are you tired of inconclusive?

Can you believe it? Can you really believe that I am posting something on my blog after almost a month? It's been a crazy month - more on that in a minute - and I promise I will catch you up on almost everything.

We decided several months ago to take a surprise 28-day vacation to visit our families. It was a top-secret operation that only a handful of people even knew about. We left our asianese home at the end of september and just returned yesterday, full of American food and lots of jet lag. If you happen to live in america and didn't know we were back, please don't be offended! We were keeping our trip under wraps so that we could maximize our time with our families. We had a great time, and I will post all about it here in the next few days or so.

BUT...before we left for america, we had a special visit of our own! One of our fab friends from Cali - and his fab wife that we hadn't met yet - came to spend a few days with us. Our friend BV has been with us almost each leg of our overseas journey, and we were so excited to spend time catching up with him and getting to know his way-cool wife.

B and S were great with kids, and Emma and Samantha totally loved them. I'm sure it helps that B is willing to tie a pot on his head and clap like a monkey... :)

This guy is going to make one great daddy, don't you agree? You totally rock, BV and S!

So they came, we ate lots of food, did fun stuff...and then we all traveled back to the USA on the same day.

The cool thing?

We spent a day in the Capital city due to an early flight the next morning, and thought we'd go down to the O l y m p i c Green to scope out the sights. When we got there, even though it was "Corporations and School Day" only, my husband managed to snag us some free tickets to get in and look around. Actually, the sweet lady who was punching the tickets was the one who got us in.

We were really excited to see all the cool olympic venues...but I've got to say - that place is huge and I was worn out from walking since I chose (unwisely) not to wear my crocs that day. Emma thought it was very cool that the gates to the stadium had all the letters of her name...so she happily ran around the whole place. She wasn't wearing her crocs either, poor girl...

They had a little bouncy gym thing set up, so the girls played there for a little while. I couldn't seeem to get any good pictures of my own children on the bouncy gym, but I did manage to get a cute picture of someone else's kid. I loved this girl's curls!Running under jumping fountains...Emma's going full speed ahead......but samantha didn't want to get wet!Ok, that's all for now from the olympic green. We woke up the next morning and headed off to the airport, on our way to America for the first time in two years.

More pictures await soon...

inconclusive and other news

So we had this grand plan to get an ultrasound at local hospital down the street. We're dying to know if we should keep all our hand-me-downs, or start buying blue.


Complicating the situation is the "one-child policy", which prevents hospitals and obstetricians from telling patients the gender of the baby, in hopes that they will decide to keep the baby regardless. I was banking on the fact that since I was a foreigner, the would understand that the one-child policy does not apply to me, and it was safe to tell me the sex of the baby.


We all loaded up into our friend's tiny blue car, hoping for good results. As before, we made it into the doctors office in about 5 minutes, and into the ultrasound room in about 7. It's amazing...


We were all on our best behavior for the ultrasound technician, trying to befriend her but she was cold and stern. I didn't think we'd make it very far, but I thought I'd ask anyway. After the ultrasound was over (the mothers are positioned away from the screen, so I was unable to see anything :( I asked her what she thought.


"It wasn't very clear, and it's too early to tell anyway," was all I got out of her. I was disappointed.


After my quick weight and blood pressure exam, I asked the doctor (who has always been so nice to me before). She told me, "Well, it wasn't very clear but we tried to see. We didn't see any obvious evidences, but it was inconclusive."


Hmmm. Inconclusive.


I talked to the friend who went with us, and she was convinced that we got a pretty direct answer by Asianese standards. She thought it was the most direct answer we'll get, and congratulated us on another sweet girl.


We are starting to lean that way, and a second ultrasound came up with conclusion - a vague statement of "inconclusive...but maybe...a girl".



We'll be sure and let you know should we ever find anything different.

In other news...


It seems our city is getting its very first drive-through restaurant! It's a stand-alone KFC that they've been building for a while. Even though it won't be a great benefit for us (we have no car), it's still pretty impressive. I'm eagerly awaiting the prospect of watching "drive-through culture" develop!


You've probably been unable to miss the news about the milk supply here...and boy, it has really been crazy! It turns out that the fresh milk we have been having delivered to our house every morning for over two years is one of the dairies that is under investigation! We have stopped our milk delivery and are staying up to date on what milk is ok to drink. Emma is bummed that her job of "getting the milk" in the morning is over, but she's looking for work elsewhere. :)

fun times and even a picture of me!

Train travel in this country is the way to go - if you can travel on the nice, fast trains. There's WAY more leg room than an airplane, and even though it's not as fast as a plane, it's really not bad.

The only downside is, of course, people who smoke in the bathrooms and pee on the floors and generally have different hygiene standards than Westerners. Arriving at a train station is also usually a fairly chaotic affair - people, luggage, cigarettes, no lines...I truly could go on and on.

