carousel. I told him "sure you can go if there is one, but I don't think there is" - having no idea that there actually was a small amusement park in the middle of the park. As soon as they spotted it they both cheered right up and Luke exclaimed "The carousel! It IS here! See Mom?!" </div>
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Charlie told them they could each pick a ride. Luke obviously chose the carousel and Isaac chose the rocket ride. He was delighted to have a gun to blast the other rockets with. <br />
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We knew to expect Chinese people wanting to take photos with our children. We mostly found it amusing and wanted to be polite. We encouraged the boys to cooperate - though I can rarely get them to hold still and smile for my own photos. Anyway, I taught Luke to hold up his two fingers for all of the photos since the Chinese are all about flashing the peace sign. Luke just likes showing that he is two years old, so he loved holding up his two little fingers. We had no idea on day one just how crazy the photo taking would become... more on that later. </div>
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After the park we walked over to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center which is also part of People's Square. This place is seriously amazing. There are interesting exhibits on every level but the most impressive by far is the enormous scale model of the entire urban city of Shanghai. It was really incredible to see the city all laid out that way and to try and comprehend the vastness of it.</div>
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Shanghai is currently the largest city proper by population in the entire world, with a current population of over 24 million people. Seriously huge. </div>
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This photo shows the Lujiazui area where the famous Oriental Pearl Tower is and also the Shanghai World Financial Center (the one that looks like a bottle opener on top) and the Shanghai Tower which is currently the second tallest building in the world. And this is also where our hotel was. Cool, right?<br />
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I think Charlie and I could have stared at this exhibit for hours but Isaac & Luke were having more fun running circles around it, so it was time to move on. My other favorite thing in this museum was a 360° theater showing a video that takes you through the famous sites of Shanghai. It gives you the feeling of flying through the middle of the city. Also very cool. The boys really liked the full screen driving simulator where you could sit inside a boat and drive around the Shanghai highways (in a boat?). <br />
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Next on our agenda was Yu Garden. We had been walking all day - which I actually love doing because I feel like it is the best way to see a new city - but now it was time for our first subway ride. The boys were both really excited about this. Oh my goodness, where did we get Isaac? He is the craziest kid and also totally hilarious at times. He insisted that he was "surfing" the subway and refused to hold on to the railing in order hold this pose instead.<br />
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Don't ask me where he got the idea that this is a surfing pose. What is with the hand signals? He did this on every subway ride for the whole week. At first we tried to discourage him but he was undeterred and so we just laughed and took pictures instead. <br />
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So the guide books show Yu Garden as this peaceful looking classical Chinese garden complete with the tranquil pond, sweeping tree branches, and quaint buildings with the upturned roof corners. That part of Yu Garden does exist, but you must pass through a maze of shops and restaurants and tourists in order to get to it. We were kind of overwhelmed by the crowds of tourists, and the street vendors swarming us, and the people wanting photos, and all sorts of other craziness. <br />
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I did absolutely love the architecture here and some of the shops were so beautiful and selling all sorts of lovely treasures. Our friend from Taiwan sent each of the boys a red envelope for Chinese New Year with some spending money for our trip. They each chose a decorative kite from this shop. Isaac chose a green dragon and Luke chose a red bat. <br />
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Most of the local food that I saw was unidentifiable, but my best guess was that these were some kind of roasted bird legs. Um, no. Moving on.<br />
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We did eventually make it to the center of the garden but it was so crowded and there was a long line spanning the bridge to get through to whatever there was to see on the other side. We opted to skip it. <br />
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On our way out of the Yu Garden we were ambushed by more vendors placing toys and trinkets in our kids' hands and then asking us for money. We somehow ended up buying two pairs of roller skate wheels that attach to your shoes. Isaac and Luke were both fascinated by the guys they saw skating around everywhere and were begging for their own sets of wheels. They were also convinced that they would be able to glide around the sidewalks with the same ease. Luke was quite angry when his first few attempts landed him right on his bottom. <br />
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After hunting down a McDonald's for a late lunch we made our way to the Maglev (magnetic levitation) train. Isaac and I had read about this train years ago in one of his many train books. He went through a major train obsession for awhile and he used to beg to go ride bullet trains and the high speed magnet train in China. This was literally his dream come true. How many six year olds do you know who get to ride the fastest train in the world?<br />
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The train only runs a distance of 18.6 miles from the airport to a major metro station in Pudong. We could have actually taken the train from the airport when we landed, but we would have still had to get a taxi or ride the metro and then walk in order to get to our hotel. After a long flight and with a lot of bags it was just easier to get straight into a cab. So we went back to ride the train just for the sake of riding it. How could we not? <br />
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The top speed of the train is 431 km/hr or 268 mph. We weren't whipped to our seats with the speed or anything, but it certainly felt fast. Very fast. It was a cool experience and I'm glad we did it. <br />
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More subway shenanigans. In addition to Isaac's surfing, the boys also fought over window seats (even though there was nothing to be seen but a black tunnel), and on several occasions Luke would give Isaac head massages during the ride. I have no idea how these massages came to be, but they both seemed to really enjoy this. <br />
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We headed back to the hotel for just a little bit to grab a bite to eat in our lounge while Charlie secured train tickets for our trip to Beijing the next day. Luke was in love with this little bunny cupcake. This was the only indication of Easter that I saw over the entire course of the week. The concept of Easter doesn't really exist in China, which is terribly sad. <br />
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We quickly headed back out again for the evening and to meet up with our friend Kirsten from Irvine. It felt so crazy to be hanging out with a CA friend all the way over on the other side of the world! We met outside the Lujiazui metro station right across from the Pearl Tower. The boys were in love with that tower and it quickly earned the nickname of the "Favorite Tower." <br />
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Kirsten guided us to some good Western food across the street in the 13 story <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=shanghai+super+brand+mall&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=V2VlU7O7JsProASPtYGIDA&ved=0CCcQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=563">Super Brand Mall</a>. We ate at a place called Sproutworks which had a few different grilled meats and lots of sides to choose from. I just got a plate full of different sides: corn & edamame, a Greek orzo salad, some pesto & asparagus pasta, and endive with apple and blue cheese. After a long day of walking it all tasted pretty good! <br />
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After dinner we split up and Charlie took the boys back to the hotel to go to bed while Kirsten and I headed out for a night on the town. This was seriously the funnest night. First we grabbed some egg tarts from a bakery in the mall (I think she told me these are a Brazilian thing), and then we headed out on the big <a href="http://pudong.ca/attractions/lujiazuitrafficcircle.html">circular elevated walkway</a>. The view from up there of Shanghai at night was really spectacular. <br />
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We had to walk for awhile to get to the massage place but it was well worth it. This was such a fun and amusing experience that I'm sure I will never forget. Kirsten and I went for an hour long foot massage and it only cost like $15. Charlie did this once before in China and told me all about it, but he didn't get to wear the shorts. These pink silk pajama shorts that they had us change into had us totally cracking up. The plastic slippers really completed the look. <br />
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We had a private room with two recliners and a side table with tea for each of us. There was a TV with some random Chinese station playing. First they brought in wooden buckets of boiling hot water with a few flower petals, so that we could soak our feet. While we were soaking, the masseuses had us sit on our foot stools so that they could massage our shoulders and necks. My guy spoke a little bit of English but I don't remember Kirsten's woman saying much of anything. We later realized that she was blind and Kirsten informed me that it's very common to have a blind masseuse in China. It is like a culturally stereotyped job for the blind. Makes sense I guess. <br />
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After the shoulder massage we moved back to our recliners and put our feet up. They wrapped one foot in a steaming hot towel while working on the other and then switched off. These photos are terribly unflattering, but I'm posting them anyway. <br />
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I was totally relaxed by the end of it all and not wanting to get up and walk out into the cold night air. Kirsten walked me back to the metro station where we met and from there I walked about half a mile back to our hotel alone. It was a little after 10:00 and Charlie suddenly started texting me like crazy wondering where I was. I guess he'd fallen asleep and then woke up to realize it was late at night and his wife (with horrible sense of direction) was somewhere out on the streets of Shanghai! But I was totally fine. It just takes so long to get anywhere in that city. I made it back and collapsed into bed. Actually the jet lag going over was very minimal and even the boys slept great every night. But we certainly wore ourselves out with all of the walking and sight seeing that we did most days.<br />
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Wednesday morning we were planning to go up to the top of the "Favorite Tower!" but we awoke to rain and cloudy skies and decided to save it for another day. We ended up going to the Natural Wild Insect Museum instead. Just as we were walking in the front doors of the Museum Isaac turns to us and shouts "OH NO!!! The tour bus!" Haha! This is kind of a family joke that we have. Living in Irvine there are actually quite a few Asian tour buses driving around town and anytime we are headed out to a restaurant or somewhere, Charlie will tell us as we're getting out of the car "Hurry up before the tour bus comes!" Meaning that we don't want to get stuck behind the big crowds. So when a tour bus did actually pull up at our destination Isaac knew that it was bad news. I could only laugh. <br />
