Parenting Cubed

I have lots of pictures today so I thought I would up load lots of them and put a quick description of each pic.

This first pic was taken on the way home tonight. again another funny sign! This one means you can sleep while driving in this lane!











Not sure if you can see this one, but its a car inside of a broken wine glass. So next time be careful, wine goes in the glass, not your car!!



Here are the 2 little ones searching for wild cats. there were a ton of them at the zoo. Lots of them were abondoned cats. there was a lady going around feeding them.





any one need a taxi?? Abigial took this one out of the window of our van tonight.
We took our driver and our guide out for supper tonight, (238yuan) for everyone! (35canadian for the whole supper) and we had a lot of food!!!! a ton actually. Then afterwards he took us to a famous bridge, a glass bridge, that has music playing and water spraying to the music. the kids LOVED it. Hanlin wouldn't get out of Frank's arms,as he was scared of the glass floor, but Lily had no fear and was a dancing queen to the music. People actually stopped and took video of her dancing!! I was having a heart attack, because it was dark and I couldn't' focus on her fast enough, as she was dancing all over!! My bum was squeezed soo tight, on the glass floor, you could see cars rusing by underneath your feet. Frank would only walk on the supports in case the glass gave away!! LOL and there was NO WAY Hanlin would get out of Frank's arms.
Here they are looking over the rail at the water show! Again my stomach was in knots thinking Lily was going to slip though under the rail!! the gaps in the wooden floor were about 3 inch gaps! Ohhhh it soo was weird walking on it.. plus they had lights under it which again... screwed with your eyesight, well mine anyway, and I couldn't focus on the kids!
Just before we got to the glass bridge, Hanlin feel asleep. He nodded off a couple of times during supper but Frank kept shoving food in his mouth and wiping his face with a cool cloth, as we wanted to keep him awake for at least another hour. It was only 6pm and if he fell asleep at supper we would be in for a rough night. Anyway He did mangange to stay wake till the van ride, and then he woke up again at the bridge. He can fall asleep in an instant and be wide awake and happy the second his eyes open. when he wakes up in the morning, he smiles and says mommy and climbs into be with me. Very sweet.
No seat belts here!! Lily is loving it! You know I have to say.. A LOT of people said to us that we were crazy for bringing the 2 older girls, but even crazier for bringing Lily. Imagine that bringing a 3 year old back to the country that she is from!! Well, this little peanut has absorbed more of this country than any one else. She is soaking in every minute, never complaining, and we are out for hours and hours at a time, not eating lunch till 3pm sometimes, lots of walking, lots of heat! she is even speaking bits of chinese. Even being soo sick a the begining, not crying... nothing... always game for anything. We are soo impressed and proud of her.

And the 2 older girls... well they should receive a medal. they are little Canadian Embassadors. Handing out flags and pins, balloons and pencils.
they push the strollers for hours on end, deal with the little ones hanging off of them, go without lunches and late late suppers and walking and walking and walking....The are doing gymnastics on my bed every day and do conditioning with Daddy every morning and then they walk for hours on end.. do you know how much caffeine I need to keep up with them??

Actually, we did accidentally give them a whack of caffeine the other day. I ordered a frappicino from Starbucks for them each, and it wasn't till Abigail was having a "caffeine high" did I taste thier drinks. Oopps.. there was a good shot or 2 of expresso in each drink! LOL Oh well!


Here is a "wheel of tea". They have big wheels of pressed tea. We went into a nice tea shop while we waited for our guide and driver, ohh the smell was fantastic.
At the Tianjin Zoo. with our guide, Jessica. And also our driver. We paid for them to come in with us, (dirt cheap) as they were going to stay in the bus. It was much more fun having them with us, and our driver is from here, so he was full of information and neat facts. He just loved Lily and Lily really took to him.
Hanlin wouldn't walk across this little glassed area. LOL He waited till Isabelle (aka Isabella) as Hanlin calls her, to get him.



We are heading back to Beijing tomorrow on the 12:30 high speed train. Looking forward to going to a new hotel. Our bath water is brown and because of 2 vents in the bathroom, it often smells like raw sewage. YUM!! But it doesn't matter as we leave first thing in the morning and arrive back at in the evening. We really feel that we got a great taste of Tianjin, we can't believe how friendly every one has been to us. Strangers taking us out to tour the city, others showing us where interesting places are... sooo nice... so very very nice.