Then, a few weeks ago, we traveled to a new train station we'd never been before. Granted, it was made with those "Big Games" in mind, so of course it should be impressive. And it did not disappoint - it looked like an airport! A nice, beautiful, clean airport. There were enough places for people to sit (a constant problem), no smoking sections, bright open spaces... I was like a kid in a candy store.

While we were waiting for our train, a bystander with a huge camera started snapping pictures of Emma. We were so enamored by the beauty of the train station that this usual pet peeve didn't bug us. After he was finished, we gave him our email address and asked him to send us the pictures! I've never done that before...


Anyway, here's the train station...
...and here's Emma, listening to his advice to give the "peace" sign or "victory" sign or whatever you want to call it.


One of the personal highlights of our trip was going to a new park and finding these cool bicycle buggies. After a big of haggling and lots of excited kids (and one excited, nameless grown-up) we ended up with two buggies that fit all 13 of us.

Here's emma and mantha safely strapped in the front of the bicycle... ...and a family pic before we started off. We had the bicycle for one hour. I originally thought that was not enough time, but after physically realizing what one hour on a bicycle meant, I decided that was enough time.
We stopped at a nice shady fountain about halfway through to let the kids play and to give the pedallers a rest. I asked rachel to take a picture of josh and I since I know everyone misses seeing what I look like.

Incidentally, this is also the park where the beach volleyball venue is located. We pedalled our little buggies over to see how much of it we could see, but unfortunately, so much of it was fenced off. We could see the stadium thing, but not much more than that. It was a great park, and riding the bicycle things was the perfect way to see it all. The kids had a great time, and I did too!

the very best of both worlds

Saturday night has arrived, marking the end of our team's Focus Week of spending time in the Word. The conclusions I'm drawing about the week so far are:

- I feel like spending my extra time digging into the Word (we were focusing this week on the Psalms) really renewed my hunger both for the Lord and the Bible....and that is a good thing, something I've been praying for for quite a while. I guess this week's extra push was just the nudge I needed. I'm thankful for new insights into His truths, and the extra moments just to delight in Him and to revel in His delight for me. It was a great week, and I look forward to doing it again.

- I cannot believe, truly cannot believe, how productive I was this week! I guess it really showed me how much of time time is wasted in small little increments - a few minutes on the internet here, reading this blog, reading that news article, mindless surfing facebook and foxnews, watching tv - all that really adds up to take away good hours that I could be doing other things...like playing with my kids, doing little things that josh has been wanting me to get done for a long time, and all sorts of other things. I felt like my time was maximized this week, and I was surprised at how little I missed the internet (though I do realize I'm behind on all my favorite blogs!)

Anyway, in other news...
I've been wanting to make an Apple Pie for a long time now. I've never made one, never even seen one made from scratch. I figured it couldnt' be hard, so I tried it this weekend. There's nothing quite as American as apple pie, right?

Well...I was amazed at how well they turned out! I read and re-read Joy of Cooking's suggestions on apple pies and used a classic recipe. The crust turned out perfectly crusty, full of flaky butterness...the middle turned nicely cinnamoned and chock full of apples. Thanks to Joy of Cooking, we avoided any spillage and avoided all manner of burned crusts. I was SO pleased, and thoroughly enjoyed ny very american apple pie. It didn't have chocolate in it, so emma and samantha weren't quite as keen on it, but I will keep trying. The best of Americana in one flaky bite. Yum.

then, later on this evening, we and some friends had dinner at a local restaurant. (This actually doesn't happen very often - the eating out part - but emma specifically asked us so eagerly this morning to go to dinner at a restaurant with her friends, so we obliged.) This restaurant's specialty? Peking duck.

We've been to this restaurant several times before, but tonight, maybe it was the company or just the best of this country, it was SO great! Our duck was so tender and crispy on the outside; I couldn't resist having helping after helping! Peking duck is served by rolling up slices of duck, garnished with sauce and onion, in a little tortilla-type thing. We ate until we were stuffed and then just couldn't keep from commenting how great it was. If you're ever in town, you're coming to eat Peking Duck with us! I think it's truly the best our city has to offer!

So apple pie at lunch, peking duck for dinner. That really is the best of both worlds!

signs of life

A week ago today, I was sitting on Amy's couch as we all listened to John P i p e r encouraging us via Hebrews to "stir up one another to love and good works". Apparantly, things were stirring - at that exact moment, I felt the first signs of kickage in my womb. Since then, I have felt the wee little two more times.

I guess it's true. I really am pregnant.

After our t e a m retreat this week where we all ate way too much good food, I am now officially and very obviously pregnant to the naked eye.

We're about to start a week of sp renewal, where our free time is spent in the Word instead of the usual activities (internet surfing, the latest book series, blog updates, etc). So for the next week, I likely will not be posting any new blogs. If you're so inclined to join us for our week of renewal, that would be great too! then you'll never know I didn't post anything...

water disaster, part 2: mixed media

Long before the water disaster that you are about to read (post below), the girls and I made a rainy day picture. I'm not terribly crafty, but I think it's fun to create "scenes" which challenge the girls' imaginations to think of things that ought to be included and how to do it.