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Once inside we saw all kinds of interesting little creatures. Isaac's favorites were the big black scorpion and the bright blue crab. Luke loved the little furry marmosets. <br />
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The tour buses turned out to be a school field trip. There were at least a hundred little kids that looked to be around 5 years old. It was so crazy to watch the way they walked through that museum. There was a woman with a microphone talking super loud and at an incredibly fast pace, whom I assume was narrating the tour. The children walked through in a single file line and glanced at the contents of each aquarium as they passed. They toured the entire museum this way and then they were done. The people of China seem to follow a certain way of thinking. And from what I could tell, they pretty much do exactly as they're told.<br />
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After the museum we were supposed to meet up with Kirsten for a tour of the underground "Fake" Market at the Science & Technology Museum. We had to go back to the hotel to grab cash and ended up taking a cab over, but then had to walk all around the outside of this enormous museum to finally find Kirsten at our meeting spot. It just seriously takes forever to get anywhere in Shanghai. <br />
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Kirsten took us to her favorite jewelry lady and bought me a cool wrap bracelet that she had specially made. I ended up going back later in the week to buy a few more. While we were looking at jewelry the boys discovered a toy store and a few minutes later they were the proud owners of an army tank and a Shanghai taxi. Both have flashing lights and make very loud sounds. <br />
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The market is astonishingly huge and one could easily get lost inside. There are rows upon rows of shops with everything imaginable. Almost all of it is knock off versions of name brand goods. Designer purses, North Face jackets, Beats headphones, etc. <br />
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Kirsten showed us a few more cool shops and then called her driver to come pick us up. Yes, a driver! Best thing ever - especially in a city like that. Her husband works for Disney and they have some pretty nice perks while living abroad for the next few years. So Driver Lu came and picked us up right outside and drove us to lunch at a place called Wagas. We filled up on salads, wraps, pasta, soup, and smoothies. Isaac even ate spaghetti w/ meatballs and we are still teasing him about it because he actually ate and enjoyed something different than his usual five things that he will eat. <br />
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Driver Lu took us back to our hotel and we said goodbye to Kirsten. She was so great to be our hostess and tour guide. It made Shanghai just that much more fun. We hurried to check out of the hotel (a sad goodbye as we truly loved that hotel), and catch a cab to the train station at the airport.<br />
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There are two airports in Shanghai. We flew into the Pudong airport but the train station is at the Hongqiao airport, which is farther out in the city. The traffic in Shanghai can be horrendous and the drive to the airport seemed to take forever. And the city of Shanghai seems to go on forever too. <br />
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The train station was enormous but fairly easy to navigate. Isaac got tired of waiting and made himself comfortable.<br />
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And finally it was time to board the train and head to Beijing. This high speed bullet train is only a couple of years old and is a super convenient and affordable way to get between the two cities. It travels around 180 mph and takes about 4 and a half hours from Shanghai to Beijing with a few stops in between. It felt comfortable, clean and modern. <br />
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One thing that really made an impression on me during our trip was the endless amount of apartment high rises, with tons more being built. There were literally thousands of them! Every where you looked there were clusters of new concrete towers being erected and tower cranes all around. I had imagined that the landscape between the two cities would be mostly rural countryside but I was astounded to see towers popping up all along the way and to pass through cities of millions of people that most of us have never even heard of. The population of China is almost mind boggling. <br />
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The train ride was mostly pleasant and relaxing, but we got a little restless too. The boys watched Frozen and played with the iPad and we still had plenty of snacks from home to munch on. Luke dripped some soda on his shirt and freaked out because he cannot stand to be messy (except for his face - maybe because he can't see it - which he is always refusing to let me clean up), so he went without a shirt for awhile so the drips could dry. I had started a new book on the plane and read for most of the train ride. My mother-in-law gave me this book and I loved it. "Follow the River" by James Alexander Thom. It's about a young woman who is captured by Indians but then escapes and walks over 1,000 miles back to her home in Virginia. It's a true story and simply amazing.<br />
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Luke was SO excited about having his own suitcase for this trip. He talked about it for weeks ahead of time. I kept searching to find the perfect one, but never really found what I was looking for so at the last minute I ordered a cheapie "Planes" one. He was over the moon when it finally arrived and absolutely loved pulling it all around the airports, train stations, and hotels. <br />
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We finally arrived to Beijing around 8:00 pm and took a cab to the Doubletree where we stayed for the next three nights. Charlie talked to the concierge and arranged for a driver to pick us up the next morning and take us to The Great Wall of China. I will save that experience for the next post. <br />
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Here are a few video clips from the first portion of our trip. It's really nothing fancy, just fun little bits of things that I wanted to remember.<br />
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Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-3741347793858073582014-03-08T23:05:00.000-08:002014-03-08T23:05:38.607-08:004th of July in UtahThe 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. I grew to love it even more during the years that I lived in Utah because we always had a fun family gathering with my mother's relatives, and because that time of year is so beautiful in Utah. Fourth of July in Woodbridge is pretty awesome too, but we decided we could spend one year away. <br />
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We left in the evening after Charlie got off work and drove to the Nevada state line. It was nice to break up the drive a bit and to get to Utah earlier the next day than if we had left in the morning. I bought these table trays for the boys to use in the car so that they could eat, play, etc. Isaac loved his and used it a ton, but Luke's car seat was a little too wide for his tray to fit. <br />
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Our room for the night had two queen beds, so Charlie, Isaac, and Cracker shared one and Luke and I shared the other. Luke had a huge smile and thought it was the greatest thing ever to get to sleep in my bed. (We didn't trust Isaac to not kick Luke out - accidentally or intentionally - in the middle of the night.) <br />
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We rented a van for the trip because we always end up bringing so much stuff and it is nice to have space for Cracker instead of having him on my lap the entire time. The back turned into kind of a junk pile, but it was nice to have all of the snacks, toys, movies, etc accessible. <br />
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Before we left I made this map with a sliding van and markers for every hour of our trip. Luke didn't quite grasp the connection between the map and the never ending car trip, but Isaac loved it and was continually asking for updates. <br />
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Okay, so enough about the journey. We finally arrived and the boys were ready to burn some energy! We were excited to see Karl & Janelle's new home that they built in Price. The neighborhood where they bought their land is still developing so there is a lot of open space around them. Their home is beautiful inside and out, but the boys much preferred the "out" part of it. They loved the huge open space to roam and explore, and spent hours digging in the dirt and rocks. <br />
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Soon after we arrived the clouds started rolling in for a summer rainstorm so we corralled the boys back inside. Chris & Carly and their kids came over for dinner and the cousins all had fun playing together and running around in the basement. Here are Isaac and Lucy attempting to take over Grandpa's recliner. <br />
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Janelle set up a little tent for the boys to sleep in, but Luke wouldn't stay in for more than 2 minutes at a time, so he ended up in a pack-n-play. But Isaac loved "camping" every night in the tent. <br />
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I think organized races are really fun but I don't run them very often because I usually can't justify spending the money. Especially for short distances since I run 10k a few times a week on my own anyway. But the Woodbridge 4th of July race is super cheap and I love it because it brings out my competitive side and gets me training a little harder in the months leading up to it. I was a bit disappointed when we agreed to skip it this year to be in Utah, but I still got my 10k in while running the streets of Price with Charlie & Chris. <br />
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The boys spent all morning exploring and digging in the back yard. Cracker loved being able to roam freely too. I thought he looked funny with his ears flying in the wind like airplane wings. <br />
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It didn't take long for Luke & Isaac to notice the construction equipment sitting out behind the neighbor's homes. Luckily Karl & Janelle have very nice neighbors who didn't mind one bit for the boys to climb up inside their bulldozer and push all of the buttons and levers. Luke wanted to do this several times a day and whenever cousin Ginny was over she was always willing to take him out to the "diggers."<br />
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That afternoon we all headed over to the wave pool for some swimming. I don't think I'd been in a wave pool since the summer of 1992 when my friend Amy and I had season passes to Raging Waters. I was kind of shocked by how intense this place was. Holy waves! I guess the idea is to be riding <i>on top</i> of the waves in a big inner tube, but instead I was trying to keep my footing while holding on to Luke in his little floatie. We didn't last too long out there. And Isaac preferred to be bouncing around in the waves with his arm floaties rather than inside a tube, so Janelle was my hero because she stayed out there with him the whole time to make sure he wasn't swallowed up. Everyone had a fun time though, and the waves were only on for a few minutes at a time so there was plenty of peaceful swimming too.<br />
