A few days ago Mom, Maddie, and myself all headed out on an errand at a shopping street called BingZhunDao.  We were picked up by a female taxi driver with a spacious and clean car. The first half of the journey was uneventful.  However as we stopped at a red light the driver pointed out of the taxi and said something to my mom, then my Mom jumped out of the taxi. When she hopped back in she was holding a pair of white sunglasses.  Apparently both the driver and my Mom had seen them in between the car lanes as we drove up.  The driver wanted to see us all try them on and we laughed about the coincidence.  It wasn't but five minutes after when all the sudden the driver herself hopped out of the taxi at a stop light and jumped back in holding a pair of pink sunglasses!  We were all laughing as each of us tried them on, at the request of our driver.  Then the taxi driver told us to take a pair. Not wanting to reject the gift, I took the white pair (seeing that the pink sunglasses suited her better).  It turned out to be a very funny trip to BingZhunDao!

Summer is a time of R and R… relaxing and restoration.  However some times you can get tired of relaxing and wish you could actually explore the jungle and fight snakes instead of just controlling a digitized Indian Jones figure to, in a Wii game.   So, you can guess that I was very excited when I  was invited by a friend of Rachel's and mine to go horse back riding. ( To my surprise there is actually horse farms an hour drive from our house! )  Grace, our friend, invited Rachel, Maddie and myself to go riding at one of her dad's friend's horse farm.  I was thrilled!  So we left early the next morning so that we might ride a bit before it got hot.  When we arrived we got to look around at the horses, then a few were saddled up to ride.  The first horse I tried was, no doubt, the laziest horse I have ever ridden.  No joke, you could not get this horse to trot if you were wearing spurs!  So I traded to another horse named  McDonalds.  Let me tell you, it should have been named Bullet, Jet, or somthing else infering it's speed.   The minute I gave that horse some rein it was off!  It was cantering around the coral and I had no power over it.  I was hanging on to the saddle for dear life!  The horse raced around the coral and back so fast that when McDonalds stopped I fell forward on his neck… = embarrassing…  So I was eager to switch again.  Grace, generously let me try out her horse.  His name was 小黑: Little Black.  He was great!  He loved to trot or gallop if you gave him rein, but would also walk if directed.  I had an awesome time riding horses (something I would never imagine myself doing in China!)!  Even though I have been "saddle sore" for two days now, it was worth it!   

Summer is a time of R and R… relaxing and restoration.  However some times you can get tired of relaxing and wish you could actually explore the jungle and fight snakes instead of just controlling a digitized Indian Jones figure to, in a Wii game.   So, you can guess that I was very excited when I  was invited by a friend of Rachel's and mine to go horse back riding. ( To my surprise there is actually horse farms an hour drive from our house! )  Grace, our friend, invited Rachel, Maddie and myself to go riding at one of her dad's friend's horse farm.  I was thrilled!  So we left early the next morning so that we might ride a bit before it got hot.  When we arrived we got to look around at the horses, then a few were saddled up to ride.  The first horse I tried was, no doubt, the laziest horse I have ever ridden.  No joke, you could not get this horse to trot if you were wearing spurs!  So I traded to another horse named  McDonalds.  Let me tell you, it should have been named Bullet, Jet, or somthing else infering it's speed.   The minute I gave that horse some rein it was off!  It was cantering around the coral and I had no power over it.  I was hanging on to the saddle for dear life!  The horse raced around the coral and back so fast that when McDonalds stopped I fell forward on his neck… = embarrassing…  So I was eager to switch again.  Grace, generously let me try out her horse.  His name was 小黑: Little Black.  He was great!  He loved to trot or gallop if you gave him rein, but would also walk if directed.  I had an awesome time riding horses (something I would never imagine myself doing in China!)!  Even though I have been "saddle sore" for two days now, it was worth it!   

What 5 year old little girl has not had a first ballet class? Today a neighbor invited us to a small class of four little girls from our neighborhood. I was so thankful for a friend who had recently given us a bunch of clothes which included a little pink leotard (our friend was moving back to Oklahoma). Megan had a great time, and Sean whole heartedly approved of Megan going, especially after he learned that the teacher spoke only in Chinese to the girls.

What 5 year old little girl has not had a first ballet class? Today a neighbor invited us to a small class of four little girls from our neighborhood. I was so thankful for a friend who had recently given us a bunch of clothes which included a little pink leotard (our friend was moving back to Oklahoma). Megan had a great time, and Sean whole heartedly approved of Megan going, especially after he learned that the teacher spoke only in Chinese to the girls.

This summer I have been able to visit family and friends and also have a very relaxing time. Although I was not able to go to America I have still had tons of fun just hanging out here in Tianjin!

At the beginning of our summer break my grandparents and cousin got to visit us here in China!  It was fun showing them around Tianjin and Beijing, and I had a ton of fun getting to show them my school and neighborhood. I also had fun getting to have time with them playing cards and board games, eating dinner together, and just talking. This visit definitely brightened my summer, I’m so glad I got to have the time I did with them!

I was just looking through the pictures I took on my 9th grade Spring Trip and I found this photo (below).  I remeber how I spotted the mom and baby sitting on the side of the shopping street.  The mother was feeding her adorable baby a gram cracker and the baby was content to gnaw on it.  I couldn't resist a picture of the baby.  So when I asked if I could take a picture of the mother and her cute little girl, the mom got up and without a world handed me her baby and took the camera from me to take the picture of us!  The two things I was thinking were, 1) What trust to place your child in the arms of a stranger for a picture?!, and 2) This baby is SO CUTE!

I was just looking through the pictures I took on my 9th grade Spring Trip and I found this photo (below).  I remember how I spotted the mom and baby sitting on the side of the shopping street.  The mother was feeding her adorable baby a gram cracker and the baby was content to gnaw on it.  I couldn’t resist a picture of the baby.  So when I asked if I could take a picture of the mother and her cute little girl, the mom got up and without a world handed me her baby and took the camera from me to take the picture of us!  The two things I was thinking were, 1) What trust to place your child in the arms of a stranger for a picture?!, and 2) This baby is SO CUTE!

Happy 4th of July! This year I was able to bake some very tasty dishes for dinner and dessert! I got to make Puppy Chow, a very special dessert that includes ingredients from America. I also got to watch/help mom make Cherry Crumble…. yummm 🙂 I'm so glad I got to spend my time with my family as well as making food on this special day!