For our water disaster, we raided all the random craft supplies we could find, and used a wide array of materials. here's the lowdown:

a large sheet of blue shaded crepe paper was the background

clouds were made with blue pipe cleaner outlines, then cotton balls rubbed in a blue ink pad

lightning bolts were made with yellow pipe cleaners

rain was made with silver and blue glitter (with each girl having very different ideas about how exactly the rain falls. Samantha apparantly thinks rain falls in round circles...)

umbrellas were made from toothpicks and felt scraps

puddles were made with shiny blue metallic wrapping paper

the girls were made of popsicle sticks with clothes of construction paper and pink (felt) rainboots. (they also had twisty-tie arms)

This rainy day was a little more benign than our real water disaster yesterday...and yesterday we were without the pink rainboots!

water disaster

One great thing about studying other languages is that you sometimes get a different perspective on words or events that have lost their "real meaning" because we use them so often and so familiarly.

For example, one way to translate the word "flood" can be called a "water disaster". We would never say "water disaster" in English, but truly that's what it is. To help illustrate this point, I have a story that personally happened to us on tuesday.

Tuesday was play-day at clara anne and chloe's house. Due to an unfortunate incident of disobedience, emma was not allowed to go. She stayed home with josh, mantha went with me to play-day. Just after lunch, I got a call from josh. He had taken pity on emma and took her to pizza hut for lunch (truly, a very special treat!). The problem - it was raining. Not raining, like "turn on your windshield wipers" rain, but "pull over because you can't see anything" rain. Heavy rains also mean no taxis.

Josh asked me to come pick he and emma up after samantha and I got in a taxi on the other side of town (where it wasn't raining at all). As we're driving along the highway, the rain comes out of nowhere. Pounding, deafening rain. I see a steady line of cars along the highway that are stopped and waiting it out. Later down the road, I notice our exit has been blocked off by police cars - flooding.

We take the next exit, planning to circle around to josh's location...but not even off the highway, we encounter streets so flooded you can't even see the curb. Dirty muddy water, swirling past us...cars stalled in the road...and me and samantha praying in the backseat. We finally pick up josh and emma, then start to head home.

Taxi man decides that on this torrentially rainy day, he'll take a backroad to avoid the traffic. Hmmmm. Turns out that this backroad is at the bottom of a hill. He bravely drives into what looks like a small lake. We're hoping he knows his car better than we do, because it looks like trouble.

As the car plunges futher into what should be the road, we make it about halfway through and the car stalls out. At this point, the water outside the car comes midway up the doors. I could roll down the window, stick my hand out, and touch the water if I tried.

I'm not much of a discerning person, but I got the distinct sense that this was very bad.

Josh affirmed my sense.

Emma, also, affirmed my sense when I heard this panicked cry come out of her mouth - "Mama, my feet are getting wet! This is yucky water!" Water had started seeping in through the doors and was beginning to fill up in the floorboards in the backseat. "Please, mommy, let's pray! We need to pray now!" she directed.

Pray we did. I could make this story much longer, but let's just say that even though our driver wanted to "sit and wait a minute and see if it goes down" (what?!) in the end, we were able to back the car up and out of the mini lake that very possibly could have been a disaster.

We backtracked and slogged our way through pouring rain and still-flooded streets, til we finally came to our street.

Ah, traffic was backed up for two miles. Bus drivers and taxi drivers had exited their vehicles and were chatting it up in the middle of the expressway, smoking, laughing, comparing notes with how long they thought the jam would last.

We paid our driver triple the fare and bailed. By now it was only barely sprinkling, and we were only two miles from home - we'd walked it many times before (on cool spring nights, but still...we had done it!) Josh hauled emma up on his shoulders, and I cradled mantha in my arms and we weaved our way through the lanes of traffic for the next mile.

A mile up the road, we saw the problem. An entire stretch of road was flooded so heavily, it was impassable for cars. Big SUV's and buses could make it through, but nothing else. We sat on the side of the street and...um...well, we gawked. We watched people, pants hiked up to the knees, pushing their cars through knee-deep water. We watched children in raincoats splashing and sloshing, thinking this was anything but a water disaster. We watched bicyclists get sprayed with the surf from the buses that made it through.

It was actually really fascinating to watch, and it didnt feel so morbid since it wasn't a flood where people actually died - they were just inconvenienced.

So I left my friend's house about 1:30 and we made it home just after 4:00 that afternoon. It was quite the little adventure, but at least I'll never think of "water disaster" the same way again!

woe is me...

When it rains, it pours. Last week, it rained. Not just rain from the sky either! It felt like a jillion things went awry last week.

For starters, I still feel nasty sick. I have passed the benchmark for "normal" pregnancy sickness, and should be free and clear...but no, not yet. I'm still laying on the couch dreaming about cheetos and chocolate donuts, and nothing else.