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In the evening everyone gathered at Karl & Janelle's home for dinner. Carly's parents and her grandfather were also visiting from Henderson so they joined us as well. Before our trip I picked up some crazy red, white, and blue accessories for the kids to wear and play with. Ginny and Lucy did a great job getting all decked out. After dinner Karl took the kids out on another Jeep ride (there were several that week), and Cracker got to help eat up one of the leftover ribs. <br />
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The lighting in this photo is bad, but I always like capturing photos of Charlie and his twin brother Chris together. And the view from Karl & Janelle's backyard is gorgeous. <br />
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We didn't have any crazy fireworks to play with, just a few poppers and sparklers but the kids thought those were plenty of fun. <br />
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After doing our own fireworks Janelle brought down her homemade Cherry Garcia ice cream for dessert and we watched a few arial displays off in the distance. <br />
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The next day we piled back into our rental van and drove over the mountain to Utah Valley to spend the day with my family. Isaac and Luke don't see their Stran grandparents as often as the Woods so I was happy that we had time to visit and let the kids play with them. Luke loved getting airplane rides from his Grandpa and Grandma won Isaac over by sitting on the floor playing Ninja Turtles with him. <br />
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After lunch we went over to my Grandma and Grandpa Edwards' house (my mom parents). My Grandpa has had a lot of health scares recently and is recovering from treatment for lymphoma. I was so glad to have a chance to see him and my Grandma too. I love going to their home because it brings back so many happy memories. <br />
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And don't you just love my Grandma's patriotic Muumuu? She has an impressive wardrobe of Muummuus that she has made for herself in all kinds of fabric. Some are the craziest looking things you could imagine, plus there is at least one for every holiday, and something for everyday in between. She wears them everyday unless she is going out somewhere. <br />
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Isaac enjoyed checking out Grandpa's riding lawn mowers that were parked in the garage. I remember taking rides on the back of Grandpa's mower as a little kid and thinking it was the coolest thing ever. Grandma let Isaac play with her electronic game that she had out and he loved that too. <br />
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We had dinner at Applebee's with my parents in American Fork. While we were eating we watched as a huge thunderstorm swept through pouring buckets of rain. We were glad to be safe inside for that! And by the time we were finished, the sun was back and the clouds were gone. <br />
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After dinner we drove up to Ogden where we were meeting Karl & Janelle (and Cracker) and staying the night. They hadn't eaten yet so while they were at dinner we went out for a walk. The boys loved splashing in all of the puddles from the storm and taking turns holding Cracker's leash. <br />
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The next morning we all drove over to the Burdett's house to see our sister-in-law Maren and meet our new twin baby nieces. These little girls have a pretty crazy birth story. Charlie's brother Tyler works for the US Department of Security and he and Maren were in Utah on leave between posts back in October when Maren ended up hospitalized due to complications with her pregnancy. She ended up delivering the girls via C-section at just 25 weeks. They were tiny little miracles, each weighing less than two pounds. It was a long road full of ups and downs before they were finally released from the hospital and able to go home. Meanwhile Tyler had to report for his new post in the country of Georgia, but obviously Maren stayed in Utah and eventually brought the girls home to her parents' house in Ogden. The girls were about 8 months old when we finally had a chance to meet them. <br />
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Isaac surprised me with his interest in the baby cousins. I just love this photo of him showing Melody how to play Angry Birds on the iPad. This was totally unprompted and I thought it was so funny and cute and sweet. <br />
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Luke on the other hand was not interested in the babies, and especially not interested in having his mother hold one of them! I got some brief snuggling in with little Natasha before handing her back to her mother in order to prevent an epic meltdown from Lukester. <br />
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Luke was in a mood that morning and quickly falling apart. I ended up taking him and Cracker across the street to a gorgeous park where we played on the playground and walked down to the lake to see the ducks. Luke was all smiles for that. <br />
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Once we were back at the house and Luke was cheered up a bit, we got together for some family photos. Isaac wanted a chance to hold the babies. Check out his face in the picture of him with Melody. He was SO proud to be holding his baby cousin. And Luke finally warmed up to the girls a bit too, and wanted to hold them (he settled for a head). I'm sure when the girls are a bit older the four of them will have plenty of fun playing together. <br />
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When it was time for us to head back over the mountain to Price, Karl & Janelle offered to take the boys in their car so that Charlie & I could run some errands and do a little bit of shopping. We first made a stop at one of those enormous outdoor/sporting stores, which I can't remember the name of at the moment. Karl wanted to show the boys the fish tanks and guns and all of that other boy kind of stuff. I waited outside with Cracker. <br />
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We eventually made it back to Price and met up with everyone over at Chris & Carly's house for dinner. They had set up the giant make-shift slip and slide on their hill for the kids and everyone had been having tons of fun playing in the backyard. <br />
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There was also a light saber battle that evening back at Charlie's parents house. Luke Skywalker (Isaac) vs. Somebody Evil (Janelle). She is such a good sport. <br />
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The next morning we all attended church at Chris & Carly's ward. Chris is in the bishopric so he got the view from the stand of our children (namely Isaac) behaving badly during Sacrament meeting. We have reverence problems. Anyway, before church I asked Janelle to try taking some family photos of us. They were - as always - kind of a circus act, but I am glad to have them. <br />
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After church it was back to the business of Jeep rides. Luke was totally obsessed with Grandpa's Jeep on this trip. He seriously LOVED riding in the Jeep and would walk around the house all day looking for Karl and then begging for another "beep ride!" I think Karl secretly loved it and they went on at least two rides per day. <br />
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Chris and Carly's family came over for dinner again that night. I tried to catch a photo of these four screen addicts, but Carly decided to play innocent (in her defense I'm sure she is the least attached to her phone). Not that I have any room to point a finger. And apparently the same thing was going on in the other room with the younger generation. <br />
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At least Isaac and Lucy were having some creative fun. They were funny together. They would play really well at times and then a few minutes later be fighting and crying. They are two strong personalities, but I know they love each other and have tons of fun together. <br />
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Here's one last shot of the cousins (minus Asher) before saying goodbye. <br />
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And then the next morning we were off bright and early on our way back home. Oreos and iPads saved the day. Or at least kept Luke busy for a few minutes here and there. The drive home always seems soooo much longer. We had a great trip though and look forward to next summer! <br />
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<br />Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-69324046616377750372014-03-03T23:18:00.001-08:002014-03-08T23:05:34.355-08:00We Spent All Summer at the PoolOne of our favorite things about living in Woodbridge is that we have access to about 25 different pools plus the two lagoons. We take full advantage of these amenities during the summer, and probably did so more during the summer of 2013 than ever before. We were probably at the pool or lagoon between 3 and 5 times each week. Often Charlie would come home from work in the evening and take the boys swimming for an hour or so while I was getting dinner ready. Here's a few of the photos that I took throughout the summer.<br />
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The lagoon is just down the street from our condo and is kind of like a man made beach with a shallow sandy area surrounding the water. When we'd go around 4:00 there was hardly anyone there. <br />
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Sometimes we'd invite friends to go with us. <br />
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Isaac kept the geese away with his water blaster. Luke was always hopeful that he could catch one. <br />
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One of Luke's favorite things to do at the lagoon was to wear his floaty and then belly flop from the sandy area into the pool. <br />
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On Saturdays all four of us would usually spend a few hours at the pool together. The boys always had more fun at the pool when Charlie was there because he'd throw them around and do fun tricks in the water. <br />
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The boys started out the summer a little water shy, but by August they had both turned to little fish. Isaac learned to swim on his own and can navigate the entire pool pretty well. He still likes to wear goggles that cover his nose, but he gained a lot of confidence and even took to jumping off the diving board. He took two weeks of swimming lessons, but he was never interested in learning any technique. He prefers to just play and do his own thing. Luke still likes to paddle around in his floaty but he is also happy to come out and practice swimming too. By the end of the summer he could swim under water (to Charlie or I, or the steps) for about 4 or 5 feet and he'd do it over and over again. He wanted to be like Isaac and jump off the diving board, but was still just a little too nervous to take the plunge. <br />
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Sometimes we'd go with friends to the pool. Sandy and her kids came out to swim a few times. Isaac had a primary class party. My friend Erin came to visit. We went to my friend Jodie's pool and let the boys play in the fountains. </div>
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Isaac & Luke would usually start out in the big pool and then eventually they'd get tired and then sit in the baby pool and play with whatever toys we happened to bring. Or just lay and relax in the lounge chairs. Luke would just get out and in lay in the sun right at the edge of the pool. <br />
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Looking back now at photos from the summer it is super noticeable to me how tan they both got and how light their hair was. Though we are lucky to have nice weather pretty much year round in Southern California, it's not necessarily pool weather. So we're looking forward to summer 2014 and lots more days playing in the water. Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-50305300778104864152014-03-03T22:27:00.000-08:002014-03-08T23:05:29.698-08:00Father's Day and DKB Catalina TripIt is always fun to celebrate Charlie on Father's Day because our boys are really so lucky to have such a fantastic father. <br />
