I think I am going to have this picture blown up. 

Alana let Teac borrow her bike. Too cute. 

Why don't they have this kind of stuff on the lawn at US museums? 

Oh no, don't let the giant red dinosaur eat you! 

Our final stop on our journey was to ZiGong. It has one of the largest dinosaur dig sites from the Jurassic period. They have built a museum on top of some of it and inside you can see the fossils numbered and still in the ground as the paleontologists found them. They also have lots of dinosaur statues, skeletons and other fossils. 

This is the center of town in Yibin. Interesting statue. 

After driving through many beautiful parts of the forest, we finally left and made our way back north. As we entered the city Yibin we saw this. The sky got really dark as we entered the city and we suppose this is why. We couldn't figure out if it was a coal fired power plant or just for refining. There were many barges full of coal moving up and down the river. I am curious to know how that all fits together. Coal makes everything dirty. 

No matter where we went people just couldn't resist Teac. This is at the bamboo museum. Even a group of army tourists had to take pictures of him. It is kind of nice for the girls I think because when he isn't around they get much more attention. No one can believe that he isn't even a year old. He is very big compared to Chinese babies. 

When we went out the next morning we were clouded in. One road was named "the cloud way" so I think this happens frequently. We even stopped to look at the "cloud sea" that is supposedly a beautiful over look with a sea of clouds below, but it was clouds in front and behind us as well so there wasn't much to see. This part of the forest was beautiful and we took a fun walk. The game became bumping the bamboo to make it rain on the people behind you... 1 guess as to who started it. :) 

I think the girls found staying in a hotel with a TV in the room to be the best part of the trip. At 6 am they both woke up and climbed into Huang Ying's bed to snuggle and watch TV. As nice as the rooms look, the shower consisted of a hand sprayer connected to the sink, box springs (or something just as hard) for mattresses, and no running water until about 10 pm that night. Thankfully someone threw in an air mattress that I slipped under the sheets. 

Teac slept with me in a twin bed. Neither one of us slept very well because he kept crashing his head against the wall. He woke up early and hungry for his breakfast so I gave Teac to Papi while I woke up the hotel staff (at 8:00 am) so they could unwrap the wire from the glass front doors they had used to keep them shut. By the time I got back, Papi had sung and snuggled Teac to sleep. He was dead out and we finally had to wake him up to feed him his breakfast so we could leave. 

Temple at Rainbow Falls.... 

We went to Zhu Hai expecting a national park or preserve like we have in the west. Not so. This is a picture taken at the top of Rainbow falls where they control the water flow of the falls with dams and flood gates and build souvenier shops and temples to help people enjoy the scenery. 

Here we are after many hours in the car in front of Rainbow Falls in Zhu Hai (the bamboo sea). It was a very cold and foggy time to be in the mountains. 

The day after Thanksgiving we took a trip south to see the Bamboo Sea of Southern China. The four hour trip turned into an 8 hour drive due to an unexpected closure of the expressway. This meant a very scenic route through many village towns. On our way we had to cross the Yangtze river and this is it- at one of the more narrow points. 

Turkey, stuffing (fantastic), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, salad, green beans, rolls, gravy, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. I don't think we were missing anything. 

Happy Thanksgiving! We invited our friends over for a last minute turkey feast. I bought a Norbest with a pop-out timer on the local market and after thawing it in my fridge for 3 days, cooked it in a left-over oven bag from 2 years ago and it was wonderful. I think the key is to smear it with a lot of butter. :) It makes great gravy too... no need to scrape the pan for the good stuff. 

This is the troll about to get trounced by the 3rd billy goat. 

Marlo was the narrator for the "Three Billy Goats Gruff" play at school. She did a great job! 

Marlo and Zoe with their friends. The older sister gave them all war paint and they played outside for hours. 

I'm so handsome! All the Chinese ladies tell me so. 

Teac pushed Zoe's little shopping cart all over the yard. He is getting braver at walking by himself every day. 

This is a close up of Teac crashing towards Papi. 

Teac is a walkin' machine- almost. Tonight he took 3, and later 5 steps in a row. For the 5 steps he was even walking to Papi!!! 

We got to talk to grandma on the computer tonight with video, 2-way sound and everything!! It was great!! We sure do miss every one. 

Marlo and Zoe made a great team for the "mummy" wrap. 

Zoe and the spider rings she won everytime she got out during the musical pumpkin game. 

The school had a great Halloween party called a "fall festival". This is Marlo playing musical pumpkins. 

A purple cat, lumber Jack, and Lea, all tired and full of candy or something. A good test of a costume is whether they still have it on at the end of the night. 

Marlo and the Jack-O-lantern she designed and Papi carved at the Halloween party. 

Happy Halloween! Princess Lea and the uncooperative Lumber Jack! 

Happy Halloween! Princess Lea and the uncooperative Lumber Jack :) 

Small pumpkins don't take very long. 

Pumpkins are not the same here in China.... but they still taste good. This is the roundest one we could find. 

One of their favorite parts was just playing with the playdough in their goodie bags. 

Friends at the party playing a game. 

We finally had a birthday party for Zoe on Oct. 27th. I made a Barbie cake by request and Zoe put little red stickers all over her face just before the guests arrived. She had a blast!