our days & our ways: Blue Eyes and Blue Skies

This is it! The road Danielle and I biked miles to get to. We weren't even sure this was the right road- we just wanted an adventure! Our goal was to bike to the mountainside and then take a hike up.

We ate a wonderful treat of kiwis with spoons to fuel us before our hike began.

We found a safe spot to park our bikes- at a random elementary school's parking lot where they were guarded by two big dogs on chains.

This road kept going up! So we figured we were on the right path.

At one point we began discussing what would happen if we encountered a wild dog or a wild stranger. Danielle reassured me she had her knife on her- that we would probably be safe. I wondered out loud where her knife was- it was in one of the pockets of her back pack all zipped up. We began to laugh and laugh. "Wait a minute dog, while I get out my weapon!" we joked about saying. So we stopped to get it out. I asked Danielle for a quick lesson. And we laughed and laughed some more! We found some pliers, a tiny scissors and a knife/ file that didn't look like it was sharpened for a while. Oh well, at least it would aid us in survival if it came down to that!

We hiked up a beautiful, rustic looking trail and only passed a few people on the way. We weren't sure of what kind of trail this was until we spotted this picnic table! The cement chairs and table top were designed to look like they were cut from real trees! I guess this spot is frequented more often than we thought!

Since it was past lunch time, we were pretty hungry. Good thing we brought our own snacks and didn't have to hunt and cook bear or anything and eat it over the fire!

As we were eating and enjoying the quiet- no cars or people in sight or sound, a man came walking by with his water jugs on a pole! Interesting! This made us wonder what was up ahead.

A really big and beautiful spider and web

Here's me holding up one of the trees down the path ahead.

What a gorgeous view!

I can still smell the trees.

Here's another pretty green looking spider right in the middle of the web.

At one point, we did hear a man scream really long, low and loud. This sound didn't frighten us; however, since we were familiar with it. There is a man near our house who exercises his vocal chords every morning in the same way. We were tempted to try it ourselves until we got distracted...

I stepped in human feces. I assumed it was human since it was surrounded by lots of toilet paper. GROSS!!! Good thing for a nice step and a bunch of dirt to rub it off in :).

The same water guy (?) taking a break for his lunch! Come to think of it, I don't think I got a very good picture of the stream we encountered- but we did run into the spot where the jug man was actually filling his jugs with what seemed to be spring water. It was a beautiful spot.

This was one of the views from the top. What a neat sight!

On our way home, we ended up taking the "wrong" road and backtracking- adding about 2-3 miles to our bike ride. I had no idea where we were until Danielle realized we were right by one of the buildings she works in! She knew the way home!! We had lots of fun together and can't wait for another adventure next month!

So far Xiang Xiang has been living with us for 3 weekends (plus the one holiday). She is a joy and our time is bitter sweet. It's hard to see a little 6 year old without her mom having to switch between boarding school and a foreigner's house. Sometimes she gets very quiet and sad looking, but MOST of the time she is a little well-behaved ball of energy! The kids just adore her.

A few weekends ago we took a family trip to the market for veggies, fruit and flour rolls with meat in them. Xiang Xiang and Caedmon have a ball spinning each other around and playing "Paper, Rock, Scissors."

Each time Josh has dropped her off back at school on Sunday night she cried and cried. One day we all played in a huge puddle and the kids got soaking wet to the bone. Another day we went to a friend's birthday party and ate a lot of cake and yummy treats and played with lots of fun toys. Yesterday we had a picnic at a near by field and all ran around, threw balls and danced in the grass (I'll post some adorable pics from that day next month!). No wonder it's hard to go back to school.

Josh just finished a week of class, and hosting Prof. Bruce and his son Nathaniel. It was great to see them again and I think they enjoyed their time in Kunming...

unlike this chicken :).

This month I took Hadassah on another girls night out since she has been begging and begging to go since our last time out.

We went to green lake and ate our Chicken Pot Pie from a tupperware container. Hadassah picked out her own drink- something like lemon/lime ade.

We found this great spot with comfy chairs that overlooked the lake. The suns rays were gorgeous and Hadassah loved finding all the bugs and birds in the area.

always being silly

After we ate and talked and rested, I asked her if she wanted to go on a ride or go get dessert. (I knew what I wanted to do!) Her answer was opposite :). Here she is on the car/ train. She didn't smile once, but I knew she was having a blast and she still talks about it.

A big smile! Dass also got to ride on a horsey that played Christmas music.

I love so many things about Hadassah... she is so energetic and inquisitive...

and also has a very soft and gentle demeanor. I thank God for my little sweet pea- even as she is fighting over toys as I type this :)

crazy days!

Olivet taking a rest from the stresses of life to enjoy a good book.

I arrived at our Women's Group one day and happened to look down at my pants to notice ink all over them! What?! I JUST put them on before I left! Someone with hugs must have also had a pen in their hand!

Upon returning home, I found more on the back! Another moment of lots of laughter :)

The kids have about 90 min. of quiet time every day where they are supposed to play quietly in their rooms. I think we should call it "loud time" instead since it's rarely quiet. But they do play well together! One day Lily decided to open up her own preschool.

Here are her students :)

And here's the sweet and loving teacher!

Another day, the house was too quiet. I looked all around for V and H and finally found them in the window sill "pretending" to take a nap! Silly Beavers!