September Happenings!

In September we drove downtown to see the Birds Nest.  This is the Olympic Stadium.  It is surrounding by many parks.  So we had a brilliant idea.  Why don't we get KFC, just recently opened up by us, we could get a big bucket of fried chicken and corn on the cob and bisquits and have a fun picnic with the kids and our friends the Pendeltons.  Just like a fun picnic in America.  But, once we got there, we realized there was no grass to sit on.  No field to fly a kite on.  We parked in the wrong place for a nice picnic, but we did get to see the cool Olympic stadium and eat fried chicken on a bench.  Next time we will try and find the park.  

I have lost 15 pounds since this photo, just so you know!!!

The kids are getting  more and more used to having our great helper around.  Mabel especially loves our Ayi.  If we were to stay in Beijing longer she would be fluent in Chinese. 

I Love this picture of Izzy, her hair is growing, but she never lets me put it back.  This was back in September and she, for once let me get it out of her face.  Now you can see the nice black eye she got from jumping on the bed.

Cute Mabel at 8 months:  Cute as a button..

Hou Hai

Hou Hai is a fun place to go to see some cool Chinese neighborhoods.  There is a big lake in the middle and surrounding it are tons of restaurants and shops.  It is pretty fun.  You can even go out on the lake and ride a boat.  We did not do that this time.  We went with our friends the Wiltbanks, they also have 4 kids and we sure look silly with all these kids.  Everyone loves to take pictures of us.  

Sawyer had his eye on this cotton candy as soon as we got there.  It is so BIG!!!  But not tasty at all.  he was so excited to get it, he had to wait a while, we ate dinner first, then I think he was a little disappointed because he only had one bite.  It sure make fun pictures though.

PAINTING!!! 

Izzy and Sawyer can not paint without getting it all over their bodies.  The first day in China I went to a friends house, the Lintons, we  knew them at Harvard.  They were just ending their first tour in the foreign service.  We over lapped by a month.  She was so kind to let my kids play at her house while I went out shopping for food.  When I came back, she was a little overwhelmed, Sawyer and Izzy had gotten paint all over themselves and the table.  Luckily she had an Ayi and I came back just in time to put Sawyer in the bath.  That is why I don't usually set the whole bottles of paint on the table with my kids.  She was a little surprised to say the least.  

Back to the Olympic Park

This time we found the green area.  It was really nice.  They even have a track all around the lake and park.  You can either take the 3K, 5K, or 10K loop.  I'll have to run it sometime.  

The even had a small carnival, they sure charged a ton to ride the rides.