China 2010

I know a lot of people have been anxiously awaiting my China post, but I've been procrastinating it. If I must be honest, China, you disappointed me. Yes, the Great Wall was breathtaking and I liked all your really, REALLY old history, but when comparing you to Japan there just isn't any contest. In general I found the people to be not as friendly and nothing like the Japanese. Actually, the Chinese were a lot more like Americans in that regard. The country is still developing and while the tour we took (with guides who work for the Chinese government) tried to show us the nice historical parts of China, we also saw poverty, a roadway system with complete and utter disregard for any traffic laws and a feeling of complete God-lessness. That was the first thing I noticed....I could feel the lack of the Spirit in this country where agency has almost completely been taken away. I felt so sad for our guides who want more children but because of the one child law can't (or else they loose their jobs and have to pay a huge penalty). The were astounded that we had four and one on the way (yes, I was pregnant, but lost the baby at 10 weeks). Literally they were in awe of our family size.

Overall, I'm glad I went to China to check it off that bucket list I have, but I have no desire to go back. Now Hong Kong I would like to see (being stuck in the airport for 5 hours was actually pleasant after being in China). There were some things I did like about China....It really wasn't all bad. I guess I had just built it up so high in my brain that it didn't live up to the grandiose expectations I had. Here are some highlights:

This is Tiananman Square (with the Forbidden City in the background). What do you know about Tiananman Square? Probably the image comes to mind of a young Chinese college student standing in front of a tank in the 1980's, right? Well, all we learned about T.S. was that it was the largest outdoor public square in the world. When I asked about the tank bit I got zero information. The guide (who didn't speak good English at all and who works for the government) couldn't/wouldn't answer my questions about that or any other "controversial" Chinese questions I had. It was really frustrating and I felt like I had to come home and look everything up on the Internet to get the real scoop. Isn't going to an actual historical place supposed to answer any questions about said place? No in China, land of the "keep information from the masses".

Chinese solider. They were everywhere. Rob even got yelled at by one because he leaned against a lamp post in front of the Russian embassy.

In Japan we have shisa dogs donning every entrance. One is a boy and one a girl. In China they have sorta the same thing, but each thingy (I'm not sure what they are called) is pretty cool. The boy has a ball under his foot and the girl has a "child" under her foot. I thought it looked like the female was trying to crush and eat the child, but she's really supposed to be playing with it.

Inside the Forbidden City. It rained and was EXTREMELY big. It could have it's own zip code, seriously. It went on and on and was very crowded. Anything noteworthy to see was closed off, poorly lit and had hoards of tourists all trying to take a picture. I wish we could have had a guide that could speak English better and tell us about it.


Ahhhhh...the Great Wall of China. It really is like the movies, except with tons of tourists. We decided to walk to the top. The higher we went the less people there were. So, on and on we went. I stopped just shy of the top thinking it was just going to go on forever. If I had just gone 100 meters more I would have reached the end. Rob went all the way. It took just over 1 hour of STRAIGHT stairs upward to get there and about 20 minutes to get down. It was very peaceful and I couldn't help but think of Huns invading China. Again, I wish we could have gotten a history lesson, but our guide had a fear of heights and as I've mentioned no less than twice, a lack of English skills.

Is he not the most handsome husband EVER???? I love that sweater on him too. This was inside one of the guard (?) posts.

This picture doesn't show it, but I was a stinker climbing up. As much as I love being outdoors and at the top of mountains, I hate climbing them when I'm not in shape. Rob had to put up with my orneriness and I am forever grateful for his patience.

This shows the last little distance that I didn't climb, but Rob did. Seriously ever bend had another 100 meters that looked like this and after 7-8 of them I just said that's it. It was really breathtaking, though.


Does anyone recognize this? Yes, it's the Olympic stadium for the Beijing 2010 Olympics. Oh, yeah, did I mention this is all in Beijing?

The swimming cube for the Olympics. I remember this being lit up at night on TV. They are right next door to each other.

This is the spread of food we got our first night there. The video is from our first lunch. The lunch was the best and although we got tons of food every night it wasn't the best. We had a dumpling extravaganza one evening. I think we tried 18 different kids of dumplings. Interesting, but not very tasty in my opinion.


The next city we went to was Xi An. Our favorite guide was here and he spoke pretty good English! The famous thing in Xi An are the Terra Cotta Warriors. 30 years ago, this farmer was out digging in his field when he discovered this archaeological goldmine. Buried under his farm was a tomb-like shrine to some past emperor. Apparently this emperor wanted this huge shrine and it took years and years to build. He was there on an inspection when he dropped dead. Then, through the years invaders ruined a lot of the statues, but it was still pretty dang cool. I'm sure I'm butchering the story, but that's the gist.

Here is the farmer signing books. The sad thing is since no one can own land in China (another appalling discovery thanks to the communist system) this poor farmer has national acclaim, but no monetary compensation for his amazing discovery.

