ie, Keep Off The Grass

Jiao Zi

A local friend helped us make "jiao zi" - kind of like dumplings. Inside each jiao zi was a mixture of meat, carrots, onions, and a few other spices and secret ingredients. The girls had a great time making them ... and eating them.

Kitchen Theater

Often our kitchen is a stage for the most recent performance by our girls. This time on the handbill - The Nutcracker. Their favorite scene to recreate is the fight between the Nutcracker and the Mouse King - very suspenseful ... and humorous. What they lack in costumes is filled by passion. Perhaps the pictures can give you a taste.
Now, I've seen the Nutcracker on stage, but I just can't seem to remember the scene where the Nutcracker is grocery shopping or mowing the lawn.
A final picture of a performance well done.

Family Pix at a Garden

We got out for a family photo shoot at a local "botanical garden." It was somewhat botanical and garden-esqe with various ponds, rocks, and pavilion-like structures. Here are some favorite shots.

Tall Flowers

These are in our apartment complex. Crazy tall. But really nice.
These almost look fake. [Which I checked, and they are indeed real. But I wouldn't have been all that surprised if they were fake.]

Big Playground

Lori had a ton of planning and preparations to make for homeschool so I took the girls to the largest city park. And since it had been raining for a few days straight, we were eager to get out. After 20 minutes in a taxi and about $4 in entrance fees we got there and entered an enclosed playground.
The girls were excited since the last time we went there the playground was closed due to painting the rubber-like floor covering. The girls were overjoyed to get in there and run around. It was about 70 degrees and ridiculously pleasant. Take a look for yourself.

I like the little boy checking out the "foreigners."
The trampoline was a major hit.
Afterwards, the girls were thoroughly exhausted. I was, too.

City Zoo

We had heard about our local zoo, but we weren't able to go until a couple days ago. General impression: Pleasantly surprised. It seemed pretty well kept with quite a few animals.

There were many different types of monkeys. A zookeeper was at one area and allowed the girls to feed them some plums.
The reflection makes it hard to see the monkey on the other side of the glass.
Val checking out the monkeys.
There was a large swan, geese and duck pond.
The big family hit was the red pandas.