Oops!

I was lying in bed Sunday night and realized that I hadn't written a blog post about the weekend.  I decided I would do it in the morning then forget again until last night.  I get a little sidetracked with other stuff and my mind doesn't come back into place until I lay down at night.  That's when I do a lot of thinking, which unfortunately keeps me awake longer than I should be.

Friday I had a headache but we thought we would like to go out for supper.  I was hoping that my massage would help but it didn't so we ended up eating here and just chilling out for the night.  I did trip research on the internet.

On Saturday Jessica and I went shopping.  First we went to the furniture market that I had been to when Mom was here and except for a few rude Chinese people who said something to us then laughed as we walked by, it was good.  We just ignored them and kept walking.  Most people here are friendly but of course you always get a few jerks anywhere you go.  I need to learn more Chinese though so I can understand what they're saying and come back with some smart ass remark that will shock them.  Someday I will get there.

Next we ventured off to one of my favorite places, Nan Er (the fabric market).  I picked out a nice piece of fabric for a new article of clothing for someone else which I will show when it is done.  I will be going back again soon to pick out some material for a couple skirts and a dress for Erin.  Hopefully Yan Hong will do them  for me!  While there I was also able to get a new snap for Nick's Lego wallet that he got for Christmas and Jessica found a new purse.  All in all a very successful visit!

By the time we were done at Nan Er we were ready for something to eat so we walked down the street to Wanda Plaza.  On the way we decided to duck into the underground shopping on TaiYuanJie.  Jessica had never been but was pretty amazed so I'm sure we will be going back soon.  It is a pretty cool place but we were too hungry to stay long.  Maybe next weekend we can go again.

We ended up eating at a Korean BBQ restaurant that, too bad for us, didn't have any wine.  Bu hao!  This is a place where you order raw meat and vegetables and cook them on a grill at your table.  The last time I was here the waitress cooked the stuff for us and did a really nice job on it.  This time we were left to do it ourselves.  It turned out pretty good but I like it better when they do it.

After our late lunch we checked out one clothing store then it was time to go.  Chris and Tim had a date to go out for supper and a few drinks while Jess and I looked after the kids.  We would like to all go out together one of these nights but in the meantime the boys were getting to have an evening out.  Nick, Ryan and I stayed at Jessica's for supper and some playing but had to go when Ryan got cranky.  I had a headache anyway so I brought them home and put them to bed.  For the rest of the evening I had peace and quiet and it was quite nice.

Sunday it was actually nice enough to go outside!  The wind was cool but it was sunny so we were out for over an hour.  The kids were excited to get back to the playgrounds and while we went to the one by the kindergarten, Tim went to check out a new market just outside Eastern Venice.  We drive by it every time Tian Ye drops us off inside the compound but never seem to have time to stop in.  I'm glad Tim finally got there.  The place is really clean (for now anyway) and they have lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, even blueberries!  And the best part is that they are half the price of YooHoo or Ole.  Great discovery!  Afterward we were going to go out as a family for groceries but the kids and I bailed and Tim ended up going on his own.  He made it around to several stores to get our specialty foods and was back for supper.  While he was gone I broke out Zumba for the Wii and the boys and I tried dancing.  That only lasted for a little while then we tried the Wii Fit instead.  The boys had fun trying Yoga, exercising and doing balance games with me.

Yesterday I was back on the internet doing trip research.  In just over three weeks we are off to Thailand for a week and in the meantime I'm working on something else I will tell about later if it pans out.  Although we previous considered cancelling the Thailand trip and going somewhere else, I'm glad we are headed for the beach now.  It should be warm and relaxing.  I'm hoping that Nick and I can do some snorkeling while we are there.  He has gotten quite good at it in the pool.

We did the Wii Fit again on Monday then tried the Outdoor Adventure game.  It was a lot of fun and we worked up quite a sweat between the two.  It's a nice way to get moving inside.

Today we did some reading and coloring then played more of the active Wii games.  After lunch I had another massage.  As you may have guess from my lackluster writing, I have another headache and unfortunately the massage didn't help again.  I'm not sure why I've been having all the headaches but I suspect it's the weather or perhaps eating out a few times.  I did get a nice little surprise this afternoon though.  I forgot Tim was coming home early today since he is going into work at 3am tomorrow.  When he got here he had some beautiful flowers for me for Valentine's Day.  They sort of look like roses but not exactly and they don't smell much.  They are a gorgeous red with gold speckles painted on them.

So that was our weekend in a long nutshell.  Hopefully I will perk up a little in the next few days.  I need to start my Chinese lessons again soon so I will have to be a little more alert for those.  Perhaps a little more Wii Yoga will help.

I will leave you with a few images from last week.  Enjoy!