Lion Dance

Just for fun, the girls got to take a whirlpool bath during "winter break". They LOVE the whirpool bathtub. Unfortunately, it takes about 100 gallons to fill (not really, but almost), so we only do that a few times a year. They really love all the bubbles.


Here is the dangerous bicycle trail we forced Olivia to risk her life riding. I know - what more could you ask for? It's flat, clean and beautiful... The first trip out went fairly well, but the second one was disasterous. (One step forward, two steps back?) What goes on in the mind of an overly cautious 6 yr old? Olivia peddles about as fast as a sleepy infant crawls. Brooke, on the other hand, is perfectly happy running right off the path, down the embankment and into the stream. (That didn't actually happen because Mark was able to grab the back of her shirt in time.) But, she'd laugh about it and do it all over again.


How's this for scenery while you ride?


Today was a fundraising carnival put on by the new China playgroup at Georgia Tech. The highlight was a Lion Dance!!

Several of the kids loved the lion, but...

some definitely did NOT. Poor Ella!!!

Brooke wasn't sure how she felt about the lion. As long as he kept his distance, she was fine. But when he got too close - she climbed up Daddy's leg! When the dance ended and the dancers took off the costume, she said loudly, "There's a man in there!!!!" Ah ha! She saw them before the dance, but somehow didn't make the connection. After that, she was happy to have her picture taken with the fearsome beast.

We got to try several boxed drinks they sell in China. One was sugar cane water, so you can guess what that tasted like. Another was "green gourd", which they said tasted like melon. Wrong! It tased like coffee. Ugh! (Of course, Mark and the girls loved that one.) My favorite was the green tea with jasmine.

Here's Brooke and Ella. Now that the lion is gone, Ella is happy again. The girls attend the same church and pre-school, plus - Ella and her mom, Laura, are our classmates in Chinese class! Ella is very good and pays better attention than Brooke. (She's 6 months older.)

After the carnival, we drove around the corner and had dessert at Ikea. We just love that place! Plus, we ran into the Perry's! We met Kim, Michael, and Sheridan during the wait for Brooke. Sheridan is from China and he's about Olivia's age. They had planned a cruise for "winter break", but Michael had to stay home, since he's a teacher and his county had to make up the snow days (week) lost in January. Argh!! Mother Nature strikes again! (Kim and Sheridan had fun, though!)