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I made some carnitas with homemade pico de gallo and gaucamole for dinner and chocolate chip cake for dessert. Our family kinda has a thing for Mexican food. </div>
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Before bed Charlie gave the boys a ride around the house on his back. He does this fairly often and Isaac always says it is like riding on an AT-AT (from Star Wars). Cracker doesn't like it when we rough house with the boys and always chases them around barking. </div>
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This is totally unrelated, but Charlie's company had a summer party where they spent the day on Catalina Island. I think I stole these pictures from Facebook. I'm sure Charlie will thank me someday for documenting his time at DKB. </div>
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Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-32753423025765462572014-02-26T00:02:00.000-08:002014-02-26T00:02:38.619-08:00Kauai 2013At the end of May we spent a week in paradise on the island of Kauai. This was our fourth visit to the island, but it had also been just over four years since we'd been to Kauai and we were starting to miss it. We made sure to schedule our trip before Luke's birthday - so he got one last free flight in before he turned two. <br />
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As usual, we used Charlie's airline miles to book our flights. We were excited to be on an early morning flight because with the six hour time difference, it was only 11:00 am when we arrived on the island. It was a little too early to check-in at the hotel so after grabbing some lunch we changed into swim suits in the car and headed straight to the beach.<br />
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Poipu Beach is a great family beach because there is a nice shallow area protected by a rock wall, so it's easy for kids to swim and play. There were two Hawaiin monk seals at the beach that day. The seals are endangered and protected by state law, so the beach patrol follows them around and puts up ropes and signs to keep people from getting too close.<br />
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We were all having plenty of fun until Luke stepped on a bee. Poor thing! He got stung right on the bottom of his foot. By that evening he had a big 1/2 inch red swollen stripe across the bottom of his foot and could barely walk. By the next morning the swelling had gone down and Luke didn't seem to be in pain, but the redness lasted the entire week. <br />
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The bee sting pretty much put an end to our beach visit for the day and it was time to check into our hotel anyway. We stayed at a new Wyndham property called Koloa Landing in Poipu. We loved it because we stayed in a condo that was actually bigger square footage wise than our own home back in Irvine! We had a fully loaded kitchen, living room, dining area, two bathrooms, walk-in closet, etc. It was perfect. We especially loved having the kitchen and being able to eat most of our meals in. </div>
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I was really bad at taking pictures on this trip. I mostly used my iphone to take quick snapshots, so I apologize the quality is not that great. I'm kind of kicking myself over that now.</div>
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We woke up the next morning to a full rainbow across the sky and a bunch of <a href="http://kauaiblog.wordpress.com/2013/03/12/kauais-wild-chickens-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/">wild roosters</a> crowing outside our window. Charlie took the boys on a walk around the grounds and down to the ocean while I went out for a run. We took turns running every morning and it was really a treat to run along the coast with such a gorgeous view. I got caught it a pretty crazy downpour one day but then it cleared up and was sunny again a few minutes later. </div>
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We kept our first day pretty low key. We spent the morning at the hotel pool. It was overcast and we had the whole place to ourselves. </div>
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We made trips to Costco and the grocery store to stock up on food for the week and then headed to Kiahuna Beach at the Sheraton. We spent our honeymoon at the Sheraton and so it always brings back happy memories. Luke was tired and grumpy so I sat with him on my lap near the rocks and we watched the ocean splash over our legs and ran our fingers through the wet sand. It was perfect. </div>
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Another great feature of our resort was that they had a huge open grass area with all kinds of sports equipment and courts open for playing. The boys loved running around and playing here every evening. </div>
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On day two we decided to make the drive out to Polihale, or "Barking Sands" beach. This is probably my favorite beach on the island. You have to drive on a long and bumpy dirt road to get there and so the beach is usually pretty empty. Isaac enjoyed making long annoying noises and listening to his voice bounce the whole time we were driving. "AaaaahhhhhaaaAAAHHHaaaaAHaaaaaAHAHaaaa AHaaaaaAAAHHHAaaa..." You get the picture. </div>
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I love this beach because it is the last stretch of sandy shore before the landscape switches to the dramatic cliffs of the Napali coast, which make a stunning backdrop to the beach. </div>
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The waves here are usually pretty mild and the ocean has a gentle slope which makes it easy to wade out with the kids. Isaac was having a blast in the waves here. For years he was terrified of the ocean but ever since his experience body surfing at Crane Beach in Barbados last fall, he is suddenly in love with the ocean. </div>
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The beach was practically empty and we spent the whole morning relaxing and playing. When it was time to leave we suddenly remembered one of the big downsides to this beach. The sand where we were sitting was slightly damp and not too hot, but walking back to the car was torture! The "Barking Sands" are coarse pieces of sand that make a sort of crunching/barking sand as you walk across it and it also becomes incredibly hot the moment the sun touches it. Then when the clouds come, it is instantly cool again. Anyway, we only had our flip flops with us and the sand was burning hot. Charlie and I could barely walk and had to carry the boys and all of our stuff. Then every few yards we would throw down a towel and jump on it to let our feet cool off for a moment before carrying on. </div>
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We drove through Waimea on the way back to our hotel and stopped for lunch at The Shrimp Station for coconut shrimp and fries. </div>
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We had also planned to stop at JoJo's for shave ice but in the same minute that we walked inside, we turned around and walked out. It was packed and also smelled like something we didn't want our boys inhaling. It was a totally different vibe than what we remembered from our previous visits. Luckily there were several other shave ice options along the road. </div>
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We stopped for awhile at our pool before heading back up to the room. We always spent a couple hours in the late afternoon showering and relaxing before either making dinner or going out. And every night we'd go out on the grass to let the boys play for awhile. On this night they chose golf. My dad would be proud. </div>
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Day three was our big driving day because we were headed up to the northern part of the island. The main road going in and out of Poipu is called the Tree Tunnel because it is lined with tall trees on either side that really do make you feel like you are driving through a tunnel. It is gorgeous and one of the things that I simply love about the island. </div>
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Our first stop was the Kilauea Lighthouse. Of all our trips to the island, this was our first time visiting the lighthouse. The views of the coastline below us were really beautiful and we could also see tons of birds. </div>
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The whole area is a Wildlife Refuge and there were several volunteers walking around wanting to tell us all about the dozens of seabirds that we could see flying over the ocean and around the rocks. Isaac was more interested in "shooting" the Red Footed Boobies with his binoculars, than in actually hearing what the volunteers had to say about them, but I tried to help him be polite anyway. Luke just wanted to run so we didn't stay too long. </div>
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After driving through the town of Hanalei, our final destination was Tunnel's beach. Charlie and I discovered this cool snorkeling spot on our honeymoon and make sure to go back every time we visit Kauai. It's not a good swimming beach but it is perfect for snorkeling because the water is calm, shallow, and filled with rocks and coral right along the beach. I always get nervous swimming in the ocean, so I was happy to stay back with the boys while Charlie swam out a ways checking out the fish. But even right at the water's edge, we saw a dozen or so colorful little fish swimming in and out of the rocks and it was fun to show them to the boys. </div>
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It was overcast but warm and relaxing. We ate lunch up on the sand and enjoyed being in a gorgeous paradise. The northern part of Kauai is definitely more green and lush than sunny Poipu where we stay, but the weather is not quite as nice because it rains more often. </div>
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As we were driving back we stopped at a few of the scenic overlooks to take in the views of the valley. The mountains here are one of the wettest spots on earth and every time we've seen them they've been capped with misty rain clouds. This is where a lot of scenes from Jurassic Park were filmed. </div>
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On our way back towards Poipu we stopped at Lydgate State Park for a little bit more swimming. It's not the most picturesque beach, but there is a pool sectioned off by big boulders that makes for a nice calm swimming spot. Isaac made friends with a local boy and they were playing some game where they kept popping their heads in and out of the water. </div>
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That night we had dinner at Pizzetta in Old Koloa Town. The service is always slow, but the food is good and it's the only restaurant we've continued to eat at on every visit. </div>
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After dinner we walked up and down the row of shops in Koloa Town looking at all of the souvenirs and trinkets for sale. Luke was really loving this statue of a Hawaiin man holding a little dog, so of course we had to take a photo of them together. </div>
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Day four was pretty low key. Charlie and I took turns going out for a run, while the boys played out on the balcony and threw Fruit Loops (the vacation cereal of choice) over the railing for the roosters and chickens that were hanging out on the grass below. Luke thought this was hilarious and talked about it for weeks afterwards. <br />
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We headed down to the pool for a few hours. The pool at our resort was really great because there was a pretty big portion of it that was only a foot or so deep for Luke to play in. There was rarely anyone else at the pool so we usually had the whole place to ourselves. <br />
