Happy Birthday to Ashley

We had a great weekend. It was Ashley’s 5th birthday on Sunday. I really can’t believe that my baby is five years old already! How time flies. She’s growing up so fast, just like everyone says happens when you have kids.

Saturday afternoon, there was a “picnic” sponsored by Ashley’s school. They had some food and a band and lots of things for the kids to do. The girls got to paint and run around in a tunnel and play on a balance beam and throw some balls and get their faces painted. We all had a fun time being outdoors and spending some time together. It was a bit icky outside as far as the weather was concerned. It was drizzly. We had the stroller with us and noticed that as the rain fell, the stroller got dirtier and dirtier. You’d think that rain would clean things, but not here, guess it’s just so polluted that when it does rain or drizzle, it just drizzles mud. It’s pretty gross.

After naps, I decided we should get out of the house and go somewhere, decided to take the shuttle offered here at our complex to the Lido Area – Holiday Inn Lido. I’d been told that there were some good stores and a market in that area. So, after waiting a LONG time (we had the shuttle times wrong), we finally got on the shuttle. The trip was fairly short, although the bus was stinky and traffic was pretty bad. We made it to the Holiday Inn and started walking around to find a place to eat. There are many places around that area. We ended up eating Peking Duck at a restaurant near there. First time I’d had duck. It was interesting. The girls were in a great mood (and Ryken was very good too!) and ate lots of food. Ashley even picked up the cooked duck head to get a picture taken with it (yes, they serve you the duck head, I’m sure Chinese actually eat it, beak and all, but we weren’t that adventurous!). We then walked around some more, going to a small market where you can buy Tshirts and purses and DVD’s and souvenirs. I got a “Kate Spade” bag, a backpack and a wallet for about $18 US. This was my first try at bargaining/haggling and I thought it went well, since the starting price for one item was the end price for 3 items. After doing a bit of shopping, we went back to the Holiday Inn, where they have a Baskin Robbins! MMMMM, it was delicious! And not completely overpriced like Hagen Daz ice cream is here. We had a great night and were glad that we had gotten out and seen one of the touristy areas here.

Sunday was Ashley’s birthday! I felt like a failure as a mom since we haven’t met any kids her age and I wasn’t able to put together any sort of birthday party for her. With kids her age being in school during the day, it’s been really hard for her meet any friends. I talked to her and explained that we wouldn’t be having a party, but that we would be celebrating her birthday all day with Mommy, Daddy, Liz and Ryken. She seemed to understand, so that’s good. I made a cake for her and so we had cake with candles and sang to her. She got to open her presents from us and from the grandparents. She was so excited! Anthony and I got her a tennis racket along with some other odds n ends (nail polish and a bright pink cowgirl hat for instance).

When we got Ashley’s birthday present, we also bought ourselves tennis rackets. We figured since there is a court within sight of our house, we might consider trying to take up tennis as a way to exercise. We tried it out Sunday night and had lots of fun “playing”. I don’t really know how, so we mainly just volleyed. I was sore the next day, so I know it does work. We’re going to try to do it a few times a week and I’m looking into taking some lessons just to get the basics. I took Ashley out on the court today and I think she’s gonna have to take lessons from someone else since I wasn’t really much help. She has a hard time keeping her eye on the ball and just sort of swings blindly through the air hoping to make contact with the ball – but she looks so cute doing it! She was wearing her hair tied up through a baseball cap (pink of course) with a red shirt and aqua blue shorts. She had on dark pink socks with rainbow hearts and her white tennis shoes. I told her she looked a bit silly since nothing really matched and she said “mom, I want to look like a rainbow!”. Hahahaha. She knew it was all different colors and wanted it that way!

We keep slipping on our stairs and after going to a store similar to Home Depot and being looked at like we were crazy when asking for “stair strips to keep from slipping nd falling on the stairs”, I thought IKEA might have them (I’ve seen there in the Taiwan store). So, today, Ashley and I went to IKEA while Liz was taking a nap. Ashley loved going there since they have a kids play area she can checked into while I shop. It really is quite cool and a neat place for her. So, I ran around IKEA trying to find it, asking many different people and was finally told “we’re out”. When I asked where it would be located once they got some more in, was told “I don’t know, we’re out”. I don’t know if this means they won’t be getting more in or they really don’t even carry it. We’ll see. Our ayi slipped today following Liz down the stairs and she hurt her elbow, so we really need to do something about our stairs!

While at IKEA, my cell phone rings and I answer only to here a screaming crying child on the phone, attempting to say something to me, but I can not understand what. My heart skips a beat thinking that Liz has been hurt or something, but then I realize that had Liz been hurt, Xiaoshu wouldn’t have Liz on the phone talking to me, she would have called me directly. I finally get Liz calmed down enough to understand that she’s saying “I want you” over and over again. I explain that I’m at the store and will be home soon, then put Ashley on the phone who talks to Liz and says the same thing I did – that was pretty cute. It calmed Liz down and when we got home, she was happy and in a good mood.

Anthony left today for his first business trip since we’ve been here, just overnight, he’ll be back tomorrow night. His flight was supposed to leave around 1pm, didn’t end up leaving until around 5pm. Sucks for him, he had to sit at airport that whole time!