Secondly, our computer crashed. Yes, you all know that, but I'm sorry to say, this eggrollmama hadn't backed up her pictures since the last time she traveled with her computer which was.....drumroll please....February. So all our pictures, minus the few (haha) that have been posted on my blog are gone. Forever. That was a mighty good lot of pictures, let me tell you. Birthdays for both girls...thailand vacation...hong kong vacation...summer fun activities....grrrr. Let's all observe a moment of silence, shall we?

Thirdly, after Dell bit the dust, we were going to our friends house one evening to begin the restoration process of the computer. It was raining - true, serious, read a book and stay inside rain - but we were on our way out the door. As the taxi pulled up to our building, I bundled Samantha in my arms and headed out. Just as I was walking down the first of three steps, my flipflops hit the slick step and I bit it - bad. Samantha, praise of all praises, landed feet first on the ground, totally unaware that I was injured. My leg got hurt fairly badly - it's not broken or anything, but badly bruised and still, a week later, very sore.

Finally, last night, I came down with the stuffiness/coughing/runny nose/cold type stuff that josh had last week. Truly, I feel pathetic.

I know all of these things will run their course, and things will be fine again. As I enter week 15 of this pregnancy, I really hope that all-day sickness runs its course!

don't feel too bad for me, though! I have great helpers, girls who are content to play all day by themselves, and now I am almost finished teaching! I actually put in a "two weeks notice" at preschool today - partly due to pregnancy, partly due to upcoming travel that would require me to take an obscene amount of time off work. So, I'm almost a free woman...

Email addresses

We have a temporary fix to our computer problem thanks to our friend Paul who years ago prepared a second hard drive just in case the current one went out. Thanks Paul!! It took a little while to get the gabillion Microsoft updates downloaded, but we finally made it.

The problem now is this: we have lost all of our friends' and families' email addresses, so if you would be so kind, please send us an email and just say 'hi' so that we can have your email address. Otherwise, you may never hear from us again. I guess this is your chance if you were looking for a way out. (This means everyone; we don't remember a single address).

Thanks,

Papa Eggroll

Ode to our laptop computer--Dell

Oh the Dell, the Dell Inspiron!
Your screen so wide, your power so great, your memory holding capacity so large!

How these many years you have been the work horse burning DVDs and storing pictures!
How you have held up through thousands of miles of travel!
How you have facilitated smooth communication with far away friends and family!

Yet, alas, it was your time, your time to be free from the slave drivers
who used you
who tormented you
who abused you.

Be free!
Be free!
Be free!

**Because Dell (our laptop) took an early than expected retirement, we are currently without a computer. Please understand our delay in responding to emails. If you had an email to us that we have not responded to, please wait a week and if we haven't responded, please resend. Thanks.--Papa Eggroll

summon the heroes

I'm not exactly sure when my love affair with the olympics began, because truthfully, I have very few memories of actually watching the Olympics. Apart from the unforgettable magnificent seven in Atlanta, I can't recall much of anything else. I found that to be a little odd.

On Saturday morning local time (Friday evening America time) we crowded in front of the computer eating our breakfast of chocolate donuts as we watched the spectacular opening ceremonies begin. We could have opted to watch local TV and seen it live, or caught it the next morning with American commentary. We chose the American commentary. =)

I also realized as I watched the opening ceremony that I have never seen an opening ceremony before. I mean, I showed the girls some clips off YouTube from the Sydney olympics (as part of our "olympic activities" - we made torches, a few flags, and the above-pictured Olympic cookies).

I have to admit, I was impressed with the ceremony. Totally, jaw-dropping, impressed. I absolutely loved the drums at the beginning, though it took me a while to figure out that the drums were the lights. I loved the way they so creatively used masses of people, from the boat oars to the printing press blocks to the way they encircled the children at the end - I thought it was a brilliant and overwhelming display of humanity.

I was a little surprised at the choice of displaying china's naval history. I wouldn't consider myself a scholar of chinese history by anny means, but I did study quite a bit of chinese history in college. I would not consider chinese history to have had any particularly long or particularly strong periods of naval exploration, but the oars were cool.

The lighting of the torch at the end was a grand end to the ceremony and it makes you realize why everything was so hush-hush leading up to it. For a country that seldom gets cool points in my book, that was a truck load of cool points. I'll say it again - I was thoroughly impressed.

The degree of my pride (can I say pride? for a country I don't belong to?) on saturday morning equally paralleled the degree of my shock at the death of an American just a few hours later. The entire circumstance was so strangely un-chinese and so bizarre, I still have trouble wrapping my mind around it. I have never felt physically dangered in my life overseas, yet have many a time hae nervously locked my car door when driving through certain parts of Oklahoma City. I still can't quite understand the tragic event, though I feel strangely sympathetic with the government, who no doubt has lost a lot of face in this multi-billion dollar event intended to gain face.

