northern mountains

So we just got back to town after an incredible trip to the mountains north of here - the eastern end of the Himalayan range.

And during one of our long stretches in the car I got so excited thinking, "This is really just the beginning, our best years of family travel are definitely ahead of us!"

Last summer in Colorado Matt and I realized that if we wanted to live healthily (body, mind, soul) in this big (often grossly polluted) city - when neither of us are really 'city people' - then we needed to figure out a way to leave the city more often.

So this fall, right in the middle of the November crazy, we took a trip.  The timing was a little insane, and Matt left at the crack of dawn Monday morning, bound for the airport, but it was way worth it!

Wednesday afternoon we drove north.  We start heading into mountain territory about two hours outside the city, but this trip our first destination was 6 hour drive.  The first two hours are on four lane divided highway where we pretty consistently hit about 100 km/h (60 mph).  The last four hours are roughly half that speed :)

We finally arrived at our hostel-like destination a bit after 9pm.  It was inside the old city walls, which were all lit up at night - so pretty!  and a nice sight after hours on the road.

I had to hop out of the passenger seat to help Matt maneuver into our parking 'spot'.  There's nothing quite like hopping out of a warm car in the dark and spotting the snowy patches on the ground to help you realize really quickly how under dressed you truly are!  The outdoor temp was about 30 degrees, and everyone was tired and we mostly just focused on finding the place, getting to our room and getting everyone into the bed!

The next morning we got dressed in many layers (which we didn't take off for the next four days - ha!) and went out looking for breakfast.  Then it was off to the nearby national parks for the day.

Beauty.  Everywhere.

Off to visit Zhaga waterfall.  The viewing platform at the base was a popular spot, but the long climb up the waterfall and back down the other side didn't draw much crowd.  Nice for us :)  All those young sets of legs can climb stairs!

(looking down the waterfall)

Obligatory family shot at the base of the waterfall.  I hope the smiles in our Christmas card pic turn out better than these.  sigh.  And without a fancy lens we were only able to get about half the waterfall in the picture... but it's the thought that counts.

Next we headed 20 minutes down the road to a different park.  Lucky us, this one was widely discussed at the previous spot as "dry" and "not so pretty in the winter".  Matt had to talk the attendants into selling us tickets.  But Matt is an expert at these kind of conversational turns and with tickets in hand, we traipsed in.  For the next three hours we were alone except for a small group of maintenance men we passed halfway up the trail.

And beauty beauty beauty.

In the sunshine we felt "warmish".  In the shade I put on mittens.

{Eating lunch next to a small lake with an eerie green color.  Some of the lakes had thin sheets of ice on top, but nothing frozen solid - yet.}

After a wonderful afternoon with plenty of snow play, a few miles of hiking and even a lukewarm hot springs (which prompted a bit of conversation.... "Luke" - warm?) we drove the half hour back to our hostel and walked down the road for a quick dinner.

Yaks-in-traffic.

It was an earlier take on bedtime than our previous night, and we rested well.  good thing too, for we had more places to drive the next day!

apple class

So this was really cool. 

Friday afternoon a group of homeschoolers participated in a free coding class at the Apple store downtown.  

For the kids: Free class. Free t-shirts.  Free usb bracelets.

For apple: Free advertising and a chance to hook a lifelong customer at an early age.

I feel like it was a pretty great deal on both sides of the coin.

My big three were official participants.  My little two (and a few other little sibs) scored on the free tee shirt and posed for the photo too :)  

city travel

These kiddos just keep getting older, and bigger, and easier to take on public transport!   In the past months we've really increased our use of bus and subway, and Wednesday night I realized I was doing the "all five on the subway" thing right on the brink of rush hour.  The station was full, and the train arrived full, and on we squished.... thankfully for a quick one-long-stop-down-the-tracks journey.

Really the bus is a much easier option for this particular destination (the girls' Wednesday night Bible club) but at rush hour the bus is a bit of a wild card.  Subway trains are crowded but they don't get stuck in traffic.  So subway it was.... And on the way out of the station I got this photo of my city kids on the escalator.

After dinner and getting the girls to their meeting the boys and I headed home.  This time I was ready for the bus (which drops us off just a block from our house) as opposed to the subway (which is more like a 15 minute walk from our house).  Luke and John Paul are both amazing walkers, and they had already covered several miles on foot, but getting closer to home sounded perfect.

Until the bus pulled up and I had second thoughts :)

It was packed to the gills, and I considered waiting for the next one, but my boys were ready to conquer.  In theory the elderly, pregnant, and those with young children get priority seating.  And honestly people often give up a seat for us.  But this time the seats were already full of grandmas and those holding babies and I thought we were in for a bit of lurching until I managed to squeeze back a bit farther and find a young guy in his mid-20s, focused on his phone screen.  A quick tap on his shoulder and we had switched places :)

Luke and John Paul squeezed in with me and Isaac held on to the seat and I (rather unsuccessfully) tried to capture the bus scene.

Happy.  Blurry.  Squishy.  Me and the boys on the bus!