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We spent the afternoon at Poipu Beach. I didn't bring my phone or a camera because it is a busy beach and I knew we'd be leaving our belongings unattended on the sand. We had such a fun afternoon there! We walked out on the sandbar to check out the tide pool area for awhile. There was also another seal that day lounging on the beach. My favorite was when we went to the south side of the beach to swim. Charlie went out to snorkel and I walked out about chest deep with the boys. There was a woman there swimming with her elderly parents and she had brought some kind of fish food to attract the fish for her parents to see. Wow! There were so many fish! They were all beautiful rainbow colors and swimming in swarms all around us. I was standing out there holding Luke and Isaac was swimming around and we got to see so many fish. It was so exciting and fun and Isaac was especially excited to see the Humuhumunukunukuapua fish (Hawaii's state fish - Isaac has a little stuffed one that we bought as a souvenir a few years ago). That was probably one of my favorite memories of the whole trip. <br />
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Back at the room we hooked up our portable DVD player to the big TV in the living room so that the boys could watch movies while we were showering and getting cleaned up.<br />
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We headed out to the big lawn for some softball before dinner. <br />
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Day six we were back on the road again driving around the island. Our first stop was at a big souvenir shop called The Hawaiin Trading Post. It is really not close to anything, but we have stopped there on every trip to take a picture on their fake surf board outside. It is hard to beat this one from 2008 with baby Isaac "waving" on the wave, but we still have to try. <br />
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We looked around inside the shop for awhile too. Isaac and Luke were in love with this cat that they met just inside the front doors. This was quite possibly the world's most patient cat. <br />
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Our next stop was to see Wailua Falls. I believe you can hike down to the bottom of these falls somehow, but that wasn't on the agenda for the day. Especially since Isaac was in kind of a "mood" after Charlie lifted him up to get a better view and Isaac freaked out because he developed a sudden fear of heights. <br />
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The boys were quickly growing impatient of time in the car so we headed to a big park to eat our picnic lunch and let them run and play. There was an enormous wooden playground there and the boys were eager to take off and play.<br />
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It was hot that day and I was getting worn out chasing Luke through all of the many tunnels and up stairs and what not in this big wooden maze, so we convinced the boys that it was time for the beach. We went across the street to Lydgate Beach Park where we had been a few days earlier. <br />
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Once we were back in Poipu we did some more driving around, and even a little bit of off roading, searching for a beach that we had read about in our guide book, but we discovered that it wasn't so easy to access after all. Next we drove out to the end of the main road in Poipu at the point of the island. This was the road that I ran on in the mornings and the view and scenery from up there was gorgeous. We also stopped at the Spouting Horn, but only watched from the gated overlook. Luke would get super excited every time the ocean would spray up out of the rocks. I wish I would have gotten his reaction on video. <br />
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On day seven we spent the morning at our hotel pool. A family that was leaving the island that day came and gave Isaac & Luke a boogie board and some sand toys that they weren't going to take home with them. Our boys were delighted. Isaac took off paddling around with the boogie board and Luke sat scooping and pouring water in the baby pool. </div>
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Isaac also wanted to make sure I photographed the treasure that he discovered at the bottom of the pool. </div>
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After lunch we headed back out to Polihale beach. The long bumpy dirt road is both a blessing and a curse I guess. It keeps all of the other tourists away, but it makes for a rather uncomfortable drive. Isaac treated us to his soundtrack of noise again. Luke somehow slept through all of this. This time we came prepared with shoes instead of flip flops to weather the scorching sands on the way too and from the car. This beach is totally worth the slightly difficult journey. If there was ever a perfect beach day, this was it. </div>
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Isaac played in the waves with his boogie board and a local boy that he met there. </div>
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Charlie helped Luke dig a giant hole in the sand and watched as the waves slowly creeped closer and eventually washed over it. </div>
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We relaxed on the sand, ate snacks, waded in the ocean, and enjoyed every second of being in paradise. I feel very blessed that we are able to take such fantastic family vacations together every year. I hope that our boys will remember them as fondly as I do. </div>
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On the drive back home we passed through a light rainstorm and as it cleared we saw a gorgeous rainbow arching all the way across the sky. I couldn't quite capture it with my phone, but it was seriously amazing because it was so huge and bright with a faint double rainbow right along side. </div>
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That evening we stayed at the hotel and made dinner. We had a frozen pizza, macaroni & cheese, a salad, and mango smoothies. So much easier than going out and everyone was happy. </div>
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Day 8, our last day. Boo hoo. We stopped by Whaler's Village to pick up a picnic lunch and then went back to Kiahuna Beach at the Sheraton and spent the morning there. The waves were a little rougher than they had been earlier in the week but that wasn't stopping Isaac from running in and out of them. He couldn't really get past where they were breaking though so he kept getting knocked down. Luke loved playing in the waves too. He would hold both of my hands and run in and out of the water over and over again waiting for the waves to wash his feet out from under him and then laugh hysterically. <br />
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We snuck in a little pool time in the afternoon but there was some light rain and we ended up back indoors. That night we had dinner at the burger place in Whaler's Village. The boys were super restless and we ended the night letting them run through the courtyard chasing the wild chickens. <br />
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All good things must come to an end and we eventually had to pack up to go home. We had told Isaac all week to look for what souvenir he wanted and that we would buy it at the end of the trip. (Otherwise, like Barbados, we end up buying stuff all week long!) He had decided on a little painted clay sea turtle. So on our way to the airport we stopped once more in Old Koloa Town to get a turtle. And then of course Luke had to have a turtle too. They were both enamored by their new little turtle friends.<br />
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I was hoping to capture a perfect photo of the tree tunnel that I love so much. I had Charlie pull over to the side of the road and I wanted to run to the middle and get a photo, but there was too much traffic and we had to get going. This was the best I got. It's a place that everyone should go and visit in person anyway! <br />
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And then American Airlines took us home. We love Kauai. It is the perfect spot for an easy and relaxing family vacation. I'm sure we'll be back again and again. Aloha, until then! <br />
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And just in case there weren't enough photos in this post, here is a little video I put together with some clips from our trip.<br />
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Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-16209772665487976172014-02-26T00:01:00.000-08:002014-02-26T00:01:28.900-08:00Crazy Dog People, Mother's Day, and the Blimp Hangar Little by little I intend to get this blog caught up and then maybe.... just maybe, I will keep it current! Here are a few happenings from the month of May 2013. <br />
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On May 3rd we celebrated Cracker's 10th birthday. Yes, we are those crazy dog people. We love our furry friend and it's always fun to have something to celebrate, right? Charlie was out of town so the boys and I put on our hats and partied it up with our wiener dog.<br />
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We had breakfast for dinner complete with a nice crispy side of bacon, which is one of Cracker's favorite things to eat. He was pretty excited about his special dinner. (And no he doesn't eat at the table, I just couldn't help myself from staging these awesome photos.) <br />
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Though it's always nice to have a little extra attention and some spoiling on Mother's Day, one of my favorite parts this year was how excited Isaac was to give me the art project that he made at school. He talked about it for days telling me how he'd used my favorite colors, purple & blue. <br />
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All About My Mom<br />
My mom is: 42<br />
The best thing she makes is: little hamburgers<br />
When I am at school my mom: go(es to) look at pretty jewelry<br />
We like to: build Legos together<br />
My mom looks beautiful when: she wears the prettiest jewelry<br />
My mom is special because: I give her tons of kisses at night<br />
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This kind of cracks me up because anyone who knows me knows that I really don't wear much jewelry at all, other than earrings or an occasional necklace. But Isaac is still extremely proud of the necklace that he picked out for me at Christmas time and often requests that I wear it. <br />
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I wanted to take a photo before church with the little loves who have made me a mother. They were more cooperative than usual which was a nice Mother's Day treat. <br />
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Charlie made us nachos for dinner. I love nachos. And one of my greatest guilty pleasures in life is fake nacho cheese. Seriously. But Charlie fancied them up by making homemade pico de gallo, guacamole, beans, and carne asada. Everything was delicious. (Unfortunately Charlie got super sick that night after dinner so I doubt we'll be eating this meal again anytime soon.) <br />
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Charlie also baked a chocolate cake from scratch. Impressive, right? I did help with the frosting though.<br />
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In the evening we went out on a walk together around the lake. I love living in such a beautiful community and am glad that we take full advantage of the trails and outdoor areas. Luke got tired after awhile so Charlie carried him on his shoulders. It looked so funny with Luke hanging on around Charlie's forehead. <br />
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Anyone who lives around here has without a doubt seen the enormous blimp hangars at the Tustin Marine Corps Station. These massive structures have been around since World War II and since they are now retired, the surrounding area has been developed into a shopping center and residential housing. It would be hard not to notice these gigantic buildings that are the backdrop of our local Costco. So when someone in our ward sent around information about an open house at the blimp hangars, I was super excited. Charlie was not interested (party pooper) so I took the boys to go check it out. <br />