Here's the first of 3 vaults. Click on the picture to enlarge. When they started excavating most warriors were broken into many pieces. These have all been pieced back together.

Another vault.

Xi An wall. It reminded Rob of Samuel the Lamanite (...high on a city wall...). It surrounded the city center.

We went to this dinner theatre and saw a cool play about some old emperor and then had that dumpling buffet.

After spending the night in Xi An we flew to Shanghai the next morning. The World Expo was in Shanghai and we wanted to see it rather than shopping for 3 hours (the schedule cannot be deviated from according to our third and super annoying guide). We saw this garden which reminded us of the Chinese Garden in Naha.


Yuan Market (I think that's what it's called). It was CRAZY busy and taught me that China really does have a billion people living there.

This is on our layover in Hong Kong. Can you see Victoria's Peak in the distance???

So, I feel bad dissing China. I'm sure I just had a bad experience and that the whole country isn't horrible. We did stay in the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in while in Shanghai. It had scented pillows and tons of cute extras like that. All in all it was great to get away from real life. We have to give props out to Rob's sister, Amy, who flew all the way from California to watch our little monkeys so we could go play. It was great to just be together. Oh, and I have to mention that Rob doesn't feel the same way I do about China. He had a nice time and liked all he saw. That's it. Now I can check this blog off my mental to do list and move on with all the other things we've been up to lately.

Noah turned seven!

Yes, my oldest baby is seven. Holy cow! As a mom I couldn't ask for a more caring, thoughtful, smart, compassionate kid to be an example to his older siblings.

Here he is getting a Lego watch. As a now 7 year old, as per base regulations, he is allowed to be outside for up to two hours at a time (ie: he can roam the neighborhood without checking in with me). Well, I'll never let him go for 2 hours, but he loves his new freedom being able to walk to the park by himself or just run around. The deal is, though, that he has to come home when we tell him to. Hence the watch.

"Heavy, heavy hangover thy poor head. What do you wish this person with the BUMP on their head." Does anyone else do this family custom?

Noah had a Lego party (of course).

Everyone is seeing who can put together the new Lego set the fastest.

We got home late the night before Noah's birthday from China. I knew I wouldn't have the energy to make a cake the next day so I splurged and bought him a fun cake. My friend Leigha makes them and they taste SOOOO YUMMY! She is a genius with the fondant and I'm so happy to not have to make it. Win/win situation. Everyone loved it.


Here's Noah the next day with the Lego loot he got from his party. He had already put most of the sets together. Man, I love this kid. He's been home sick the last two days and I have had so much fun having just him around (well, and Kate too, but he's so good with her that it makes it that much more fun). He is really an amazing kid.

Amy's Visit

Our first visitors came to Okinawa!!! Rob's sister, Amy, and her baby, Trent, came to visit us for 2.5 weeks! We had so much fun. What a whirlwind getting everything seen. Here are the highlights. We sure had fun!

Doctor Fish

Sunset Beach after soba and Dr. Fish.

Shopping in American Village

The Aquarium

Trent and Kate getting paparazzi'd by the Japanese. They seriously took pictures of those two for like 20 minutes. Each time one group would be finished snapping pics, the next group would come and start oohing and aahhing over them. It was super funny. In case you didn't know, they just love the American babies.


Pizza in the Sky

Amy won her motorcycle race at Round One.

Maeda Beach

Kissing cousins

Amy took the kids over to American Village a couple of times while Rob and I were in China. China, you say? Yes, Amy watched all five kids while Rob and I went to China for five days. Bless her heart.


The way the story goes is that some Japanese folks were snapping pictures of our American kids. Whilst turning her back for moments some of said American kids decided to take a dip in the ocean. They seemed to have fun and didn't mind too much walking home while soaking wet.

Another excursion to the McDonald's in Justco.

A trip to Okinawa World. Don't they look like such a cute little family? Why couldn't our family pic with the albino boa snake turn out so nicely?

Rob and Issy got picked to participate in the pre show festivities.

They all look a little too comfy with that huge snake, don't you think? BTW, it's much heavier than you think.

A visit to the Futenma Shrine Cave. Pretty neat and we had never been there. We pass it every week on our way to church, though.

Isabella is purifing herself before entering the cave.

What trip to Oki would be complete (if you have kids) without a trip to a rollerslide park?

This is how Trent felt the majority of the trip. He was jetlagged at first and then was sick, Sick, SICK the rest of the trip. That poor boy. He got home and realized he had a double ear infection and something else (can't remember what right now). Amy even got sick just in time for the long flight home. Poor guys!

Neo Park. It's a zoo on animal rights neglect steriods. Yes, that bird is as big as Issy and eating out of her hand.

Feeding flamingos

Nice, turtle.

This is right after she licked the cage with rust on it.

Who needs a car when you've got a turtle to ride.

They loved these dogs.

Nice llama!