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.

A Traveling we will GO!

People often ask us (both here and in the US), "How do you travel so many places with your kids? Don't they melt down? Is it stressful?" And in answer to these questions, I guess they travel well because we really don't give them a choice since we have traveled with them since they were born. Yep, we just drag them with us. Andy and I love to travel, so for us it became travel with kids or don't travel (since traveling without them just doesn't appeal to us). While there are special trips we have taken just the two of us, for the most we enjoy taking the kids with us. I think sometimes the thought of traveling with little people can be worse than the actual deal. And yes, our kids melt down just like yours do. And I have lost count the number of places where our kids have gotten sick. I am sure that you don't want those details! But over the course of our travels, we have learned a few hints that can turn a trip from stressful to enjoyable. I hope I don't come across that we have it all together and our kids are always well behaved on every trip. In fact, most of these we have learned through crashing and burning  - the hard way!

Hint #1: Begin traveling with your kids when they are young. Don't be afraid that you can't do it. Andy and I have a theory that ours have adjusted well to traveling here because we took MANY car trips with them in the States. And if they are used to waiting in a car/bus/train/plane then each time gets easier. Well, at least in theory. Surprising for many people that when I do the 24 hour+ trip from the US to China with the kids (by myself) that the hardest part is the not the 14-hour plane ride. Yes, it is long. But the hardest part is navigating the airports themselves. Even the standing in long immigration lines is not hard. Tiring, yes. But not hard. Because our troupers know what to expect. While it is not their favorite of things, they know that it has to be endured.

I think that since we traveled with her since she was born, she can fall asleep ANYWHERE! (on the train from Shanghai)

Yes, she is asleep! (on a boat on the Li River, South China)

Hint #2: Pack snacks. Or find them on the way. When we first would travel and our kids were little, I applied "home rules" to travel time. You know, things like, don't eat too many snacks, don't eat them too close to meals, yada, yada. . . But I have found, when our kids get grumpy we eat. Whether it is 10AM or 3:30PM, we just stop and find a snack. Or even a complete meal. Then often in these down times, we have a great time with our kids. We talk, laugh and have time to just enjoy them. We have found Starbucks in crazy locations and then enjoyed. . . (well, this leads me to our next one)  reading a book together.

Kids choosing a snack while I bargain for a good price (Xi'an, China)

Mmm, meat on a stick! My boy's idea of the perfect snack. (night market Hua Hin, Thailand)

Hint #3 Have a bag of tricks. It could be as simple as a few crayons and a notebook or a handful of small toys. One of our kids absolutely favorite things to do when we travel is to read a book as a family. We pack a longer book (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was our first and recently we read Redwall) and whenever we have to wait somewhere, we pull out the book and read a chapter. And suddenly our tired kids who have been waiting in line for over an hour perk up and are ready to go on. (and this is not an exaggeration, we have waited in lines for 3 hours or longer. After all, this is China with SO many people and sometimes you just have to wait) Find what works for your family.

my iPhone would be part of my bag of tricks (Starbucks in Chengdu, China)

Hint #4 Be flexible. While we generally have a plan of what we want to see and do, we have learned to allow some flexibility in the midst of that plan. If you have a particularly busy day, follow it up by a low key one. Often when I let go of my plan and am just enjoying is when we find those unexpected things: a lake where we can rent row boats, a man painting Chinese characters on the sidewalk. Another thing we have started experimenting with is letting our kids take turns to plan a day, excursion or even part of our time. They come up with things that we would never have thought of!

Skipping rocks on the bank of the Li River (Guilin, China)

Totally unexpected -- a puppet show that the kids got to participate in. (Xi'an, China)

One of those finds - a fountain that had a nightly light show (Chengdu, China)

Riding stone lambs (Hangzhou, China)

Our kids were getting tired of all the walking in the Yellow Mountains. Becca and Josh came up with the idea to count all the steps and see which was the longest. (Huangshan (Yellow Mountains), China)

Now we will need to apply these as we are scheming and dreaming about our fall trip. We are undecided about where to go, but on the list of possible places are: Tibet, Xinjiang (the northwest province of China, on the border with Kazakhstan), or Inner Mongolia. Oh, yes a traveling we will go!

Shanghai 2010 World Expo

On Saturday we took the train into Shanghai for the day to attend the 2010 World Expo. We talked to our parents the week before and neither even knew that there was a World Expo going on this year in China. Please, tell me that somebody out there heard that it was happening!?

Anyway. . . . We had researched which pavilions that we wanted to see. What might be worth standing in line for (to see some country's pavilions the lines were 8+ hours long!!). Thankfully, none of our lines were that long. But then again we avoided the worst offenders (Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Germany, ...) and found some others that were interesting.

One of the corporate sponsors. I think this sounds a little better in Chinese: "Come to the Coca Cola Happy Factory. We will wait for you there!"

But I just don't get the "happy factory" part.

Thailand

Saudi Arabia -- the costliest exhibit

The lines were crazy long at both the U.A.E and Saudi Arabia so we opted for a similar cultural experience and went to Qatar. Wait time: 10 minutes.

Yes, my friends, we are in this line! Waiting to go to India.

While waiting in line, some people behind us were eating these and gave us some to try. They told me what it is, but I had never heard of it. I then proceeded to amuse those around us as I tried to get them open (really hard) and get the nut-like things inside out (even harder). While it wasn't my favorite thing in the world, we ate all that they gave to us. It kind of reminded me of a cross between a nut and a bean. ???

Standing by a Christmas tree (that is actually the kind) created by the set designers of Lord of the Rings (I heard that the entire New Zealand exhibit was created by them).

India -- this is the pavilion that we waited the longest time for (a little over an hour). But it was worth it for the amazing lunch we had inside.

Mmm, curry and tandori chicken.

The girls and I showing off our henna from the Indian pavilion

We ended up seeing almost 20 pavilions and WOW we were tired by the end of the day!

Xi'an, 3rd and final day

Sunday morning we woke up and made our daily pilgrimage to the Golden Arches for breakfast. We then walked to the city wall. The city wall surrounds the old city of Xi'an. The current city expands well beyond the city wall. The wall has been restored and you can ride bikes all the way around. We got to the top and our only options for renting were tandom or single bikes. And none of them had child seats on the back. So we decided to try the bikes with the Tori and Josh on the back and Becca rode her own bike. We were so proud of Becca because she rode all 14 kilometers around! We grabbed late lunch and then made our way back to the train station to go home. What an amazing weekend!

The view from the top of the wall.

I am not sure where they are racing off to, but they look to be having fun!

After being up a lot of the night taking care of and then worried about Josh, I look really tired.

Another picture showing the different sides of China -- standing on a wall hundreds of years old with how many tower cranes in the background?

Boarding the train. There is a certain amount of organized chaos of boarding a train in China.....

Back on the train and homeward bound.