Onto happier things, my children now offically can sing (or, can sing along) to the national anthem! That was one of our pre-olympic activities, and they were jazzed to know it and hear the story about how Americans were so brave. They have enjoyed watching the medal ceremonies where they heard our national anthem being played - though what was up with Phelps' anthem being cut short? I mean, really? That stinks.

I am proud to have added fencing to my new list of "watchable olympic sports." Ok, if you promise to still all like me, I will admit the truth - I was on pins and needles for large portions of the women's individual sabre competition (one part of the fencing event). It was way cool. It was even cooler that we swept the medals.

We are eagerly waiting for the gymnastics to begin in full swing, love the swimming, and now I feel obligated to stick with the US women's volleyball team because I stayed up SO late watching their first match last night - I've already invested too much time in them now to give up.

Even though our cell phones get text messages proudly declaring when the host country wins a medal, I'm still rooting on the stars and stripes to continue its olympic dominance! Go Team USA!!!

*** A very special and public thanks to Tom M. for giving us the ability to watch all this great athleticism in our own language!! ***

the second time around...

Another reason I've not been posting lately (along with my still nasty all-day-pregnancy-sickness) is that Samantha has been on the road to becoming a big girl - using the big girl potty!!

For some unknown and insane reason, I tried potty training her back in April. It lasted about 3 hours and then I decided I didn't want to deal with it for now. Potty traning seems to be an all-consuming experience for the first couple of days, and even after those days still requires lots of mental energy.

For yet another unknown and insane reason, I started again last Monday. She was nearly 3 months older than our "first" time, and significantly more developed verbally, physically and cognitively.

Let me also add at this point that I potty trained Emma way too early. She was so interested, and did a fine job. She caught on quickly and tried her best, and really did great. But she was so young that there were still so many mistakes. Being my first time doing it, I didn't know what to expect and was easily frustrated, even though I tried to remember she was still little. I so clearly remember many of my most frustrating parenting moments came during Emma's potty traning. I still feel such heaviness at the pressure I must have put on her, and that was honestly one reason I kept putting off potty training with samantha.

So we started on Monday. She had loads of new panties that she was SO excited about wearing. She was ready to go. We had stickers, orange juice, chocolate milk and a stash of reward treats so enticing, I myself wished I could be potty trained that day.

It is now the next monday, and I am happy to say that the week I dreaded turned into two days of concentrated effort and then lots of days of consistent practice. Samantha has done a great job and, if I was giving certificates, would officially pronounce her a big girl!!

These are pictures from april, because I was just too tired to take pictures this time around. Maybe I should say I was "more relaxed" this time around! Anyway, they were cute pics of her on her potty, so they were a nice addition to the post.

Olympi-mania

I realize many of you perhaps thought I might have died in the smog and pollution that seems to be in the news headlines almost every day. We have not been claimed by high levels of particulate matter, and surprisingly, enjoyed a very clear, blue-sky day. This is highly unusual; our house helper was riding her bike to work today (with her daughter on the back) and at a stoplight noticed the sky and said to her daughter, "ping ping, hurry and look at the blue sky! hurry! hurry!" because is just doesn't happen very often... =)

Anyway, the subject of today's post was the big torch relay. We were so jazzed about seeing the torch, so we planned ahead and got the torch routes off the internet and tried to think about where in the city we'd like to go see it. We were all prepared, and then....

...strange things started happening on our street. It started with this:

Then when this appeared,
we figured we were closer to the torch than perhaps we originally thought. We started getting wind of rumors that the torch was going to actually come down our street. We were so skeptical because 1) rumors of every sort abound and propigate here, and 2) we had the "official" relay route, which was nowhere near our house.

But signs of the times kept appearing. Flower beds were first constructed at the intersections all along our street, and then were planted with beautiful flowers. Flags were inserted all along the median. Huge red banners draped both sides of the street: Let's Go Beijing! Let's Go Olympics! 'our city' is a beautiful city that will bring pride to 'the country'.

Then, the day before the torch, we saw this out our window and we felt pretty sure things were happening (also, notice in the bottom right corner the black puff of smoke? that's a bus pulling away whose smoke infringed in my picture! no wonder we live in a haze!)
It was becoming more and more official - the torch would pass right by our window! How cool was that?! The afternoon before, everyone in our building was given a notice. I quickly glanced at the notice, saw a few times listed on there and thought it was so considerate that they were telling us the specific time the torch would pass. i passed the notice on to josh and went to class.

I came home from a class a few hours later and got the real scoop - the notice said:
1) No one, in any building along this street, may open their windows from midnight to noon on the "torch day".
2) No one may stand near the windows of your house or office.
3) No one may have any paper, clothing, banners, signs or any other thing hanging in their windows from midnight to noon.
4) No one may enter or leave their building from midnight to noon.

Ummm....ok? I was shocked at the degree of censorship that was happening. Apparantly securitiy was taken so seriously that people all along the street were forbidden by standing and looking out the windows? I couldn't believe it. As we talked to our local friends, they all understood the rationale behind the guidelines, even if they personally didn't agree with it. They all advised us to take the notice seriously.