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I've always known that the hangars were giant, but walking up close to them put their size into greater perspective. If you look in the photo below you can see the tiny people standing at the base of the doors. And that's another thing that was shocking - the doors! Can you even believe that the whole front of that building is a towering set of sliding doors? Yes, I know I'm a bit of a nerd for getting so excited about this place but after driving past the hangars for the past 9 years or so I was really curious about going inside. <br />
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The purpose of the open house was a community meeting in which developers discussed some of the proposed uses for the surrounding areas and development of the Irvine Great Park. I wasn't totally uninterested in learning more about that, but my boys certainly were. I had no expectations for them sitting through a presentation, but they did stay seated for a few minutes while enjoying their chocolate chip cookies. <br />
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Isaac was disappointed at the lack of blimps inside the hangar. I had warned him this would be the case but I think he was still hoping to find something military related. There was what appeared to be a small blimp and some air tanks down at the far end of the hangar, but we were not permitted to go back there. <br />
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I was fascinated by the inner construction of the hangar because it is made entirely of wood. When looking up at the In fact the hangars are two of the largest wooden structures ever built and are said to contain the largest covered, unobstructed open space in the world. It was impossible to capture the vastness of the interior with my camera. <br />
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We saw several families from our ward there and the boys had plenty of fun running all around. By the time they were ready to start the actual meeting we were ready to go. But before we snuck out the side door, we got to watch as the warning signals buzzed and the giant front doors slid closed. I loved the whole experience and was so glad that we got to go. <br />
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<br />Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-64042931154124862052013-09-28T15:16:00.001-07:002013-09-28T15:16:47.065-07:00Easter Egg HuntWe arrived home from San Diego on Saturday night and Sunday morning was Easter. We decided to celebrate at home this year. The boys were super excited to find their baskets waiting for them in the morning. Luke's favorite thing was the candy and Isaac's favorite was the Ninja Turtle DVD. <div>
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We were kind of party poopers this year because we didn't dye Easter eggs or go to any extra egg hunts. We did spend some time with Isaac talking about Christ's resurrection and the Easter story, and of course we went to church. After church we did our own egg hunt out in our front courtyard. I bought WAY too much candy and ended up with over 70 eggs, which was certainly more than we needed for two little boys. I hid them all anyway. </div>
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When Isaac was a toddler we practiced our egg hunting skills at home before the big day, but we set little Luke loose with no practice (unless you count last year when I carried him around my aunt & uncles' yard). Luke figured it out pretty quickly, but he was no match for Isaac the egg hunting pro. </div>
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Isaac basically took off running and loaded up his basket within just a few minutes. We had to tell him to back off a couple of times and let Luke get some eggs too. None of them were too hard to find, but at the end we did have to guide Isaac to a few that were a little trickier. </div>
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In the end I think Luke only had about a dozen eggs and Isaac had found the rest. Most had candy but a few had little toys and we made sure that things were fairly even in the end. Meaning Charlie & I got our fair share of candy to eat too. </div>
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Happy Easter! </div>
Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-40661173577898009222013-09-27T23:58:00.001-07:002013-09-27T23:58:22.833-07:00San Diego Mini VacationFor Christmas Charlie's brother got us tickets to visit the USS Midway in San Diego. We had been waiting for a good weekend to use them because we decided to make a mini vacation out of it and spend a few days in San Diego. Charlie had Good Friday off of work, so we headed out after he came home on Thursday evening. Isaac discovered some new power poles on the way down, and was excited about practicing the new formations. (Here's the whole <a href="http://woodlife365.blogspot.com/2013/03/march-28-2013.html">story</a> on that.)<br />
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We started our Friday out at the San Diego Zoo. A few weeks before our trip a friend of mine had gone to the zoo and posted some really great animal photos on her blog. Luke was looking at the computer with me and getting super excited about all of the animals. Charlie & I decided right then that we would add the zoo to our itinerary. Unfortunately, Luke wasn't quite as excited about seeing the animals in person as he was about the photos on the computer. I hate to say it, but our trip to the zoo really wasn't much fun at all. Both boys ended up in grumpy moods, the park was crowded, and we had a hard time enjoying any of the exhibits because Luke kept running away and Isaac was too focused on getting to the next big thing (the sky tram, jaguars, and a stuffed snake). I hardly have any photos at all from our zoo trip, and the few I do have are not that great. <br />
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I think both boys had the most fun at one of the first exhibits we stopped at. This orangutan was being super playful and interactive with the kids through the glass. Isaac & Luke were both right up next to her watching her chew on some leaves, and then she started doing cartwheel/somersaults across the grass. <br />
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The first thing that Isaac noticed when we walked into the zoo that morning was the sky tram going across the park. Isaac sometimes has a one track mind and can get a little obsessed about things. He was obsessed with the sky tram and really was not enjoying anything else because he was so focused on getting to the tram. We made some quick stops at a few other exhibits along the way, but we knew we better head to the tram for everybody's sanity.<br />
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The ride didn't start out so great. See that leafy branch that Isaac is holding?<br />
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As soon as we got in the air, Isaac decided to throw the branch overboard onto the line of people waiting below us. He was quickly reprimanded for that and I think was still feeling a little sheepish in this photo.<br />
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Here's Luke and I. <br />
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We made a quick stop to see some giraffes. But now that the tram ride was over, Isaac was eager to see the jaguars. <br />
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With each animal we passed Isaac would ask "are the jaguars next?" He was completely focused on finding the jaguars. So that's where we headed. We only saw one jaguar and he wasn't doing much, but Isaac seemed satisfied. At least for the moment.<br />
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Now on to the next obsession. Charlie had told Isaac that if he was good at the zoo that he could buy a new "pet" before we left. (Isaac calls all of his stuffed animals "pets.") Isaac spotted some stuffed snakes early in the day and now that he had seen the jaguar, he was ready to get his snake and go. At this point nothing would keep his interest for more than about 5 seconds. It was all about the snake. The real snakes were somewhat interesting. But not for long.<br />
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The park was getting seriously packed by this time and we could tell the boys weren't going to last much longer. I was still feeling like we hadn't got our money's worth since we hurried through the whole thing. Well, as fast as we could go with all of the crowds and double decker tour buses crowding the paths, and Luke's short legs (with no stroller). But it was a sunk cost at this point and there was really no reason to drag it out any longer. <br />
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Time for a snake. And the biggest smile we got the whole day. His name is Longey, because he is long. <br />
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We went back to the hotel to calm down and rest for a bit. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt in Downtown San Diego and we had a fantastic view of Sea Port Village and the Harbor below us. The boys loved hanging out by the big window and checking out all of the scenery below. <br />
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Once we were recovered from the zoo we headed back out to Sea Port Village. First stop was Ben & Jerry's for ice cream. <br />
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Charlie & I walked, while Luke & Isaac ran along the harbor for a ways past all of the vendors selling little trinkets and the various entertainers hoping to collect some spare change. When Luke spotted the grassy area with dozens of tropical birds perched on wooden stands he took off running. He & Isaac had been chasing pigeons all over the place, and now they finally found some birds that were not going to fly away. They each took a turn having the parrot perch on their arms. Neither of them were the least bit scared or nervous. They both have always loved animals. <br />
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Charlie & I were most impressed by this guy who was stacking rocks. The towers themselves are cool, but it is the big rocks balancing on the very top that makes the display so impressive. <br />
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We drove down to the outlets that evening and did a little shopping and then had dinner. On Saturday morning Charlie & I each took a turn going for a run. Charlie took the boys to the pool while I was out running but it was still a little too cold out so they came back. Once we were all ready for the day we checked out and headed to the USS Midway.<br />
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The USS Midway is a retired Navy Aircraft Carrier that is now permanently docked in San Diego as a museum and memorial. Isaac was really really excited to visit and to check out all of the fighter jets that are displayed on board. The ship is enormous. As you walk up towards it, it really towers up overhead and is so massive that you forget it is actually a boat and not a huge building. <br />
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We entered into the hangar deck where they had several aircraft on display plus a gift shop and a flight simulator ride. I waited with Luke while Charlie & Isaac rode the flight simulator and then we made our way up to the flight deck. There were tons of small planes, fighter jets and helicopters; some of which you could climb in and sit inside of. I felt bad because I knew that Isaac wanted to learn all about each jet and see everything that there was to see, but Luke wanted to just run from plane to plane.</div>
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Luke loved pretending to drive this little aircraft tug, but I'm pretty sure it was a piece of operational equipment rather than an exhibit, so I figured I'd better coax him off of it. </div>
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Isaac loved being able to climb inside of a fighter jet and sit in the cockpit pretending to be the pilot. <br />
