yeti speak...

egg hunting in j-town

A few Easter pictures.  It was a weird weekend, so there's not too many pictures.  We did enjoy ourselves though...

dead? no! he's alive! (piece of cake)

The other day Anna and Sarah were watching the children's animated version of The Passion.  Sarah got upset after Jesus was crucified and died.

Anna, big sister that she is, reassured her with the following words:

"Don't worry.  He'll come alive again.  Piece of cake."

Piece of cake.

I like this picture above.  I has a hobbit-hole feel about it.

He is RISEN, indeed.  Go and tell it on the mountain...He's alive.

Happy Easter!

new year on ice

The Johnsons were back in Xining for the New Year.  (We lost the hot water heater on the shower at the house in Jianzha so we vacated, but we'll be heading back there for the weekend.)  The in-laws arrived from Seattle last week so we took the opportunity to "hit the ice" at the People's Park on New Year's Day.  It was fun, but my legs are still sore from pushing the girls around on the ice.

Enjoy the photos...

brand spankin' new

Happy New Year, everybody!  2008!  Woo-hoo!

He might not look like much, but I have a feeling he will be much more easy-going than 2007.  At least I'm hoping...

our christmas in j-town

Well, it has been a month of photo albums with no end in sight. 

Our Christmas here in China (yes, we stayed put this time around) went pretty well even if it felt a bit non-standard to me.  The girls (Anna and Sarah) were very, very excited this year and when asked said that they thought they might have heard sleigh bells in the nighttime.  (Ah, the power of suggestion.) 

After we had our family time in the morning, we invited our teammates and Chinese and Tibetan friends over for the afternoon.  We watched the 1950s version of A Christmas Carol (Scrooge), exchanged presents, ate lots of hors d'oeuvres, and then shared dinner together.  After dinner we watched The Nativity with those who remained.  It was a long day but also a memorable one.

I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Here's one of the best things I got (from my wife)....

Check it out!  Season one of Northern Exposure on DVD.  It comes in a cool orange parka sleeve like the jackets they always wear on the show.  Very, very cool.  Can't wait to catch up with Fleischman and the gang.

from two gifts that keep on giving...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Jianzha Christmas Day Stats (as of 11:30 a.m.):

• Sunny, clear skies.
• 32 degrees Fahrenheit, 0 degrees Celsius
  
• 0% chance of precipitation (my prediction)

it's beginning to look a lot like grinch-mas

I am not proud of it, but I've been feeling a bit Grinchy this Christmas.  I think I was pretty excited for Christmas last year and then when we surprised everyone by coming back to the States, well, that was just like icing on the figgy pudding.  But this year, gotta say, just not feelin' it.  I read A Christmas Carol this week (probably one of the greatest stories ever written); I've watched a few Christmas movies; I've decorated and wrapped presents; I've tried my goshdarndest to get into the Spirit of the Season.  Nothin' doin'.

I've still got a few more days to get into the groove I guess, maybe my heart will grow three sizes in two days or maybe Sarah will whack me in the head with a yule log.  I'm open to it if it works.  Or maybe it's all just a big bah-humbug for me this year.  That's OK.  I'm about ready to write-off '07 as a bad experiment anyway.  I say just bring on the New Year!

(But I would recommend this Christmas album, A Winter's Night.  If you like "modern" music with a touch of quirky, a smattering of Canadian artists, and a dab of traditional songs, you'll probably like this album.  It's worth a listen, eh?)

sinterklaas is coming to town!

The nice thing about living in an ex-pat community is that you often get to celebrate extra holidays from around the world.  Last weekend we got to join in with our Dutch co-workers in their celebration of Sinterklaas!

Click here for a run-down on what Sinterklaas is all about! 

Although there are some obvious similarities between Sinterklaas and our American derivative , Santa Claus (evidently we borrowed from them), there were also enough differences to make it very interesting for us Yankees.  Black Peter, for example, Sinterklaas' mischievous side-kick and present-distributor was an intriguing character.

The whole process of present-giving also takes on whole new forms.  The presents are often wrapped in elaborate, hand-made fashion.  A "teasing" or "poking good-natured fun at" type of poem is usually written about the receiver of the gift (which must be read aloud by that person) and sometimes the present is actually hidden or a task must be completed before the present can be opened.  It keeps you on your toes and keeps everyone laughing.  The presents are also given in secret and are all attributed to Sinterklaas. You have to say, "Thank-you, Sinter-klaas!" after you open yours.

Here's an example of a Sinterklaas present:  Christa's present was wrapped with a nice paper-mache rat head on top (as seen here) and included a "morality" tale about the impact of killing rodents on the whole farm community...very appropriate!  (Her gift was a nice vase by the way.) 

If you ever have an opportunity to take part in Sinterklaas with some friends from the Netherlands, Belgium, or somewhere else, just do it! It's quite enjoyable.  But be prepared to get ripped on a little bit. 

Here's the photo album from our Sinterklaas party.

 

happy halloween!

Or as a friend recently suggested, "Happy Reformation Day!"...

The girls had a great Halloween this year even without any other children to share in the festivities.  They discovered that you don't really need a neighborhood in order to go "trick or treating".  All you need is a home with a lot of doors and people bearing candy waiting behind those doors.  That we can do.  The scheme worked marvelously because it's really all about the candy--with a nod to the outrageous costumes.

Christa master-minded this little "harvest" celebration and she was also the girls' costume designer and resident photographer so you won't see her pretty face in the photos, but she gets most all of the credit for the success of the Event.  You know it worked well when the girls are still smiling and talking about it the next day.  We even squeezed in the ceremonial viewing of the Charlie Brown classic.

But you can check it out for yourself.  Here are the pictures...

sarah's pony/unicorn birthday

By all indications Sarah's birthday was a smashing success.  She got the "pony/unicorn" themed birthday party that she wanted.  The kids who attended the party (only one boy) were very mellow and seemed to enjoy the cake, ice-cream, crafts and games.  Anna was a very supportive sister to the birthday girl and there were no major meltdowns which is a rarity during these types of events.

Without further adieu, here are the photos.  If you have an aversion to the color pink, you might not want to look at these pictures.