We eventually discovered that the torch would pass by our window about 8:45am. When we woke up that morning a little before seven, I cautiously opened a tiny little peephole in our bedroom curtains. Crowds of people had already assembled and were chanting, cheering on the runners who wouldn't arrive for another several hours.


We all got dressed and ready, and took a deep breath and opened the curtains. Whew! Sniper fire didn't enter our home (something I honestly thought might have been a possibilty!) and we gradually got more and more comfortable getting closer to the window.

By 8am, people all along the street were hanging out their windows, trying to position their camera phones for the best shot. The scene was truly remarkable. There was so much buzz in the air, it was contagious. Crowds were allowed to walk in the westbound four lanes of traffic, while the eastbound lanes were blocked off for the torch. The girls and josh ate their breakfast camped out in front of the window, and I went outside to have a look.


Everyone had spirit, yes they did...I went outside without taking a shower, but I was thankful to find people with frizzier hair than me... =)Just before the torch arrived, these little trucks were trying to get people excited - they were staffed with cheerleaders, megaphones and video screens. The red, white, and blue made me think they were giving a tribute to America, but I doubt it. A charter bus came and dropped off the runner in front of our building. Our city's relay was about 9 miles and had a total of 230 runners...you do the math, and you realize that each runner isn't running that long. We had four runners just in the view from our living room window.

Anyway, runner #1 gets dropped off; he's a cute, white haired man. The crowd goes wild; they momentairly forget he's the apple seller or the guy who comes into their bank. He's suddenly the hero and gets his 15 minutes of fame in grand fashion. The cheers never let up from this point until the flame is out of sight. Here's a larger view of that shot - I loved the mountains behind, the crowds in front, and this lone dude standing in four lanes of traffic. [One these pics had been resized and posted, I realized I could have cropped them and enlarged the detail. Forgive me for them being so tiny. they looked great when I was looking at them full-screen!)Next came the Men in White. I assume they are all Will Smith-type protector dudes who are tough. They looked formidable in their two long lines. Next came a TV truck and the torch dude. The noise was deafening. Exhilarating. Incredible. It was pure, raw patriotism that finally had an acceptable outlet. I've never seen anything like it here, and I wonder if I ever will again. Torch dude was so excited. He was waving like Miss America during his 50 meters of fame. Apart from the men in white, the runners also had their own little bubble of protectors. The crowds were crazy; this was the largest surge right here. We think they were "running" with the torch the entire way (at least as far as they could go anyway). Remember, that is four large lanes of traffic space and it was packed. I have to say, I was totally Olympi-fied after the experience. I doubt I'll ever have the chance to see something like that again - certainly never again from my airconditioned home while I much on breakfast. We are jazzed about the olympics, and now only a few more days to go.

Today was a beautiful, clear day here. Let's hope Friday in Beijing is just as nice!

happy birthday to me...and a clarification

Well, today is my birthday. I'm not hitting any fantastic age or having a milestone of a birthday, just boring old 27. Josh asked what I'd like for my birthday, and I told him: sleep til I wake up, and flowers.

So this morning, when I finally opened my eye and glanced at the clock (it was 9:45 am! even I was surprised!) the house was eeirly silent. I had guessed that josh took the girls to Mcdonalds for pancakes and I alone was left in the house. Bliss.

I woke up, stumbled to the kitchen and pulled out a package of chocolate donettes. I sat in front of the living room window and watched the goings-on and ate my breakfast in complete peace. No one even asked if they could have a donut. More bliss.

A little before 10:30, I heard the door open and everyone was back from their adventures...with flowers they had each picked out. the girls happily told me all the little details that children notice (most prominent were the dog and cat that a man and a woman had - emma was quick to point out that "the man also had a smoke"...I cracked up!!). I got my happy birthday hugs, and now things are back to normal - dirty diapers (though hopefully not for long!), the running of little feet, toys everywhere - just like a mom's birthday ought to be.



In regard to "friday's fabulous fajitas", I would just like to clarify that no one missed any announcement. That was the announcement! Partly because I still feel nasty yuck, partly because it's still fairly early, I didn't feel like the announcement needed its own, exclamation-filled post, so I just snuck it in there. But I suppose I could give you a few more details - this was a planned pregnancy, will probably be the last of the carollo children to be borne by my body, and right now I'm in my tenth week. The "due date" falls just two days before emma's birthday, february 19. I would love for the baby to come early, to give emma (and momma) a bit of breathing room in between birthdays. So there's the details I know at this point!

in defense -- a letter to katie

Dear katie, my youngest and most outspoken sister -

Could you really think that on your birthday I would forget you? that somehow a long-gone gymnast could replace the gymnast I helped teach cartwheels to on the grass of the lakeridge house? Give me some credit.

