Lance eats a squid

We knew we would get pictures like this! Lance is very brave when it comes to trying new things to eat!

Lost in Translation

The translation doesn't quite make sense. "Coat"?

Another nights highlights

We had a fun night, Chris scored 2 goals to help their team win 7-2! His last soccer game! He got a medal! Tyler had baseball practise and made a great hit! We ran to round table and to Laurie Martinez's surprise 40th birthday party! What a busy night! I drove from one thing to the next -- missing a little bit of everything!

Rick had a big game! They played the "stacked" Giants! They won in a slaughter 13-0! Our team hit against Aspen Kobayashi and Chris Stubbs like crazy! It was great! Trevor James pitched and the Giants were like "I have never hit against someone so fast!" Rick hit an awesome double and then a single! It was a fun night!

Baseball

Rick pitched a great game. He struck out 5 people and the kids that got hits were usually fielded out! He did walk a few, but he has pretty good aim. His team won 10-2. He hit three times, a double, single (but got out on first) then walked! He had a lot of fun! Chris played catcher then center field. He did great at center field and got those few balls in fast! He hit twice, this time right handed! You love his switch-hitting! Two hits right to center field, he got a single out of both of them! The fist pump at the end of his run to first apparently comes from the MLB XBox game the kids have! It's funny what they pick up! Chris' team won as well! It was a great night of baseball, just the temperatures were a little chilly!

Haircuts

Remember how hairy our boys were! Chris couldn't stand it any longer! He begged for a haircut. Elizabeth came home and wanted one inch taken off her hair. A neighbor girl helped Paige "trim" up her hair so I made appointments for all 5 of them. It only took half hour to get ALL five haircuts. It was so funny to see four of them all lined up in a row. Tyler traded Rick when he was done. Paige never sat so still in all her life! I asked the stylist if she could come to church with me! They look super now!

Nummie!!! Duck anyone?

Tonight when I was walking down the street by the hotel I saw a little shop where they were selling and chopping up Duck. Being a duck enthusiast myself this obviously caught my attention. I bought myself a 1/2 duck and brought it back to my hotel room for dinner. It was cooked Beijing style and it came with little rice tortilla's and even some of the delicious sauce. All of that for just over $3 USD. I'm in heaven!

I forgot to bring my camera with me - so I'll have to get you some pictures of how the duck is prepared next week. At least with these you can see how my greasy little fingers took care of business. It was fantastic!

Shanghai Maritime University Accounting Students

Here are some pictures of my class. 300 students in total. Those poor misguided souls. It's sad for them I know. Half of them are Accounting majors and half of them are English majors. They are truly amazing and very smart! I've been really impressed with how well they've been able to pick up the concepts.

Rick baseball

Rick had a great Saturday last week! He won both games and had 5 awesome bit hits!! He was up twice in one inning! He even made the game winning play. One teammate called it "the best play I ever saw!!" He wasplaying center field and caught the fly ball for out one then threw it to first to get the runner who didn't tag up for second out!!! Yeah Rick!

Chris baseball game

Chris played catcher again, he got hit real hard in the elbow and has a big bruise, I'll try to get a picture! He only sat out for a few pitches then went right back in! He got up to bat once and hit a nice hit for a single. Paige wanted her picture by Chris playing catch! They had 2 not so good innings of outfield and hitting then came back and got some good hit and outs!! It was great.

Tyler makes a goal

Tyler made a goal last night! His celebration was not quite as big, but he was sure proud and did the traditional cartwheel and dance! They had a great last game! Enjoy!

Rick learned a lesson

Rick had two "book shares" to do this week. They can make anything they want that represents the books they have been reading. He made a golf club (Tiger Woods Biography) out of bamboo, cardboard and duct tape. It looked great, he did a great job! He then made a new book cover for Dracula, it had a picture of blood and vampire teeth, pretty good. He left it on the table and went outside to play. When he came back, Paige found it and had colored the vampire teeth green and red. Uh Oh, he had to do it again! We love little sisters!

New friends, good food, The Bund and me embracing the proletariat!

Last night Jeremy and I ate noodle soup. It is like ramen noodles but 100 times better. When we were eating we started talking with a 5 year old boy who decided to give me a chinese name. He called me KouKe. I'm not sure what it means, probably Lancey - Pantsy.The class has been going really good. I have 300 students. They liked it when I showed them pictures of our family. I used the pictures of baby animal day and one of the walks you guys took in the hills behind the house.My teachers assistant is named Yang Ching Chwun. He asks me lots of questions about America and Utah. He has even heard about the church. He called it the original "American" religion. Which is probably true. I teach seven 1 and 1/2 hour classes each week. Including 2 classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. Last night after we ate our noodles I bought what I thought was a sweet roll treat. When I bit into it I found out the middle has some kind of gross stuff in it. I didn't even know what it was. It was yucky. I couldn't even finish it.

scenes from the hotel and neighborhood

The rooms are clean but well worn. The hotel isn't in the greatest place for tourists but the Bund, Shanghai New Area, Nan Jing road and other attractions are only a 10 minute bus ride away. The road that the hotel is on looks even a little worse than it actually is because they are currently widening the road so everything is under construction on the road.

13 hours in the airplane!

The plane ride was really not as bad as I thought it would be. Jeremy and I had one row of three seats to ourselves. There was a chinese guy who was suppose to sit between us but he moved because he thought we couldn't speak chinese. We weren't disappointed. We had to wait about 1 hour before de-planing so the chinese motley fools could take everyones temperature and ask us all if we have a pet pig. Ha, ha.

Things aren't that different in China

Lance sent this on sunday, he is thousands of miles away and still can't stop thinking about fantasy baseball. "It's 3:30 am in the morning. Our internet wire isn't long enough to satisfy our fix. We have maxed out the font size so we can see the activity from our hard as rock beds. Our sweet little laptop hums with the sound of activity and baseball scores, lulling us into a zombie like trance as we lay in bed and watch our scores like our lives depend on it. "

Help save money in the recession don't buy diapers

Perfect solution- don't have time or money for diapers? Well who cares? He sure doesn't. Cut the back out of your pants and take one anywhere!

Paige switches places not the rider anymore

Paige really upset our neighbor's baby, Leah, today, she got to close and to lovey (not the first time)! Leah was so upset we took her to our house so her parents could finish working in the yard. Paige wanted to take her for a run. I thought, "that always calms my babies." So we did. I buckled Leah into the stroller with her binkie and blanket and put the handle down and Paige pushed her around the neighborhood in a full jog!! Has this happened to her before or what! She just became the mom, so cute...It did surprisingly calm Baby Leah, and put her to sleep! Yeah for Paige!!!

Lance leaves for China

Lance left for China today. He will be gone for 3 weeks. He is teaching an Accounting class for St. Martins University. A dream come true for Lance. Good Luck! As he left, Paige became the drama queen and hammed it up for him. She made him feel special as she cried and yelled she wanted to go to China too. She has never acted that way unless it is mom leaving and even then never this mad. Tyler kept yelling goodbye in chinese and was totally fascinated in the planes landing and taking off. Rick, Elizabeth and Chris all enjoyed the chinese money he gave them and can't wait to see what he brings back! We will all miss him!!