Hot Days In Shenyang

It certainly is summer here.  The last few days have been very hot and somewhat humid although thankfully there has been a bit of a breeze most of the time.  I find it too hot for playing outside unless a person can get out early enough to beat the heat, not really an option in my playbook.  At home in Canada I could do it but can't here for two reasons.  One, time zones!  I know I have mentioned it countless times before but it's such a pain in the butt.  At 8am here it's already hot because at this time of year the sun is up by 4am.  Two, apartment living.  I can't just send the kids out while I get breakfast ready then eat outside in my pajamas.  I know, I know.  We knew what we were getting into and really it's not that bad.  For the little time that it's actually warm enough to eat outside, I can live without it.  It won't be long and the days will be cooler and great for spending most of the day outside.

I had my Chinese lesson today and again it went very well.  I am remembering more and more words and my pronunciation isn't too bad, according to my teacher.  I am enjoying it but I must admit that I can't really take any more than two hours of it at a time and sometimes even less than that.  Today after one and a half hours I was going cross-eyed and my mouth was getting sore.  It's amazing how many different muscles you use from one language to another.

After my lesson I took the boys and we headed up to Happy City.  I think it's been a while since we were there and the girls were happy to see Nicholas and Ryan.  After we were there for a bit Sue joined us and she offered to watch the kids while I did my grocery shopping.  I didn't need long since I only had a few things to get and I hurried so I could get some sushi and have my lunch.  I bought two kinds that, I think, technically aren't sushi but come from the sushi take-out so that's what I call them.  My favorite is the little rice roll with lobster on it and the other has some sort of green grass/seaweed on top.  Since Nicholas decided a few days ago that he liked the lobster one I bought six pieces of it and two of the grassy ones.  I went back down to Happy City and chatted with Sue while the kids and I ate.  It took a total of about three minutes for the sushi to be gone as both Nicholas and Ryan wanted some this time.  They asked for more so back I went and bought eight of the lobster pieces.  They lasted more like five minutes.

We ended up staying at Happy City for almost three hours then walked home with Sue.  By that time I was really hot and the kids were sweating so we came in and turned on the air conditioning.  Both Nicholas and Ryan wanted baths so they did that while I chilled and then they played on the bouncy house.  Thank goodness we found the new blower.  I had forgotten just how much fun they have and energy they burn on that thing.  Before too long it was time to make supper so I prepared potatoes, carrots and hamburgers for the kids and, of course, rice, veggies and beef with broccoli for Tim and I.  We like to eat that pretty much every night but I like to switch it up a little for the boys.  I don't want them getting sick of it.

So, the kids are in bed now and we will relax.  Massage day tomorrow, woo hoo! After that I don't know what we will do or where we will go.  Perhaps no where.  We have decided, for a couple of reasons I won't bother getting into right now, not to take the boys to the kindergarten for the time being.  You probably think I'm nuts for going to all that trouble with the blood work to not take them but Nicholas had to have it done anyway for the Yu Cai kindergarten which he will start in late August and Ryan may end up going back Kid Castle in the fall.  For now, Sue has offered to watch them once in a while if I want to go out somewhere and otherwise the three of us will have some fun and I will get my breaks on the weekend.

I guess that's it for now.  I would like to say Ni Hao to those people who checked out my blog from Argentina, Sweden, Iran, Egypt, Germany, Indonesia, Singapore and any others I may have missed.  Drop me a note and let me know who you are and what you think of the blog, as long as it's all good.  If it's bad, keep it to yourself :)