My Identical Chinese Beef Twin

That's right! I have found him. This is Jimmy, my identical Chinese beef twin. We had a cookout with one of my conversation groups (students who get together every week to practice their English) this week and I found the one man in China who loves beef as much (or nearly as much) as I do. His excitement as the beef came off the grill nearly brought tears to my eyes.


Here are some more pictures of our day out. It rained most of the day but we were not intimidated.

The price of rice in China

Not that this has anything to do with anything but we thought you might be wondering. The price of rice in China is 1.19 yuan (Chinese currency) per 500 grams. Almost 15 cents for half a kilogram (that's a good size scoop for those of you who are metric clueless like me). Subject to much fluxuation depending on store, brand, color, aisle, time of year, time of day and the dow. Now you know.

Happy Birthday!!

In the interest of global celebration we wanted to introduce you to our friend John. His birthday was Saturday, October 14th. Thought you might want to celebrate with him. Happy birthday John!












Rachel showing John that you can't really have a birthday without covering your face in chocolate icing!

Peacocks, Hula-hoops and Bears, Oh My!

Jerry and Rachel regularly take a day out together that has fondly become "Daddy Daughter Date Day" when, I think in reality it should be called "Mommy- gets- a- break- and- some- quiet- at- home- by- herself Day" But the prior sounds so much nicer, and they always seem to find some great thing to do that makes these days a much anticipated day for all of us, and this week was no exception and possibly the best find so far!





They headed to the park for a little picnic lunch in hopes of finding an actual play area at the park and lo and behold what did they find but a Russian Circus! Here are just a few pictures of their unexpected adventure!

A few more pictures for your pleasure . . .

Here's a link to a web-album with a hundred or so of the zillion pictures taken of the birthday festivities for those longing grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and other Rachel fans. Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/jonesesinchina/RachelSBirthday

The Big Birthday Weekend

Several years ago, being the "love language of gifts" person that I am, I declared that one day to celebrate a birthday was simply ridiculous . . . so in this family we often celebrate on the "eve" and "post" birthday days . . . So, the adventures began with family night on Friday night: pizza, popcorn and a birthday surprise . . . homemade ice cream in a ziploc bag!



And Saturday was the BIG DAY . . . when she woke up, Rachel found her very own Disney Princess bike waiting for her in the kitchen. She was thrilled and we could barely get her off of it to eat her birthday breakfast blueberry muffins (that would totally sound better if they were blueberry buffins)! Since it was rainy out, she rode and rode that bicycle around the six foot open space in our kitchen/dining area for hours! (until we got smart and took her out into the hallway! Oh, yeah, that's right, look out einstein the Joneses are in the house!)

We spent the rest of the day playing and relaxing and getting ready for the much anticipated visit from the Nuk Fairy . . . we have been talking about this day for months . . . the day when Rachel turns three and we wrap up all her nuk's nice and pretty and she leaves them for the Nuk Fairy to come and get them in the night so that the Nuk Fairy can take them and give them to little babies who don't have Nuk's of their own . . . And of course, for the sadness of the parting, the gracious Nuk Fairy leaves a wonderful gift for the charitable Nuk giver . . . Ahh.... I love it when a plan comes together!

And then Sunday . . . the party!!!!

We played "Pin Backpack on Dora" which was a first for everyone, especially for our Chinese friends . . . but they loved the silliness of being blindfolded and spun around...




. . . balloons who had the best intentions of becoming grand images of animals of all varieties quickly became swords for waging "balloon war" and beautiful accessories to graceful dance moves . . .






The menu was as follows: Boot's Bouncy Banana Bread, Fiesta Fruit Kabobs, Boot's Banana and Apple Dip, Dora's Sassy Chips and Salsa . . . And Rachel's most anticipated and exciting part of the day . . . BIRTHDAY CAKE!!! For this she danced and jumped up and down ... and with a giddy voice sang her very own "Birthday cake song" . . . and after blowing out the candles she, taking no chances someone else might ask first and she may be asked to share, quickly apprehended the two much sought after cherries from atop the cake. Oh the craftiness of a three year old's reasoning!

. . . and then, finally, after three long weeks of helping, explaining and waiting and waiting, explaining and helping, the time finally came to bust open the candy and prize-filled pinata!!! Again, a new experience for all the girls, but once they got the hang of it (and found out that they could hit this thing with a stick and not get in trouble) they had a blast!

. . . and as the day came to a very tiring end, with all children properly sugared and wound, everyone departed to their own homes . . . and the sun set quite beautifully on the post-birthday day of one very happy, very tired, three-year-old.

Comforts of Home: Priceless

12 cup Coffee Pot: 480 rmb (approximately $60 US)

8.8 oz Illy Coffee: 98 rmb (approximately $12 US)

6 cute random black and white coffee mugs: 12 rmb (approximately $1.50 US)

The calming effect of coffee every morning: PRICELESS