Foot-binding, Viper, Haircuts, etc.

 

Mid-Autumn Festival, two-thousand thirteen.

1. Friends from Titus' school (Ruiqi's family) invited us over for a very generous home-cooked meal to celebrate the holiday. Favorite dish: mashed potatoes with fresh chicken broth and diced up peanuts <---Ruiqi's mom Mei said she invented this dish, and it was a megahit. This was our first time to share extended conversation with this family, and we found out that they are really cool. Side note: the grandmother, born in the 1930s, has bound feet. Hers is the very last generation in this tradition.


2. Pet turtles live with us now; a mountain-hike to gather materials became imperative for a proper turtle habitat. I mean we only needed a couple stones and twigs, but Titus filled up an entire bag with rocks, very special rocks, so heavy that transport became impossible. Following a careful and painful selection we made it off that mountain with our diminished turtle-habitat booty.

Since we're talking mountain hike here, so, remember I mentioned that we crossed paths with a snake while hiking with visiting Addington family? (did I mention that?) First time for us to see a snake. First time too for the grandma on the trail who, "lived here my whole life and NEVER have I seen snake on this mountain!" It was a little less than a meter long, bright green, not seemingly aggressive... anyway, it was a Bamboo Viper (竹叶青蛇).

"Sluggish and usually stands its ground if approached ( well camouflaged in tree and plant vegetation ). Quick to bite if within striking range." (source)

"The wound usually feels extremely painful, as if it had been branded with a hot iron, and the pain does not subside until about 24 hours after being bitten. Within a few minutes of being bitten, the surrounding flesh dies and turns black, highlighting the puncture wounds. The wound site quickly swells, and the skin and muscle become black due to necrosis. The size of the necrotic area depends on the amount of venom injected and the depth of the bite." (source)

 So. I'm glad it didn't strike us.


3. Haircuts. Smoothies and beancurd jelly. Dinner with a friend and her mom visiting from northeast China. The end of our weekend Mid-Autumn national holiday.

counting the graces

thank you Father for

Michael's singing

sociology lectures online bringing clarity and increasing my interest

losing and finding a lost turtle, inside the boys' room, it was kinda exciting

every single day you have sustained our lives and the entire world

windows open and the sound of birds -- from the living room I can hear birds out the north and south windows

strengthened faith of Liao Sha and her perspective drawn from Proverbs 1

Fair to say, it was a BLAST

On Titus' birthday we threw a big rocket-launch party outside the university stadium. A few weeks back I looked into acquiring a rocket for our boys, since they've been into space and aviation. We bought an inexpensive rocket + launch gear online, and after testing it out, were inspired to invite his friends to a big blast-off for his 5th birthday!

It was certainly the BEST party we have ever thrown -- by far the happiest, most delighted guests and perfect entertainment. 

We had 18 rockets and an equal number of children, mostly Titus' classmates plus a couple other friends, and their parents. The gig kicked off in the shade of the stadium veranda.

Titus is smiling and announcing, "谢谢大家" "Thanks everyone!"
Friends snacked on cake, fruit, bevies and rocket-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches while the paint dried.

In the photo below, please observe the Italian Stallion casually gripping a dolphin bubble gun. 

(heheheheheh)

Dolphin Bubble Gun Wielding Italian Mafia? 

Anyway. 

Commence cake distribution for 45. 

Glad we had that heavily-armed guard supervising the allocation of desserts. ;)

To the adjacent launch field!

Uncle Drew and Uncle Jared were the launch pad controllers.

By the way -- thank you so much Jared, for launching, for slathering peanut better and jelly, for hauling stuff. Seriously, thank you. I hope you don't mind me teasing about that bubble gun thing...

And -- thank you to Niu Niu's dad and Ke Boyang's dad, guys who wielded cameras to shoot all these beautiful pictures.

Finally -- thank you to my dear husband for spending two late weeknights meticulously assembling and spray painting 18 model rockets.

OK, to the launch already!

The kids thought it was INCREDIBLE!!!

They were completely surprised, when the first rocket blasted into the sky they were jumping up and down, spontaneously exclaiming, 

"哇！太棒了!  太棒了！"

"WHOA! AWESOME!   AWESOME!"

It was that wonderful, unrestrained expression of delight that you know is genuine because it's coming from a child. All the parents were beaming watching the kids' excitement. We also laughed as they sprinted off in packs across the green field to retrieve the rockets after they drifted down to earth on parachutes (or plummeted back down due to undeployed parachutes...ha.)

Video below is from the third or fourth of approximately 30 launches on Titus' 5th birthday!

counting the graces

thank you Father for

adorable sons in raincoats and rainboots today (gear which was cute and made getting them to and from school much easier)

really enjoying a girlfriend chat, comfortable in Chinese: laughter and life-seriousness with Zeng Ting and Xu Kai

jazz, coffee aroma, and academic progress in Starbucks

studying alone and thinking that meanwhile, my boys are happy, safe, having fun, and in good hands at preschool

waking up in Drew's embrace and it seemed romantic to discover that we were alone; no kids had found their way to our bed during the night (as one or two usually do)