And the girls?  They can ride the bus home on their own when club is finished.  City kids.  

[Don't think I'm crazy... public buses are acceptable means of transport for elementary kiddos.  There are no dedicated school buses and hundreds of thousands of elementary school kids ride public buses to and from school and activities each day.]

And as a finale, this fun picture of my crew of 5 at the school gates this afternoon.  So glad to walk the few blocks to school, traverse the city on the bus, and fly around the world with these precious people.

(and their Daddy, of course!  .... who is in the thick of long days and late nights and hours on the road.  It is November.)

Monday pictures

My grown up Julianna, walking in the door after taking the bus home from a morning outing with her Daddy.  She and Lydia are starting to use public transportation more often - I'm ok with our slow paced entry into the world of public transit (on their own, they've been on buses and subways with me many many times).  

Luke in the kitchen, again.  This time helping ayi dice bell pepper.  She did the lion's share of the work, but he does love to work alongside her, and if she cuts them into strips then he can work long and hard with a table knife.  It's a big bowl of bell pepper - she was helping me prep for two big pots of Chicken Tortilla Soup (one for us, one for my neighbor).  The pressure cooker on the counter had the cooked chicken waiting to be shredded.

And after the veggies were diced Luke and John Paul and I did a little "work" at the kitchen table.  John Paul pulled these alphabet stickers from the craft supplies and both the little guys really got into it.  John Paul had to get a little creative with our incomplete letter supply, but he's not one to let something as simple as a missing 'D' get in his way.

We are hosting multiple people this week and all five kids are sleeping in the girls' room so we have space for all the guests.  So it's a big slumber party in there tonight, and for the rest of the week!  For now, everyone is excited about the group snooze, but I imagine it'll be less enjoyable as the girls start to feel like little brothers are everywhere!  

a little trip south

I spent two days at the end of the week on a short trip.  Leaving my little people is not my favorite, even though they aren't so little anymore.  As usual, in the days and hours leading up to the trip I was second-guessing my decision to go.  And, as usual, I was glad I went, and even gladder to get back home.

The blue skies were like water to a dry, parched soul.  I couldn't get enough.

and this new dear friend, who I actually first met 15 years ago when she was an elementary-schooler, I'm so enjoying her ...

And then after a full day, I was off to visit Xiao Li!  It was just joy to see her, and her husband and son.

SiSi (her son) was so interested in me, and the pictures I brought of my family, and then the pictures on my phone.  He talked to me so much, and I would just sit there staring at him, remembering the YEARS we spent praying that the Lord would one day give Xiao Li a child - and there he is, six years old and sitting across the table talking constantly!  I've met him several times (and he even remembered me by the book I gave him last time we were together).  And now I'm so eager to get our whole family down there to visit him - he and Luke and John Paul would be a special trio :)

My last day I spent walking with a friend - around the lake, and all the old familiar spots from the years we spent in this town.  It was gorgeous, and warm in the sunshine, cool in the shade.

And then I was off to the airport, and a flight back home.  I fell asleep before 10 last night, exhausted from late nights and many conversations, and today was a sweet slow long Saturday for everyone.  yay.

why so few pictures?

Why am I not taking pictures these days?  Ack!  I just got out of the habit and need to pick up my phone and take a few more throughout the day.  

One perk of young kitchen help ... they just improve with age :)  I'm now on a solid upward swing and the future trajectory looks promising!  ha!  

Luke loves washing veggies.  Mostly he loves playing in the water, but veggie washing is as good an excuse as any.  Enter sweet potatoes as the evening's victim.

His sense of satisfaction at a job well done is my favorite part.  He loves to get those potatoes clean, and then when one of the sisters asked at dinner, "Can we eat the skins?" he all but jumped out of his seat to reassure her that they were clean!  I served these with homemade fried chicken nuggets.  yum.

Thursday morning Lydia and I went to visit a friend and her newborn twin girls. Oh so tiny, and oh so precious.  And OH SO LOVED!

And we spent Friday evening at the international school's Fall Festival.  Bouncy houses and prizes and cotton candy and ..... whew!  I was glad to get home and turn them over to Matt for bedtime while I ran out to buy some picnic supplies for our Saturday at the elementary soccer tournament.  thankfully, the needed fruits and nuts and raisins were all available at our complex gate - can't beat that for convenience.

I'll have to gather up some friend's pictures from the tournament and get them posted.  And this Monday we start week #11 of our school year and the leaves are gone from my favorite fall tree and today in the car we even talked briefly about getting out some Christmas tunes.  whoa!

the game

First time I've ever been in this big stadium downtown.  The crowd was electric!  They were fired up about soccer.  (This at the beginning of the game - those sections all filled up and in ours there were people standing at the top of every aisle!)

A few of our homeschool soccer team friends..

Precious child of mine.  Who describes his own ethnicity as "English".  It's complicated, buddy.

walking back to the car.  waving our China flag :)

house FULL

I love a house full.  I just really do.  And this week was one where the Lord filled our home again and again.  

Last weekend we had a friend (who is in the midst of a hard season) spend the night.  

