In these tough economic times it's important to follow the "3 r's" a little more closely. Buying products that allow for versatility, and are easily re-used can easily help to keep a little more change in your pocket.... and no one seems to have mastered the art of that 2nd "r" quite like the local silk store. Finally, a shirt that the whole family can enjoy:



from the very smallest member

to the largest

Easter eggs.....

Every day we order pretty much the same thing for lunch...some sort of meat, some sort of vegetable and jidan chao fan (egg fried rice). Not exactly adventurous but with 2 little kids, one of whom has certain dietary requirements, playing it safe is sometimes the way to go....at least at the beginning of our trip. Everyday at some random time before lunch, the specified food arrives. We generally request 1200 for delivery but in reality it may appear anywhere from as early as 1045 to 1215. See, there is an element of adventure after all!
On this particular day though, things got a little mixed up....slightly lost in translation and our staple jidan chao fan turned into this:

Truthfully, I have no idea what exactly it is, how the eggs were turned a purplish brown colour or what turned them into a jelly like consistency. Trent and I thought that it seemed a rather fitting mistake given the nature of the day, but the kids? They failed to see the humour.

We are finally here in Beijing! I'm not sure whether I was more excited that the temperature was 27 C when we landed with not a snowbank to be seen or the fact that we survived another landing at the Beijing airport. I have no idea what it is about that landing but it always seems precarious at best. There were actually audible gasps from a majority of the passengers during a couple of moments. Fortunately the landing was even worse on our first trip so I think that I managed to pull it off looking calm and collected.....white knuckles aside.
Once we arrived back at the hospital we were greeted with some excitement from the staff that remembered us from our first trip. I've got to say that it was really nice to come back to a familiar place and within the first hour we were off to the corner store to pick up the kid's favourite snacks and drinks. It's funny, it's been an entire year since we were last here but it doesn't feel like more than a week or two. Here's hoping that the girls will settle in and adjust to a 13 hour difference quickly!