Would you believe that I was messing around with a future post and set it to july 19 on accident and posted it on accident? It seems sketchy, but it's true.

I have not forgotten you or your birthday. I would bet all my life's savings on the fact that I'd get an earful if I did. I have also not forgotten the funny childhood memories, the ones that stick out brightly in the recesses of my memory bank. I especially love the memories of making your pigtails, about presenting plays where you have to take your pants off under the table, and of all the many trips you made to the kitchen to get my water.

I'm sure that I could speak for the three of us in saying that having you as our younger sister has improved both the quality of our life and the quantity of our laughs. And now as you and holly clearly are not getting any younger, but instead are growing into young women who make us all proud, I have to remind myself to live in the present - that there are many more memories to be made with you all.

So on your birthday, happy birthday. We all love you so very much.

your oldest, most charming, and very wise sister,
Rachel

bring on the olympics!

A few nights ago, I randomly thought about the 1996 Olympics where Kerri Strug did her vault on her bum ankle. I totally remembered the details with extreme clarity, her falling to the mat afteer the vault, Bela Karolyi carrying her up to the medal platform with the rest of the team, the deafening cheers of the hometown crowd. Come on, you remember it too, right? Maybe this will help you bring up those memories...

I looked it up on Youtube last night and the girls and I watched it together. I was surprised (and a tiny bit embarrassed) when I started getting teary-eyed after the vault when they were waiting to find out if the score would be enough to lift the US team over the russians. Emma watched with horror as "that girl got hurt!" and then was doubly horrified when I replayed it - "Mommy, she got hurt again!" Of course, the score was just high enough, the Americans won, made history and lots of happy memories for preteens like me.

Anyway, I was moved. It made me excited for the Olympics to come.

The Olympic spirit will be soon - sometime next week - coming to our city in the form of the Torch Relay. I have big aspirations to go, but it all depends on the weather. Recently, it's been either downpouring here or swelteringly hot. If it's either of those, we probably won't go...but we'll see. Of course, the news has plenty of stories about how our asianese hosts are prepared for cloud seeding to keep the rains away from the Opening ceremonies, so maybe our city can use that too if it's supposed to rain next week!

The girls did July 4th crafts a few weeks ago, so emma now is so proud to point out when she sees the American flag. We're going to familarize ourselves with the national anthem next week so we can start fanning the flames of patriotism in those little hearts!

In a sort-of related story...
Today we were riding home from Walmart in a taxi (because Walmart just got chocolate donuts!) and the taxi driver asked us where we were from. When I told him we were from America, emma quickly corrected me and said, "No mommy, you said it wrong. We're from Asia."

I tried explaining to her that even though we live in Asia, we are still from America. That we're American people, not Asianese people. But it didn't make sense to her at all. It will be interesting to see how her cultural identity grows over the years!

friday's fabulous fajitas

Ok, this is not a TGIFridays recipe...it's just a darn good fajita recipe...and it's friday, so it all started with F. I thought it seemed an appropriate post. Plus, it's one of the few foods I can think about right now without wanting to let loose all over the place. You know how early pregnancy goes, all that nausea and stuff like that. So for the next three weeks, until this first trimester is over, I'm all about tummy-friendly foods. Even if it only includes cheetos and chocolate donuts. :)

If you're looking for an easy dinner, here's one of our favorites for fajitas.

In a ziploc bag, throw all this stuff in:
1/4 c. lime juice (for overseas readers who may be rationing lime juice, this IS 1/4 of a bottle - but I think it's worth it!)
1/3 c. water
2 T. olive oil
4 cloves garlic
2 t. soy sauce
1 t. salt
1/2 t. liquid smoke
1/2 t. cayenne pepper (or not, if you don't like it. it really doesn't add too much heat to the meat)
1/2 t. ground pepper
1 t. chili powder
1/2 t. cumin
chopped cilantro, based on how much you like the stuff.

Mix it all around pretty good, then throw in about 3 chicken breasts, sliced into strips.
Marinate the meat in the fridge overnight.
The next morning, add in 1 bell pepper and 1/2 onion, cut into strips.
Continue marinating until you're ready to fry it all up.
When lunch or dinner time rolls around, heat a tablespoon or so of oil into a pan and pour in your bag of chicken with all the juice and veggies.
Cook til that chicken is done, the peppers are getting tender, and you can't hold off the yummy smell any longer.

Wrap it up all nicely in fabulous tortillas, and top it with whatever suits your fancy.

Now there's something everyone - even sick, pregnant mommies - can eat to their hearts' content!

a surprise anniversary gift from a fab husband

I'm actually not sure when it all started.

But one day, just a few days after our anniversary decision, I get a text message from my husband. This should have been my first clue - he never sends me text messages, and on the rare occasion that he does, it usually includes two words...like, you home? or (my personal favorite) when I have stayed out long past when I thought I'd be home, he sends me a text message that says, " ? " and that's all.

So, anyway I get this text from him. Something about how he thought June 21 would be a good day to change our anniversary to - it's the longest day of the year, you know.