Then I saw a lot of our neighbor boys (and they spent one night too) while their Mom and Dad went to go bring home their newly adopted sister!  

Thank goodness Matt was able to help out Wednesday morning - that's 8 kiddos in the circle to pray at the start of a busy day! 

Although I have an extroverted kiddo or two (Julianna, Luke)... I also have a few who tend to be a bit more like their mama (while I do love a full house it's being alone that gives me energy).   I love this picture that Luke took of John Paul hiding behind a big Lego book.  Quiet in the chaos, my friends.

Friday I watched another set of treasured little people and then today (Saturday) was just a great day! We started with homeschool soccer practice, then back to our house for pancakes with friends, then off to a professional soccer game (this first time I've ever even heard of something like this in our city!) and then to another friend's house to see an old friend who now lives in America.

Whew.  I'll use tomorrow to rest up :)

why i go to the library

exactly.

Friday lunch

Let's say you just lost your first tooth.  And it was the highlight of your week.  And then you found out your buddy Layla lost her first tooth too! Good times!

Luke's the star student.  And he drew a picture of our family.

Luke is the little guy, bottom left.  Isn't that awesome?  Also I haven't asked him why he drew two houses but I'm pretty sure I know the answer - this little guy has done the globally-mobile life long enough to know that two houses is standard issue :)  We've been back in country almost two months and he still prays and thanks God that we "live in China now and came back to our old house".  Oh buddy, me too!

little boy afternoons

After the big kids head to school the little guys and I head straight to the couch - it's book reading time!  Except on the days when I am super sleepy and can't keep my eyes open, we usually read for almost an hour.  It's one of my favorite times of day.  

And then John Paul practices his reading.  He's on the 4.5 minutes a day plan.  But I'll take 4.5 minutes :)  He is so squirmy, wiggly, squiggly, upside down jiggly.  He reads with his feet behind him, and his feet above him and his feet kicking my feet.  He will sit still - he loves to cut and glue and tape and create and Lego and whatnot, but something about words on a page makes the boy wiggle.  Somehow, he's making remarkable progress regardless of the squirms - ha!  And while I sometimes wish I was in full body armor, I'm learning to learn alongside him and in his way.  

Besides the wiggle-master, we have another reason to keep our reading lessons under 5 minutes - Mr. Luke, who knows that snack comes right after JP finishes, and he's in a hurry to get things underway.  

And then, we play.  Sometimes outside, sometimes inside.  Often the little guys enter their own play world and I tune them out :)  but on Thursday Luke and I had some unfinished parking lot building to attend to, and things got complicated.  In my free time I counted matchbox cars and the total is somewhere near "this should be plenty for our family" :)  

And then we each had a turn taking a picture of our creation.  

Blurry pictures by Thing One and Thing Two - whom we've recently nick-named Fili and Kili after the youngest dwarves in The Hobbit.

Grateful to spend these hours with these boys.   Even when they want to read the same books over and over.  Even when the wiggles drive me crazy.  Even when I think I'll never be able to buy enough bananas to provide three days in a row worth of snacks :)

Grateful.

a lost tooth

Just when I thought he couldn't get any cuter... John Paul lost his first tooth!  

He's been eagerly waiting for this moment for months and months.  All summer he would wiggle teeth and announce "I think one is loose".  But then this moment came and wow - he was excited!  and he lost it at school!  Ahhh! I missed the big moment ;)

He came bouncing out of school so excited and asking me to "guess what he had in his backpack".  And then I saw his grin - and I knew my answer to his "guess" question!

We now have four children in the tooth-loosing process :)  It's a lot of teeth!  ha!

His "new" smile still catches me by surprise and has me smitten!  He's such an incredible kid.  (and with the beginning of the tooth-loosing process I know he is one big step closer to his next surgery - ugh!  Sometime in the next one to three years is my best guess.  I need to get some X-rays done and send them to the crania-facial team and we'll see where to go from there....)

And to finish up the first loose tooth day we went on an after-dinner bike ride with the boys.  (The girls were at a classmates birthday party.)  The sun is setting earlier and earlier, and it won't be long before we are eating dinner in the dark with no hope of a bike ride.

After a ride it's always a good idea to stop for a Popsicle.  Good thing we can buy them at the convenience store by our gate, huh?  It's a pretty scene at night and the city sparkle never seems to grow dim.

once again (a week's worth of photos)

Apparently I only blog on the weekends now.  This is not my favorite arrangement, but I'll take what I can get :)

Last weekend (now 8 days ago) Matt competed in an adventure triathlon.  Kayak, mountain bike, trail run.  He did really really well.  Especially considering he didn't even know about the triathlon until a week before!

He even made a newscast about the tri - we didn't see it, but one of the local guys he met there sent us a clip.

It's nice to be married to a foreigner.  More opportunities for fame :)

And he met some truly famous people, like this Olympic kayaker.

Proud of Matt and so thankful for opportunities like this - very life-giving for him!

The boys both thought he won the triathlon when he brought home this gold medal.  Too much Olympic watching :)