sunday snapshot: {harbin}

Finally, I am posting about our trip to Harbin. The only excuse for not doing it sooner is this last month has been an absolute whirlwind. We all traveled to Harbin. We returned and had our home study. Two days later Andy left for Korea. Days after he got back, I left for Japan. But now we are back into our normal routines.

We had talked about going to Harbin for quite some time. But what stopped us before was . . . the bitter COLD.

We wanted our kids to be just a bit older before having them outside in -15°F for hours at a time. But every year, there is an Ice and Snow Festival in Harbin. Harbin is one of the most northerly cities in China and sits close to the border of Russia. It was cold, but we had so much fun! I had such a hard time limiting the pictures to share with you. I narrowed it down, but be warned there are still a lot!

We are on a river that is frozen solid. In fact, we saw cars driving on it! There are many things that we enjoy about China, but one of them is that our kids get to do things that would never be deemed safe in the US. Here we are on a sled-like thing and are propelling ourselves with what were essentially ice picks. As I watched them use them to get the sled to move, thoughts of "you'll poke your eye out" kept flitting through my head.

Andy on a 3 person sled with Becca and Josh. They got theirs moving so fast that it tipped over. Somehow my sled was lacking in speed.

As I was cautiously picking my way across the ice, my two daredevils preferred to run on the ice.

Or run, then slide. Andy wanted me to be clear that he is sliding not falling. I, however, did not slide I just fell. But thankfully, I had on so many layers that it only hurt a bit.

Becca enjoyed sliding on her stomach.

After the river, we ate dinner and made our way to the Ice Festival. And like all things in China, it was big and contained lots of lights.

The kids had so many layers on. I was determined that they would not be cold. Or lose a finger to frostbite. So they had on lots of layers. Think of the kid getting dressed in the Christmas Story and that is similar to what our kids were wearing.

Cinderella's castle. The people in front give you an idea of how big each of these structures were. They were made with blocks of ice and illuminated with lights from within. It seriously felt like a magical winter wonderland.

Can you notice a difference between the last picture of the kids and this one? In the previous one, they were bundled and here they are ready to shed layers. The difference?

Because in the time between the two pictures, they were all constant movement. Running and sliding on the snow and ice. Running and going down slides. And even in the freezing winter wonderland, they got hot! Hmm, maybe too many layers?

We came back the next day to enjoy the slides in the daytime.

Becca's favorite was this tubing run. We have limited pictures of us on it because we were having too much fun to stop and take photos. You can see the ice buildings in the background.

I watched as they were fixing some lights that burned out. I heard that this entire festival was set up in less than 20 days. Amazing. Only in China.

Tori taking a break from the slides. She was adorable in all of her layers.

Andy in front of a Harbin beer (ice) bottle. Just to give you a perspective on just how tall all of these structures were.

Our favorite slides were the ones that we got to race down. The kids developed a method of going down the slides that was the fastest way possible.

Later that evening we met up with friends from Suzhou and went back to the river. There T fulfilled a lifelong dream. . . ice skating.

We then went to a second smaller ice festival. I saw smaller because it was smaller than the one of the previous day, but it was still huge. This is after all China, where everything is bigger.

Enjoying time with friends in the ice world.

On our final day, we went to a tiger park. It is not a zoo, instead the tigers are in HUGE enclosures and you board a bus that takes you through the park. The park is well-known for their breeding program.

Disclaimer: These next shots are graphic. And while this is a natural part of the animal world, some would say it is cruel. Be warned.

This jeep drove up with a chicken on top. Before too long, a tiger approached. And understandably, the chicken got nervous.

The tiger pounced.

And there was no more chicken. It was surprisingly fast. Which is just a reminder to me that while these animals are beautiful, they are first and foremost wild animals.

And yes, it was gruesome. But there are parts of life that are not alway pretty. I think that we can want to make things perfect for our kids viewing. Even in zoos, the animals during feeding time are given slabs of meat. While I understand that, nature isn't always so neat. So while it isn't my fave of things to see, I honestly don't mind my kids seeing this.

We once again packed so much in that it is hard to believe that it was only 3 days. And now, I am not sure that we will travel again in China until we go and pick up our son. Which many of you have asked about. And the predominant question: where are you in the process?

Which is a really good question.

I *think* that we have finished our paperwork. [whew!] My next comments are not to discount anyone's process, but there is just an added complexity when doing it here. Andy is paid in RMB. We have bank accounts in both the US and China. We were requesting documents from the US. And have mailed things countless times back and forth from China. And don't get me started on the pain of getting anything notarized. We are sending a big packet of papers to our agency this week. And then?

We wait. But each step is one step closer.

Click below to view other Sunday snapshots.