Things are just as normal until two days later. I'm washing dishes, and he pops into the kitchen and says, "I have news."

Turns out, the news was he was planning a surprise trip for our family to Hong Kong! Woo hoo! I was excited. My fab husband, going behind my back, telling me sneaky little white lies was planning a fab trip! That is totally up my alley. We were to leave in two days. It was a busy two days - cleaning, packing, planning - and we didn't even have time to say adios on our blog...so I'm really embarrassed to all of you who sent us emails that never even got a smidge of a reply. :)

Anyway, this trip to hong kong was going to be full of things we never have time to do because we're seldom "vacationing" in hong kong, usually just passing through in transit, or are there for medical, visa, or other related matters. On the list: disneyland, the science museum, a movie at a movie theater, swimming, and maybe a trip to a library. The food list was equally as long - chocolate milkshakes from triple o's, krispy kreme, mongolian bbq from nomads, bloomin onion at outback, and a good burger from any number of places.

Since I may not have time to post all of our hong kong pics tonight, I'll just start with the big kahuna - disneyland! Perhaps I won the title of "most excited family member", but I would only hold it for a while. The truth is, I have so many fun memories (and pictures to remind me of the memories I forgot!) from my own childhood at Disneyworld. My brother and I tore that place apart getting autographs from the disney characters and working the line at Space Mountain long before Fast Passes existed.

I was so excited for the girls to have a chance to go to disneyland...at a time when they might possibly remember some of it. Because transportation in Hong Kong is so amazingly efficient, the subway lines connect to a special station that takes you to disney...and the disney line even has its own special subway car, with mickey mouse shaped windows, painted in pixie dust, and with blue velvet seats. Let the magic begin!I usually am pretty happy that my children are relatively pop-culture deficient, but on the eve of our big trip, I realized with a teeny bit of sadness that my girls hadn't seen a disney princess movie yet! the apartment wherer we were staying just happened to have Cinderella, so we had a little popcorn party and familiarized the girls with at least one of the princesses. When we saw the castle for the first time, it all clicked for emma. She was jazzed - samantha was just following the crowd but was having fun too, I guess. First item of business after entering the park - buying those little autograph book. this was like my dream for them, this connective bond between my own childhood and their childhood. Lucky for me, they caught on to the idea of the autographs and were soon scouring the park for characters to sign their books. I was surprised at the level of enthusiasm the characters had with interacting with the children...specificially my children. I don't know, maybe they were that friendly with all the other asianese kids there, but they really spent long amounts of time with the girls and pooh....he was a little weird, actually...after we were all done and walking away, he left his little station, chased us down the path to catch us for one more round of pictures and hugs. Weird, but still appreciated.


It was so special for me to watch emma annd mantha having so much fun meeting all the characters. There were several times when - dont' ever ever repeat this - that I felt a little teary-eyed as I watched them complete this childhood rite of passage. Thinking of my own happy memories and watching them as they made their own special memories was one of those parent moments I think I will treasure forever.

The HK Disney park was pretty small - much more so than Orlando or california - but that was great for us. It meant lots less walking, and with two small walkers I'll take that! We rode our share of rides, as you can see...

Dumbo and the flying elephants...

Winnie the Pooh, with a three-second wait! :)Emma's conversation that day was a constant string of "Momma! Look at that! wow, do you see that?!" It was fun times.The carousel...A cool 4-D movie - all was fine until the water splashed in our faces and freaked out Princess emma!You've always got to do the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, right? But by far, the biggest event of the whole day was trying to find the Princesses. They apparantly kept a pretty tight schedule and were only out at certain times, as I guess all good princesses do, so it was hard finding them. But we camped out a spot where they were rumored to come out of, and we hit princess jackpot - three in a row! All three of the princesses we met were from America (judging by their accents) and were SO incredibly kind to the girls. They spent time with them and hugged and shared names and sweet stories and little things - just like it was MY kids who were the princesses. They even waved at the girls as we waited in line before it was our turn, and kept sneaking waves to them after emma and mantha's turn was over but continued watching them from the side. I will forever ever love these princesses for how sweet they were to my kids.

Mothers note: Samantha was happy in these pictures, but for some reason, none of the 6,509 pictures I took managed to get her with a smile. I'm not really sure why. But just pretend... Belle and Princess Aurora (sleeping beauty - who seems to always be mistakenly called Princess Beauty at our house!)

By the end of the day, we were hot - truly, sweaty, nasty hot - and tired (like, no nap tired) but we all had so much fun. I understood why my parents always liked taking us on special vacations, especially disneyworld, and felt like I had passed on an important childhood milestone to my offspring. As my friend amy and I were discussing this evening, there are so many childhood experiences I had that my children will never experience because of the life we live here...but in that hot theme park, covered in the pinks and purples of Fantasyland, I watched my girls armed with their pens and autograph books, and I felt like we shared a piece of childhood together.