Joan and Kirk in China

Mike's parents came for a visit in November. We ran them ragged but had a great time. We went to Xi'an to see the Terricotta Warriors. It is AMAZING!!!

To get to Xi'an we took the night train. Each tiny compartment has four small beds. You board the train, go to sleep and when you wake up you are there (give or take an hour). The kids had a great time on the train and we will definitely travel this way again.
We also went and saw a Kong Fu show. Afterwords we had our picture taken with the cast.
We took Joan and Kirk to a few different parts of the great wall so that they could see some of the renovated wall and some of the original crumbling wall.

Pres. Obama's visit to Beijing

In November, Presidnt Obama came to China and our family was there to see him. Mike got put in charge of Air Force One so he was extremely busy the entire month. He spent almost 3 weeks in Shanghai preparing. They would not let Mike get all the way on Air Force One but they did let him hang out at the top of the stairs and he spent many cold hours out under the wings. He brought us all home Air Force One M&M's and presidential matches. Pretty cool! When Pres. Obama came to Beijing the embassy had a little party so we could see him. The kids got to take a group photo woth him and I got to say hello and shake his hand (which is more than most got to do.) It was way cool to see him and an unimaginable amount of work for Mike. I don't care weather you are republican, democrat, pro-Obama or not, he is the most powerful man in the world and this was a great experience. One we will never forget!

I can't BREATH

Ok, so I CAN breath but some days I don't want to, the air here is so bad. Many of you have asked what the pollution looks like so I tried to take some pictures. It is kind of tricky to take pictures of air but these should give you some idea. If you look at the buildings in the distance it looks like it is a foggy day, but that is not fog. This is a tipical day here in bejing. So next time you walk out your door into nice clean air, take a big breath for us.

Back to School

Trent and Garret went back to school THANK GOODNESS!!!! Garret was so excited for Kindergarten and he is loving it. They both have the most amazing teachers from Australia. The boys attend the International School of Beijing and we are just amazed by this school. It is outstanding. Trent and Garret are so lucky and and they are really having a blast. The school buses for this school are huge luxury tour like buses and everyday 7 of them pull up to take the kids. I really can't say enough about ISB. Also, every year the day that school starts I let the boys pick what ever they want for dinner, the skies the limit. In the past we have had lobster and crab but this year it was up to Garret and he picked Peanut butter and Jelly. We couldn't change his mind so that is what we had for our special back to school dinner. Good luck boys this year and everyone else who is starting school.

ZACHY IS ONE!!!!!

We celebrated Zachy's first birthday on the 31st of July. I can't believe how fast that year went. He is SOOOOOOOO much fun and we love every minute with him as do all who know him. He is a baby that never cries. OK maybe twice a week if he wakes up in the night he will give a little fuss or if he gets an ouie, but for the most part he is always happy. Zachy now has 6 teeth, he crawls and climbs all over the house, he barks at dogs and meows at cats and he can even point at a few things around that house if you tell him the chinese word. Zachy will smack his lips when he wants a taste of something and he will shake his head yes if you offer him a bottle or treat. Zachy, Zachy we love you so much and look forword to all the fun things you will learn to do in the next year. Happy Birthday!

Camping at the Great Wall

A few weeks ago we went camping by the Great Wall with a bunch of families from our branch and our neighborhood. You can see part of the wall behind us in the picture. Here's what Mike had to say: "We drove about one and a half hours up to a part of the Great Wall called Huang Hua Cheng. It is pretty out of the way and is a very "natural" section of the wall, overgrown with trees and plants in many places. We squeezed through the alley way of a main road through the town below the lake. Then we loaded up all the gear onto a ferry which drove us over to the camp site, which we had all to ourselves. The view from the campsite was unbelievable, with three different sections of the wall visible. We had fun with every one until it was time for bed. Then it was so hot that we had to leave the tent open for a bit of air. We still didn't sleep, with the boys tossing and turning, I started on the left side, then moved to the foot of the tent where it was a bit cooler, then I soaked my t shirt in the ice water from the cooler and used that to cool myself off, then I moved to the right side when Garret decided he wanted the foot of the tent. I finally fell asleep at about 2:00. I woke up at 5:00 and it was still so hot I knew I wouldn't get back to sleep so I took a hike up to a section of the Wall which was crumbling. The watchtowers were still mostly intact but were covered with trees and took a bit of technical climbing to get on top of. The view from the second watchtower was amazing, looking at the Wall descend into the lake below, rise 150 feet out of the water to another watchtower, then jog left back down into the water and up to another peak. Looking in another direction you could see one long section snaking up a mountain spine to a watchtower which was about 600 feet high. I wanted to keep going up but I knew the kids wouldn't sleep too much longer- With the one time zone it gets light very early in eastern China so it isn't exagerating to say it is getting light at 4:00 A.M. So I headed down and was back in camp at 6:30. Of course everyone was up, so we heated up our sausage egg and potato on the fire and ate breakfast. The kids had a blast and even though it was a ton of work we had a great time and will never forget it. "

Mike in Cambodia

Mike was sent to Cambodia last month for a conference and he brought back some amazing pictures. He was in Siam Reap where he was able to visit the ancient temples of Angkor Wat. While there he also spent time in a floating village where he got to feed crocs. He really had a great time and loved seeing all the amazing sights. We hope to go back again, together.