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This photo was taken inside one of the big helicopters with the long bench seats in the back. Isaac was buckled up and ready for take-off. <br />
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It was a gorgeous sunny day but also quite windy. The views up on top were amazing, with the ocean out in front of us and the city sky scrapers behind us. We tried to get a few family photos but the wind - and Luke - were not really cooperating. <br />
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There was a self-guided audio tour that you could go on with a headset, but we skipped that because we knew we'd have to be moving a little faster if we wanted to see everything before the inevitable Luke meltdown. We were just getting to the interior workings of the ship and Luke was starting to fall apart. It was day two without a nap and we knew we didn't have much time left. Charlie hurried through with Luke while Isaac and I took a little longer to check things out. </div>
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I thought this was the most interesting part of the museum because it provided a glimpse into the lives of the naval officers that lived on board for months at a time. We walked through a maze of narrow hallways and saw the kitchen, dining areas, chapel, bunks, control rooms, and the command center. Isaac was loving every little bit of it. Especially the parts where he could touch all the buttons, switches and knobs that he wanted. It was pretty cool. </div>
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Isaac was also fascinated by the control tower. He's always been interested in satellites and stuff with signals. And he's also really into flags. (Isaac likes looking at an app on the iPhone that shows the flags from all of the different countries and memorizing which is which.) </div>
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The museum was a great mix of fun and educational and we enjoyed exploring it. Thank you Chris & Carly and family for the awesome gift! And that was the end of our mini vacation. We headed back to our car and Luke promptly fell asleep, and stayed asleep most of the way home. </div>
Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-22845197768927013342013-09-26T00:01:00.000-07:002014-01-02T00:02:55.788-08:00Mikael's VisitMy BFF & college roommate Mikael booked herself a flight to California for her birthday. I was so excited to have her come! It has been 9 years since we lived together back in Provo, but we have kept in touch almost daily through phone calls, e-mails, text messages, and the occasional visit. Spending time in person is definitely the best, and most fun way to catch up. Charlie just happened to be out of town on the dates that Mikael was here so we had plenty of girl time (plus kids). <br />
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She arrived on Friday afternoon and I felt bad because after picking her up from the airport I drug her and cute baby Drew directly to Isaac's karate class. They were good sports to go along and watch with us. Then that night we decided to hit up Cafe Rio for dinner. Only problem was that Cafe Rio is not super close and we got stuck in some Friday night traffic which resulted in a whole lot of screaming from the back seat.<br />
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We were juggling two different nap schedules (Luke & Drew) so we spent a lot of time at home just sitting around talking. Mikael had her nice camera and took a few snapshots of Luke. And Cracker.<br />
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On Saturday we went to the gym and later on went to Target and walked around the Spectrum. We couldn't do any real shopping with the little ones, but it was nice to get out.<br />
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My boys are always trying to run into these fountains in their clothes, so this time I decided to bring their swim shorts and let them go crazy. And of course then they wanted nothing to do with the fountains because they said it was too cold. Isaac did eventually splash around a bit and had some fun.<br />
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Sunday was church and then later that afternoon we drove down to Newport Beach for a little photo shoot. Luke ended up being in the worst mood ever and suddenly decided to hate the beach. He was freaking out about the sand and who knows what else. We did not get a single smile from him the entire time we were there. Isaac was also in a strange mood and said he was scared of the crabs. Um, there were no crabs in site. And he loves crabs. Whatever. I have said it before, but I will say it again - my children are impossible at photo sessions. But thank you anyway Mikael for working your magic and capturing these fun shots for us. <br />
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My cousin was supposed to meet us there to snap a few photos of Mikael & I, but she cancelled last minute so we had to rely on a random stranger who thought it was cool to turn the camera at weird angles. <br />
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Mikael and baby Drew were really cute together. Drew's first time at the beach!<br />
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Mikael assured me that she was just glad to be out of the tiny town where she is currently living and it didn't matter what we were doing. I hope she was telling the truth because we really didn't do anything that exciting. Monday after Isaac was home from school we went for a walk/bike ride around the lake. It was a gorgeous day and we all enjoyed just being outside.<br />
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I suppose since it was Mikael's birthday I should have let her pick the restaurant for her birthday dinner, but I didn't. Instead I picked my favorite birthday spot which is the Nordstrom Cafe. I am in love with their cake. Dinner was a little chaotic with the three boys. Luckily the cafe was pretty empty that night. Or maybe it was just that no one wanted to sit near us... Anyway, at least the food was good. </div>
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And that night we of course had to watch The Bachelor together. We watched countless episodes together back in Provo and have continued to text our commentary back and forth to each other during more recent seasons. But just like the good old Provo days, I fell asleep halfway through! What can I say, we'd been staying up late talking every night and Sean was just booooring. </div>
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Mikael and Drew had to fly home the next day and I was so sad to see them go. The trip may have been Mikael's birthday gift, but it really was a gift for me too. I loved every minute of it and can't wait until we can get together again. </div>
Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1280221923040318370.post-74688789665132549582013-08-12T20:57:00.001-07:002013-08-12T20:57:08.383-07:00Georgia TripAt the end of February Charlie had to go to Atlanta for work. We love Atlanta and I've tagged along on several of Charlie's business trips there since we've been married. This time Charlie had two big trips (Atlanta & Chicago) scheduled back to back and was going to be away for two weeks, so we planned for the boys and I to go with him to Atlanta. Unfortunately, Isaac and Luke both got really sick right before our trip. Isaac had it first and was mostly better before we left, but Luke was still running a fever. I was really torn about whether we should cancel or not, but ultimately we decided to go. <br />
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Though most trips are essentially about the destination, when you are traveling with young children, the journey portion is also a big part of the experience. Isaac wanted to bring his little stuffed dachshund (which he named Hundley, after the dachshund on Curious George) with him on our trip, and insisted that Hundley could not ride in his suitcase but needed to be with him all of the time. This resulted in the dog almost being left behind at least a dozen times. <br />
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It actually worked to our advantage that Luke was not feeling his best on the flight. Though he had to wiggle around a lot before he got "comfortable" (if that's what you would call this position), he ended up sleeping for a good portion of both legs of the flight. <br />
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It didn't take long after arriving to start seeing some telltale signs of Atlanta culture. Isaac was the first to spot this car parked outside of the restaurant after dinner. The photo quality is terrible but I still find this picture funny. Isaac thought those rims were so cool! </div>
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We got a good nights sleep but were up and on the road first thing the next morning. Though this was a business trip for Charlie he did plan an extra day so that we could go down and see his brother Kelly and his family in Warner Robins, where he is currently stationed with the Air Force. It was about a two hour drive from where we were staying and apparently the boys were tired. I was shocked to look back and see Isaac asleep. It must have been the combination of jet lag and the cold he was still getting over, but it made for a very peaceful drive. </div>
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Kelly & Cassi have two little girls but it had been so long since we'd seen their family, that we'd never even met our nieces! So this visit was long overdue. As an added bonus, Karl & Janelle planned a trip out to Georgia to visit Kelly's family during the same dates that we were there. </div>
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When we first arrived Cassi gave us a tour of their beautiful home. (It made Charlie & I question once again why we are still living in a condo in such an expensive area!) Isaac was most excited to see their cat, Greycoat, but she was hiding out under the bed during most of our visit. We sat around chatting and catching up while the kids played. Poor Luke was not feeling well and was pretty clinging throughout the entire trip. </div>
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After baby Eve woke up from her nap we all headed over to Monkey Joes, the local bounce house place. Despite Luke not feeling well, he still loved going on the big slide over and over again with Mom or Dad. All of the kids had a great time. Isaac disappeared into the obstacle course things and we barely saw him. Kelly met up with us there after he got off of work. </div>
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This is my cute niece Daphne. She was cracking me up with her spunky little personality. She sure made me wish that we didn't live so far away. </div>
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Here's Janelle with baby Eve in her Pheonix Suns outfit. There are some big basketball fans in the Wood family.<br />
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Cassi, Kelly, and little Eve. <br />
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We went back to Kelly & Cassi's house for a yummy dinner. I managed to get Luke to lay down and take a nap in Daphne's room so that he could survive the rest of the evening. </div>
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For dessert we headed out to a local frozen yogurt shop. Kelly stayed home with Eve since her bedtime is something crazy like 6:30. The rest of us enjoyed piling our cups high with creamy deliciousness and a smorgasbord of toppings. </div>
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Here's the girl's table.</div>
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And the boys.</div>
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On this trip we came to the conclusion that Isaac doesn't actually like ice cream (or fro yo), he really just likes smothering it with M&M's and rainbow sprinkles and then eating all of the toppings off. </div>
