It's 2015...what's new???

Happy New Year!!!  

Let's start out with the important things, the kids are great!  Whenever I talk to anyone at home via text, email, video chat everyone asks about Blake and Grace, and I very much appreciate that!  They are both well, Blake went back to school today after a 3 week holiday break, and tomorrow Grace will be 9 weeks old and we have her 2-month check up on Friday to see how much she has grown and to get a couple of shots.  Grace has started smiling and enjoying her play mat and toys.  Blake thinks Grace should play with more toys and brings them to her, crawls under her play mat toys to check them out for her, and gives her at least 10 kisses a day, he is adorable with her. She is sleeping well at night so mom is very happy and mostly refreshed each day. Here are a few pics of them recently!

They must be related because they look a lot a like at the same age!

Next up, as most of you are aware, we will be back in the USA in 6 weeks, we are looking forward to coming home, but not the flight!  We will be in Phoenix and Vegas on this trip and are really trying to give the kids some time with both sets of grandparents, so we apologize in advance if we don't make it to see everyone, after the flight and the 15 hour time change I am sure we will also have some cranky kids on our hands!  We will be in the USA again in October, we are going to Oahu, Hawaii first to celebrate my dad's 60th (Yes that says Sixty!!!) birthday and then a week in AZ, and will be seeing many of you.....then a few months later we will be moving back to the USA and you can see as much of us as you like!  :)We are excited to meet the kiddos born while we were gone, see some of our friends who are expecting and catch up with all the friends and family!!!  I know everyone is looking forward to seeing/meeting Grace, we just ask that you only pinch her chubby cheeks a few times as many people will be torching her the same way and later in life we would like to tell her we tried to regulate the cheek pinching :)

Weird things i have seen in China.... Riding backwards bundled up on a street car.  Strange Christmas cake at Starbucks, Middle photo is Pajamas in China (better keep warm), next are the quickly set up road side stands for food and drinks on the way to work (Chinese fast-food), and the cold weather barriers they put on the doors at the malls and stores like its a freezer!  Being from AZ you never see these except on the inside of the freezer room at Costco....LOL

I'm not sure why there is a green cone at McDonald's but maybe it's green tea flavored????  Also, I am certain this isn't a New York cafe but we will have to go back and try it, the menu actually does have sandwiches.  I found some warm UGG boots on taobao for $15 to keep my toes warm when out and about!  

 

Starting February 19, 2015 it will be the year of the Goat in China so Walmart has pulled out the red decorations and sheep!  If you are curious, Blake is the year of the Dragon and Grace is the year of the Horse!

I was lucky enough to have a Chinese friend to go to a restaurant with, this makes ordering much easier and then they can also offer suggestions.  This particular restaurant is a seafood restaurant, the dish they are well-known for is a river fish that you go and select, they kill and cook for your right then and there so it is very fresh.  One side is spicy the other is mildly flavored but it was very good.  The orange looking stuff if jellyfish, it is a similar texture of cartilage from chicken, not my favorite thing to put in my mouth, but very popular here.  Then of course egg fried rice for Blake!

China has a lot of indoor play places in malls and stores.  We have been taking Blake to check out a few while he was on break from school.  They take the kids temperatures and have them sanitize their hands before going into play.  You can buy one time visits or passes, they would be great to have in AZ during the hot summer months!  Here are some photos, very colorful places!

MeWe Castle where you can go to different rooms and dress up and learn about different careers.  This time Blake was a fighter jet pilot, however he refused to wear the jacket!

Fun at the mall play place!

We found a Zoo Lights, only it was Dinosaurland Lights, and it was free!  We took Blake last weekend to see this fun display of lights and dinosaur statues!  Apparently this is big in China and many of the parks also put up light displays so we are looking forward to checking those out in the next few weeks! This is an amusement park in our city that has lots of rides and roller coasters that put this particular display together.

So we have been out and about a bit as a family, even rode the city bus down to have lunch and play one day while Brian was off work!  We are now feeling comfortable in our city and exploring a little more....look for more posts to come of my adventures around town with Miss Grace while Blake is in school!

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy new year from the Hudsons!!!