Parenting Cubed

This Blog is being posted by Barb, Krista's sister. Krista and Frankie have left my sister Cheryl and me in charge of the kids. They promised they would be back. Well as you can see Krista and Isabelle and I went to the Silk Market today. We purchased 8 purses. Krista was in purse heaven. She actually talked me into buying a Chanel purse. Anyone who knows me will realize that this was quite a feat. Krista wanted me to post the above pictures and ask Erica, Mary and Lu to pick which Todd purse they wanted. (unless they want the purse in the first 2 photos)(no guarantees that she will actually let you have them, she has been parading around saying how beautiful she looks in each and every one of them. So if you want one I suggest you e-mail her quickly. )She bought 1 red and 1 orange. She also bought the colourful Chanel purse. The others are mine and for my friends. I asked the clerk if she had any Chanel purses and she quickly hauled out a brochure from under her desk and had me duck behind some suitcases to quickly scan it. Whenever a silk market security guy would go buy she would quickly hide the brochure and say shhh. Then she brought us down into the basement to show us garbage bags full of purses and the bartering started. I think we got a great deal as I went on-line and found out a real Chanel purse sells for appros. $2250 US. We got ours for 36 US Replicas can go for about 50-200 US.

We are going to drag Cheryl with us (literally drag her) to the Silk market to buy maybe a few Kate Spades and some Prada.

I hope everyone home is happy and healthy but not to wet. The weather here has been wonderful. Smoking hot almost every day. But what is unusual is that we are not getting sunburnt. I think that the pollution is too thick for the ultraviolet rays to get us. Although we do have blue skies.

Cheryl and I arrived in Beijing on September 8th, 5 days earlier than Krista and her troop. Thought they would enjoy some family time without have 3 mothers telling the kids what to do and not to do. Cheryl "my tour guide" took me on a whirl wind tour of Beijing. We saw every temple in Beijing I think. But at the end of every tour, if I was a good girl, she would allow me to shop a little. We have been travelling by bus and subway. I was a little nervous about the subway, but Cheryl said, "No problemo, just follow me, truuuuussst me!" I trusted her and I can honestly say that she is an excellent guide. Equipped with just a few books a couple of maps and a Mandarin chinese dictionary she was able to get us around Beijing (occasionally charades played into the directions) I was very impressed. We only got lost once, ending up back at the hotel 2 hour later than expected. But when we were lost we saw about 50 kites flying in the night sky all lit up with lights. We would never have seen these unless we got lost. We actually got on 2 wrong subways and 2 wrong buses. But it was all part of the fun.

Yesterday we all climbed the Great Wall of China. Krista, Lily and Hanlin made it halfway as the climb got too steep for her to continue with the kids. She decided to stay behind so the rest of us could continue up to the very top that we were allowed to climb. But of course, Cheryl and Frankie, being the explorers they are, decided to step over the No Visitors sign, climb over the wall and climb down an 8-10 foot vertical fall and continue on through to the unrestored section. But being the cautious and law abiding citizen that I am I decided to wait with Isabelle and Abigail for the two criminals to return. It took us an hour to climb up to the top, but only 15 minutes to run down. At some points were were actually climbing vertically, it was very hard but what a view!!! Look out you golfer buddies I will actually be able to walk all 18 holes now and won't need a cart on the back nine. Cheryl has me quite buff now.

Tomorrow we will be going shopping at the pearl market, silk market and someother market, that I am sure I can spend money at. Tomorrow evening we will be attending an acrobat show.

Food was quite an issue for Cheryl and I before we left for China. We were very nervous about what we were going to eat. But it hasn't been a problem at all.

My tour guide Cheryl found a fondu (Hot Pot Paradise) restaurant for the two of us. We had a great meal of lamb, beef, mushrooms and purple okra. I, of course, found McDonalds a few times. Today Krista ,Isabelle and I had some hawaiian pizza at Sarpinos pizza place. It was very good, (or I was very hungry).

That's all for now from the Sisters.

Hi Papa we miss you very much. I hope you are feeling well and I will see you when I get home.

Love Barbie

Remember we can't send any e-mails, but we can receive them through Krista's e-mail. We check them every day and love to hear from all of you at home.