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We hit the road after dessert and headed back up to Atlanta since Charlie had to work all of the next day. The boys slept amazingly well on this trip. We didn't really bother adjusting to the East coast time since we were out late most nights. With them both being sick, plus comfy hotel beds and black out drapes, the three of us got plenty of sleep. This was the scene the next morning at about 10:00 am:</div>
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Luke started out each night in a crib but per our typical hotel routine, he'd come join Charlie and I in the early morning hours. Anyway, we had time to kill that morning. Kelly & Cassi's family and Karl & Janelle were driving up from Warner Robbins, but they had gotten a late start too. The boys and I went to see animals at Petsmart and got some lunch. Petsmart was having a dog adoption event that day. They had two little dachshunds and I think if we had been at home in Irvine, those little dogs just might have come home with us. </div>
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We waited back at the hotel for everyone to arrive. Isaac was getting bored and wanted to wait outside our room where he could have a better view. Our hotel had a big open courtyard and tall glass elevators. Isaac thought it was so cool to watch them go up and down and he got so excited when I pointed out Grandma & Grandpa coming up! </div>
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Once we were all together we decided to go see the Atlanta temple, which was just minutes from our hotel. We spent some time walking around the beautiful grounds and let the kids play on the grass for a bit. </div>
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Daphne and Isaac became quick friends and had fun exploring together. Here they are hugging it out in the temple parking lot. </div>
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The weather was a little too cold and wet for a park or anything and we weren't quite sure what to do next. We tried the mall for a few minutes but it was much too crowded and none of our kids are patient shoppers, so we quickly decided it was a bad idea and turned around and left. We ended up back at Petsmart for a bit and then just hung out at the hotel while Eve took a nap and we waited for Charlie to finish work. </div>
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Once Charlie was back we all caravanned to dinner at The Flying Biscuit. The service was so sloooooow, but the food was yummy. Charlie & I love good Southern comfort food and I think I always gain a few pounds when we go to Atlanta. <br />
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The next day was Sunday and I was on my own with the boys. Charlie was doing a trade show in downtown Atlanta. Isaac, Luke, and I had another lazy morning of sleeping in before heading downtown for the day. We had a rental car but I decided to take the boys on the MARTA because what little boy doesn't like a train, right? It was only about a 20 minute ride into the city, but they both loved it. Looking back at these photos I am reminded of how Luke was really not himself and still not feeling well at this point. (Also, he really needed a haircut but because he & Isaac were both sick before the trip, we never got a chance to get one.) Anyway, I feel kinda bad for dragging him all over the place. </div>
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My plan was for us to go to the Centennial Olympic Park. It didn't start out so well. Isaac had a major bad attitude because he saw a bunch of kids riding bikes and skate boards and was mad because he didn't have anything to ride. And Luke was tired of riding in his stroller and instead wanted to get out and push the stroller - down staircases, into bushes, and into the water feature. </div>
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After walking a little ways we found another waterfall and a stream, this time with rocks to climb on so the mood started to improve a bit. </div>
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And finally we discovered the playground area. Now everyone was happy! We spent a long time going back and forth between the two play structures. Luke stuck close to me while Isaac ran and played with some of the older kids. </div>
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There was some fun equipment there that we don't have at our parks back home. Isaac thought these spinning chairs were hilarious. They turned surprisingly fast and Isaac fell off a few times, but kept jumping right back on for more. <br />
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When the boys finally tired of the park we set out to go find a snack. We only had to walk about four blocks but Isaac was feeling worn out and didn't want to walk anymore. The area we were walking in had a few small hills and Isaac was certain that he just could not make it to the top. Luke on the other hand, was arching his back and whining to get out of the stroller. Eventually I decided that this was not a battle worth fighting so I gave them both what they wanted. Luke seemed a little confused about why on earth Isaac was riding in the stroller. </div>
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We finally made it to a donut shop where we could stop and recharge. Isaac was convinced that the Powerade would give him enough "power" to continue walking. </div>
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It was close to 5:00 so we waited to meet up with Charlie at the MARTA station and rode back to our hotel together. </div>
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We ended out the day with dinner at the OK Cafe. Why don't we have restaurants like this in Irvine? This place is another favorite of ours. I had only ever been for breakfast, but dinner was just as good. We started out our meal with an appetizer of fried pickles. </div>
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Dinner for me was fried chicken, macaroni & cheese, and a Waldorf salad while Charlie had pot roast with mashed potatoes and corn. Everything was fantastic. </div>
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Monday morning we were back to relaxing in the hotel (except for Charlie who was back at work). The boys watched a movie and ate snacks while I got ready and wasted time on the internet. There was an LA Fitness right next to our hotel and I had planned to go every morning, but since Luke was still running a fever I was not about to leave him in the kids club. </div>
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Anyway, it was nice to take it easy every day and not feel like we had to rush any where. But we did have some fun plans for Monday. We grabbed an early lunch before heading back downtown to the Georgia Aquarium. </div>
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I took Isaac to the Georgia Aquarium four years ago when he was about the age that Luke is now. It is one of the largest Aquariums in the world and is quite impressive. I remember really enjoying it last time that we went and I was excited to go back. </div>
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Our first stop was one of the big touch pools filled with stingrays and little baby tiger sharks. The rock wall surrounding the pool made it too deep for Luke to really reach his arms down in there, but Isaac thought it was awesome. </div>
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We moved on to the next area with all of the fresh water animals. It was a tough to get good pictures because the boys were going at two different speeds. Isaac wanted to stop and look at everything and read all of the signs with information about each animal. Luke just wanted to run from one exhibit to the next with little regard for what was in each tank. I rarely had the time or the extra hands to pull out my good camera before Luke would take off again, so most of these pictures were taken with my iphone and the quality is not that great. I did get Luke to hold still next to the albino alligators. These were probably his favorite thing that we saw. </div>
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Isaac was excited to see the piranhas. He likes them because they are dangerous. Both boys liked this tank with a tunnel that ran through the middle of it and a few portholes to peek out of. </div>
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The Ocean Voyager section of the aquarium is easily the most impressive. It is a massive tank filled with thousands of fish, a couple of huge manta rays, and four whale sharks! The whale shark is the largest fish species in the world and the Georgia Aquarium is the only one in the country that has them. The viewing room for the tank is accessed through a 100 ft long tunnel with a moving walkway. The tunnel alone is impressive and provides some amazing views. </div>
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But the view from inside the theater is simply breathtaking. I think I could sit in that room for hours just marveling at this tank. The room is almost completely dark and it gives the feeling of really being underwater in the ocean. The whale sharks seem enormous and are fascinating to watch, but the variety of other creatures that swim by is captivating too. I'm sure these photos don't do it justice, but I think a visit to the Georgia Aquarium would be worth it for this tank alone. </div>
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My other favorite spot in the Aquarium is in the Tropical Diver section. The long hallways leading up to the main tank are filled with a variety of brightly colored fish and other creatures. Isaac liked these crazy looking worm things that were sticking out from the sand in the bottom of this tank. </div>
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The exhibit leads into a wide open room with a beautiful floor to ceiling tank that houses a tropical coral reef. I love this spot because the natural sunlight comes in through the ceiling to brighten and warm the room. The tank is a rainbow of colors and is both stunning and peaceful. It was hard to really capture the beauty of it with a photo, but this panorama shot at least gives a glimpse of the setting.</div>
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They also had these cool interactive touch screen guides that gave the names and information about each variety of fish in the tank. </div>
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There was so much to see and do. Our admission included tickets to the dolphin show, which was a little cheesy, but entertaining. We toured a huge frog exhibit, watched the otters during feeding time, saw beluga whales, and a thousand different kinds of fish. Isaac loved the giant crabs but the photo didn't really turn out. We stayed until closing time so at the end it emptied out quite a bit and we went back through some of our favorite spots. Isaac & Luke both wanted to "drive" these coin machines that stamped souvenir pennies. </div>
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We had a great time and I am looking forward to going back someday when Luke is older and we can view everything at a little more leisurely pace. Luke was asleep before we even left the parking garage. </div>
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We planned to stay until closing so that we'd be in the city when Charlie finished with work for the day. We picked him up from the convention center and then headed to dinner. We found The Colonnade on the first trip we took to Georgia together several years ago. I think a hotel concierge recommended it to us, and now we always go back. It is in a terrible part of town and has the strangest crowd of people, but the food still makes it worth a visit. </div>
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Even with Luke being sick and Charlie working most of the time, we still managed to have a lot of fun. I was glad that I didn't cancel it. Actually, it was probably easier to give Luke the extra love and attention that he needed because I didn't have to worry about all of the everyday stuff back home. And the journey home provided another long day with nothing to do but sit and hold my sweet sleepy baby. </div>
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Carriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05250577940234149853noreply@blogger.com1