Beach trip!!

Nothing says China like beaches, right?

So we're here.  We're by no means settled in, but as of today all family members are accounted for and home.  (Mark finally got Teancum over the border.  He's hiding under the girls' bed.)  Two red-eared turtles have joined the family.  We need to find them an aquarium, etc., as soon as possible.  It's interesting getting used to life without a car.  At least the kids are small enough that we all fit in one taxi.  Sort of.  :D

So yesterday we went to the beach with our friends the Warrs.

Since it was a Monday, and we went to a beach almost an hour outside the city and not accessible by public transportation, it wasn't crowded at all.

Mark wasn't able to come, but with three adults everything was fine.  John and Sarah kept my kids from drowning, and helped me keep an eye on them.  The weather was lovely.  Not too hot.  Not too cool.  Just a little bit breezy.  Not too sunny, but not too cloudy, either (until about an hour before we left when it started getting a little stormy looking).  Except for not enough sun screen (I couldn't find mine and had to borrow) it was a perfect day.

 

There was much throwing of sand clods at the ocean.  I'm not sure why.

 

Just some cultural notes.... at the end (ha ha ha ha).

So there were a number of families there with little kids.  This charming little girl with the shorn head (it seems to be common with little girls to basically shave their heads.  Easier care?) was walking around bottomless the whole time.  She or the baby girl in her group(?) may have been responsible for the piece of poop that my friends daughter picked up off the beach that she thought were brownies.  There was various garbage in the tide, too.  I pulled out a package of tissues and threw it up onto the beach.

We also got asked a lot for pictures.  Mostly of the three-year-olds.  Juliet had some people get really close to her trying to get a good picture of her.  (They asked first if it was okay, and I said it was.  All they want is a picture of my adorable little girl; it's not like they want to hurt her.)  She doesn't seem to like the attention at all, though.  Stubborn little cutie wouldn't look up, and studiously ignored them while they tried to cajole her into looking up with her big blue eyes and possibly giving them a smile.  The most she did was look up with a suspicious sort of glare.  I wish I had a picture of it.  I thought it was awesome.  I tried teaching her how to say "bu yao" (don't want!) but I don't think it stuck.  I told her if she didn't like it she could say "bu yao!" and they would know she didn't want them taking pictures and bothering her.  She'll get it by the end of the summer, I'm sure.  After letting them try, I usually ended up taking her back to the water for a while.  They only came when she was on the beach, playing in the sand.

Other people came who wanted to get our little girls to play with their little kids.  They didn't try to take pictures, they just tried to get our kids attention and get the kids playing together.  *shrug*  Whatever.  If my kid feels like playing, great!  If not, she's stubborn enough that they'll go away soon enough.  (I love my little girl!!)  These two guys walked by and said, "Hallo!"  I said, "Hi," and they seemed kind of delighted.  I joked with Sarah that I should have said, "Knee how!" instead.  :D

So there you go.  A little dose of beach.  A little dose of culture.  And a whole lot of pictures.  I took several hundred, actually.  It took me a long time to comb through and pick out the ones I liked best.  I'll end with what may be my favorite: