Inside a very fun tent! 

With Papi gone, we built a big tent in their room. They even got to sleep in it two nights in a row. 

Marlo got to go shopping with mom, all by herself for her up-coming birthday. We hit the mall and then got her nails done. She was instantly famous and had a great time! 

This is one of those "mom how could you post that to the world" pictures. But I think it's great that Marlo is reading well enough that she is willing to read to her sister in the bathroom. 

Big sister number two. Teac's favorite thing these days is for someone to help him walk around the house holdin his arms while he moves his little (it's all relative) feet. 

Teac is turning into a big, happy guy. Ok, he has always been big and happy... but he is getting bigger. He has two big bottom teeth and can sit up by himself. His sisters are really starting to enjoy him. 

And here is the meat! :) We don't buy ours from open markets like this for obvious reasons. There are other more familiar markets where the meat is packaged and or frozen. 

Accross from where you buy vegetables is a sign for meat. 

This is a sampling of what the market place looks like. Orange pumkins sliced open, purple egg plant, small squash, cucumbers, huge tomatoes, beans, lettuce, celery..... 

The guy walked right in front of the pic. but look at all the brown wiggly things on the table in front. It is all bamboo. Different stages of old, young, pickled, fresh, all kinds. 

A lot of people pull/drive these carts in from the fields. Aparently it is illegal for them to sell their vegetables this way and the police will smash everything if they catch them. The lady with the cart didn't want me to take her picture and she went inside before I took it. 

Construction of the new old buildings. 

This is the doorway to what will be a new tourist attraction. They are rebuilding some buildings inside how they would have been during the Manchu dynasty (I think I got that right.) Using as many of the old construction techniques as current standards will allow. 

This is at the end of that street. You can see they do their best to hide the beautiful old architecture with signs. 

Another beautiful door way. 

I took a picture of this because the people made it soo clean. As clean as it could be without tearing down and starting over. This appeared to be just the wall before their courtyard with the living quarters in the back. 

We didn't even know this place existed but we saw a tourist carrying heavy back packs and walk into this place. Apparently the youth hostel is strong in China but they get more europeans than americans. 

This is a tea house down that same street. There are more tables etc. in the "road way". The big picture hanging from the second story is a picture of Chairman Mao. 

Another cool old doorway down the same "wide alley". Wide apparently means that you can fit one small car and two bicycles side by side. 

This is down the same street. Beautiful door! 

Janie got after me for not posting enough pictures so I went exploring today with my friend Kathy and took lots! This street is called the "wide alley". It has a lot of old buildings on it. They say this is what old Sichuan (the province Chengdu is in) looked like before the Cultural Revolution here. They tore up the street last November, so they tell me, but have not gotten around to repaving it yet. 

So you look at these melons and you think that since they look like cantaloupe and honey dew that is what they should look like on the inside....only to cut them open and find they are the opposite colors. 

Zoe and her buddy Tea (pronounced like Tea Leoni) playing dress-up. 

Papi got a remote-controlled hellicopter for his birthday. He and the girls were outside taking it for a test flight. 

Last Week's Massage

Thursday morning a friend, who speaks Chinese, took two of us to a
Chinese women's spa. It was really relaxing. For 2 hours we lay there
covered in sheets while they massaged first our backs and then our
faces and arms, head and neck. Layer after layer of moisturizing goop
was placed on our faces and massaged in...then they would wipe it off
and seemingly start over again. Towards the end they put a mask on and
all we were missing was the cucumber slices... Very fun.Yes, my skin
has felt deeply moisturized all day. You wouldn't think that having
your sinuses massaged can feel so good but it does. The fact that they
did everything to make this a luxurious place and then when I went to
the bathroom it was a toilet that was level with- built into- the
floor that you squat over- you have to flush it and everything. That
kind of took me by surprise.
-- James has been to a place where they just work on your back for two
hours. They put on layers of hot towels and then hang from rings and
walk on your back. I want to try that next.

Michelle