of Hawick Lau and his sidekick-actors. Too bad we didn't know who they were, we were standing right by them. Everyone had their phones out, madly taking pics and texting, girls swooning. They walked 1/2 block with the camera crew and got into a shuttle bus with curtains covering all the windows. Some guys were deconstructing bamboo scaffolding the was going across the street. There were three of them out balancing on horizontal bamboo with nothing beneath them for support as they untied each piece and dropped it to the ground. Pretty amazing. I'll try to post it somewhere.
We did some grocery shopping, stopped at Zara's sale and found Garrett's cheddar caramel popcorn. Back to the ferry, ticket to ride, gummy bears and home. Letters from Ally!
Tuesday I'm fighting a cold so my gem of a husband taught seminary for me so I could sleep in. I took full advantage and stayed in bed until 5pm. Chase called to order a hamburger from a new place he found but they didn't deliver to our part of town. The guy said, "sorry, next time you come in, meal is on us." So chase ran down to the subway and rode to the mall to get his burger. Yao Feng cooked for us and Pon sent over egg rolls and tapioca so we were covered today! Todd had a long day at the office and tomorrow will be busy as well. Brigham switched tennis classes with our friend Carina who will now take lessons with the girls. Brigham wrecked on his bike, went to Muslim noodle with Ernesto and rode Segways today. His dream day (except for the wreck).We did some grocery shopping, stopped at Zara's sale and found Garrett's cheddar caramel popcorn. Back to the ferry, ticket to ride, gummy bears and home. Letters from Ally!
Wednesday:
My sister put together a box of US groceries and a family friend delivered them toChina for us. THANKS AGAIN LIZ! It was like Christmas opening those two boxes. Pancake mix, protein powder, beef jerky, twizzlers, vanilla, karo syrup, coach's oats, cake mixes etc. Tyler Lyman, who delivered the food, had meetings in Shenzhen tonight, so he dropped by for dinner and a visit. Mutual was at our house...Young men were building an airplane model downstairs and girls were goal planning upstairs. The house was all lit up and lots going on. The little girls were loving it. Todd arrived around 8 from a long day at meetings and hosting his event. (The event was for electronics companies here in SZ. I help take care of the electronics customers for IBM in China....like I did for HP...in addition to supply chain consulting atHuawei. Kind of two jobs, same pay:) )
Thursday: Yao Feng brought the kids "red envelopes" with money inside. I was getting hers ready and then doing some research on the whole "red envelope" tradition. You must not give any amount that has a "4". Four is bad luck because "si" sounds like the word for death. Amounts with an "8" are good. Married couples traditionally give to children as well as their parents and aunts and uncles. Our ayi was a bit stressed. She had to prepare envelopes for her mother, father, uncle, father-in-law etc. When you present the red envelope, you present with both hands, and they are supposed to receive with both hands also. They are not to be opened in the front of the giver. Also, I had purchased a bunch of envelopes but didn't know what the characters said...last minute I copied the template and made my own...didn't want to give a "congratulations on your wedding" or "happy birthday" instead of the new year. Todd, however, took the stack of random envelopes, handed them out at work and hoped they said something appropriate. This year is the year of the horse. <<Click on that link to find out the animal for the year you were born. If you were born in 1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, you are a horse, and this is your year. If you were born before February, you might be part of the previous year, depending on the Lunar New Year date.Chinese class and grocery shopping at the markets at Coastal Rose Garden II. Gym with Todd and Brooke. We watched the Australian tennis tournament there and somebody at the gym smelled so bad it was hard to run and try to hold my breath at the same time.
Friday: I took the shuttle to walmart and met a new friend from Korea who has just been here for 3weeks. She looked a little shell shocked. Her husband works for Samsung and is only home on the weekends. They have two little girls, American names are Lucy and Gracie. That was my first trip towalmart in months. So many Chinese New Year decorations that there was a red glow. It's fun to see the excitement of the people getting together with their families and buying special treats for the celebration. Brynn and I decided to go to the Bao'an New Year Market. It was about an hour long ride on the subway and when we emerged the sky was blue. Hadn't seen blue sky in forever, it was a bit shocking. The other thing we noticed was that it was quiet. Here where we live, evidently, there is a lot of noise, honking, traffic and lots of people. At the market we found socks, scarves, candied oranges, macadamia nuts in the shell, a magic bullet type blender. This was the sample drink...a couple spoonfuls of soy beans, some rock sugar, spoonful of Spanish salted peanuts and hot water. So different than we are used to sampling. The blender came with an apple peeler and the kids have been putting that thing to work. Brynn picked out some blanket fabric and the lady sat right down at a machine and put a satin binding all around the twin sized blanket in about 2.5 minutes. It was almost worth the price to watch her work that binding machine. Cherie Burton (her sister is from Gilbert-Gena Mabee) and her husband picked Todd and me up for a date in exchange for leaving their sons with our girls. They have the cutest little guys, Kenny and Cole. Her husband Stan works for Oakley. He used to work for Nike and has some good work stories. We met up with President Turner for Indian food. He and his wife have been gone since November so it was nice to catch up.
Saturday: Todd and the girls headed to Lotus Hill Park and the Children's Museum. At the park there was lots going on...singers performing in a few different areas, kites flying, napping and picnics. It's a nice park and it smelled so good--some plant or tree was showing off. The museum has seen better days. A lot of things were broken and so dirty. Some displays we didn't get because we couldn't read the explanation, but the girls had fun anyhow. Definitely a one time is enough type place. We headed to Simply Life for pizza, salad, eggs Benedict (missing Cracker's California Eggs Benny), sandwiches and chocolate cake. Chase headed to the mall with buddies for hamburgers again and Brigham went down to the neighborhood celebration at the park and then headed next door for games with a friend. Todd and Chase were able to go give a blessing to our friend with bronchitis later on and we were able to watch the first episode of American Idol, thanks to the Sears. 
Sunday: Good talks today by Shannon (who cut his own hair with scissors last night), Anna Nash and Carrie Turner. Brigham moved up to a teacher today and we got to have Papa and Grandma and Grandpa video conference in for that which is always nice. Naps, a good dinner and Mary Poppins (after watching "Saving Mr. Banks" a few weeks ago) to finish off the day. We are looking forward to this week, seeing ChineseNew Year celebration unfold. Lots of fireworks on Thursday evening, and having Todd home for a few days off.
Kids are busy with school assignments and tests, learning Mandarin, making videos, doing their own laundry, playing soccer and basketball, dancing and singing the songs from Frozen. I'll let you guess who is doing which activity. (Chase has a really nice falsetto.)
Miss you! Come visit!
Love from China,
Taylor Family
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