More bedtime!

Archie was feeling kind of sick the other week. We knew it was probably time to give him some antibiotics when, immediately after his morning nap, he crawled onto our bed and put himself to sleep for another 1.5 hours. Thankfully, he's all better now! I just thought this pic was really cute!

It's a GIRL!

Happy Easter!

Many of my friends have posted fabulous pics of their babies all decked out in Easter gear or Easter egg hunting. I think I fell down on the job in that area this year. (Actually, Archie didn't go egg hunting at all - he didn't even get a basket. Hunt and I figure this will be the last year we can get away with that!) However, we did have a marvelous Easter!

We had a fun party where we played games, sang songs, and ate eggs (deviled and dyed), cake and cookies. (Nobody even cared that my only cookie cutters were in Christmas shapes!)

Everyone diligently racing to complete an Easter word search

Leslie leading the group in silly Easter tongue twisters. How many times can you say, "Each Easter Eddie Eats Eighty Eggs"?

Here's a shot of Archie for the grandparents :) He enjoyed some Easter yogurt, but unfortunately got a little choked from drinking too fast and vomited it all back up a few minutes later.
Hunter ran the cookie crew! Good work!


We had a yummy Easter cake I picked up from the local bakery. Of course, in Asia the normal way to eat cake is with chopsticks!

Happy Birthday, Hunter!

We certainly had no shortage of opportunities to celebrate birthdays here. Based on the lunar calendar, Hunter is now 30. (He still has one more year in his 20s for all you on the solar calendar :) We went out twice with friends - the first time to our favorite Arabic restaurant! (My apologizes for the smudge on the lens of my little, ancient travel camera.)




And, the second time to a Chinese restaurant with some of our friends from the dental school. The specialty was pig feet but I, unfortunately, forgot to take a picture!


Oops, since Hunt was at the camera, he is not actually in this b'day pic!

Just a Little Crowded!

I found this stuffed in my drafts file! The pics of Archie are really old, but I finally remembered my camera to get a shot of the crowd waiting outside the bus!



As crazy as it may sound, I have actually become fond of not driving my own car. It takes a lot of pressure off and saves a ton of money in gas, maintenance, etc. That being said, the bus can be a pretty crazy experience. There is only ONE bus that picks up on our street and goes across the river into town so everyone has to take it.

Maybe my pictures can help you imagine how many people are always on our beloved #213. Unfotunately, because we are always so crammed into the bus, we really can't even get a good angle from the inside to capture the bus experience. Basically, when the bus is at its first station, the driver will not leave until the bus is crammed beyond capacity - people standing three or four deep in the narrow aisles and even standing on the stairs leading to the bus door. When I have Archie with me, someone always gives me a seat (sometimes the driver has to yell to get someone to get up) so I count myself pretty lucky. (Hunter does not share my good fortune - nor do I when Archie isn't with me!)

Actually, this pic doesn't do the crowd justice. This bus already has no more seats and the aisle is jammed so the folks are no longer pushing and shoving. (The driver is still waiting in hopes of a few more before taking off, though.) When there are seats left, they will knock you over trying to get on. Elbows become a most valuable asset for shoving folks out of the way!

Preschool Doo!

Archie was sporting this new hair-doo when I picked him up from preschool the other day! Pretty stylish, huh? Hunt was really embarrassed, but I thought it was hilarious! There is not much distinction where we live between how people dress toddler boys and girls.

Winter fun!

I snapped these pics the last week of March, which was also the first week Archie started wearing his glasses full-time. He definitely gets a gold star for his glasses wearing behavior. He even wore them to preschool! You may be wondering about the temp. It was around freezing on picture day, which seemed pretty warm to me. Definitely warm enough for Archie to enjoy some good playtime!
His duck scooter made its maiden voyage outside. Archie still prefers pushing it to riding. I think he needs to grow about 1 more centimeter before he can get good traction with riding power.


Archie loves the playground equipment, including investigating these fancy steps. (He can't quite figure out how to go up them yet and still opts for the regular slide steps, though.)



Archie feels like a big boy standing on the sidewalk all by himself. (Of course, I'm really only a few feet away with the camera :) and we're in a gated area a long way away from cars!

No local parents consider these temps suitable for toddler playtime so the playground equipment is still pretty muddy. (I had to knock big chunks of ice off with the toe of my boot.) Therefore, Archie gets more than a little dirty, and I have to wash his snowsuit almost nightly! I still think it's worth it!

Advertising Wonder

The louder the better! That seems to be the motto where we live. People here like "renao" which I think should be translated liveliness but which I sometimes confuse with the word noise. Haha! When a new business opens, the owners go out on the sidewalk and set off firecrackers - or sometimes even fireworks! In the mornings, hair salon employees go out for morning exercise drills carrying banners as they run and yell in the streets. (Any of you American hair stylists want to come apply for a job and get fit at the same time?) Stores blare music from loudspeakers to attract attention. Store clerks stand outside and yell out news about the latest sales (while clapping their hands, of course). At the old-fashioned restaurant by our house, the servers march out on the sidewalk clapping and chanting several times a day. I happened to be on my way to school with Archie while they were advertising the other day, and they were only too happy to pose for a photo opp. (I figure a bunch of them holding the only foreign baby for miles around was pretty good advertisement in itself :)

Mama's Little Helper: Part 2

Remember how good Archie is at cleaning toilets? He imitates everything we do, and lately he's taken to sweeping the floor.

Remember the rabbit?

When we first brought Archie back from Thailand, my Chinese teacher gave him a large, blue, stuffed rabbit. (There is some debate on the creature's identity because it has short, catlike ears but a cotton tail.) We immediately fell in love with her and affectionately call her Tuzi. (Tuzi means rabbit if you'll pardon the foreign language lesson :) One of my friends has been very diligent to make a pic of her daughter beside a particular stuffed bear each month of her life to chronicle her growth. While I haven't been that diligent, I do have some pics that show what a big boy he's becoming.

Archie and Tuzi at Week 7

Archie and Tuzi at 11 months

Archie and Tuzi almost 18 months

Oil City Part 2

When we arrived in Oil City, we were warmly greeting by a group of teachers and students that our friend had arranged to me us. They took us out to eat at a yummy restaurant.

Our friend Simon and us in front of the train station.


Simon's mom cooked a delicious dinner for us.

She also fed Archie some yummy treats. (It's a sliced fruit snack that is kind of like a fruit roll-up - pretty sure there's no exact American equivalent to hawthorn slices.)


Archie got to sleep between Hunter and me while we were at our friend's house. He went to bed a bit earlier than we did, though, so he had the whole bed to himself for awhile. How cute!

Oil City!

In February, Hunter and I had a chance to visit some friends in their hometown. Since it's even further north than us, it was REALLY cold! This city is famous for it's oil so I'll call it "Oil City."

There are oil drills everywhere. This one is on a very busy street across from the train station and right beside one of the biggest shopping malls in town.


"Ironman" is the local celebrity here. There is a whole museum dedicated to him. It seems every street, school, hospital and neighborhood bears his name, too. He is famous for enabling the people of Oil City to get the oil out of the ground and make money.

A local pedestrian bridge that helps people cross busy streets.

Street food in front of the train station

How did we get there? By train. It only took 1h20m. The station was a little crowded. Staring at Archie helped people pass the time in line.



More Oil City pics, featuring Archie and our friends, are coming soon. Stay posted!