Monte L Bean and the Animals

A few weeks back, Peter and I went to a cool animal museum with our friends Crystal and Marshal. Peter and Marshal are just a month apart in age and Jonathan and Ben (Marshal's dad) both did the Flagship program, so we were in China together. Crystal and I try to get together frequently because the boys play well together and we like to visit and have adult conversation together. Crystal and I mostly plot out future homes, talk furniture and kids. Anyway, Crystal and Marshal were going to the museum and invited us to come along. We jumped at the chance because I know Peter loves that place and I needed to get out of the house. 

The Monte L Bean Museum is perfect for these boys because it is a small museum, packed with taxidermied animals. The boys don't get too tired walking around and there are cool animals everywhere they turn. They ran around, played on the slide for a while, found the elephant and the hippo, we went upstairs and saw the deer, lions and bears and we went downstairs and saw birds and snakes. It's just big enough to keep them busy but not to big to bore them. 

Peter learning about a brown bear.

Walking through the African safari...

 It looked like they were working on setting up some new exhibits while we were there, so we'll have to stop by again sometime soon to see if there are any new animals to learn about. Also, the museum does live animal shows- we've never been, but I really want to take Peter sometime. I think he would enjoy seeing some living animals up close.

Marshal, Crystal and Peter

Learning about underwater creatures

It was a great day with the Jones. The boys were happy and they saw lots of animals. Crystal and I got to talk about future plans and hopes for how they turn out. We will miss these guys a ton when we move.

Nelson Family Update: AKA- Peter's Eye and The New House

Peter "Crazy Eye" 

About 2 weeks ago, Peter was watching some tv while I was washing dishes and tidying up the house. I called to him and when he looked at me, I noticed that his left eye was quite crossed in while his right eye was looking straight. I paused his show and made him look at me, tried to make him track my finger (he did not want to and just wanted his show back on), and stared at his eyes to see if it did it again...it did. So, I made him help me in the kitchen, and noticed from time to time, his left eye would just veer in. It usually corrected after 5-10 seconds or so. So, I did what every parent does in our technology filled world- I googled it. I read a ton and looked into eye doctors and asked Jonathan (who was at work) if he had noticed Peter's left eye crossing in (he hadn't). Once he got home, he saw it happen, and we did google hang out with Jonathan's mom (my research said it was hereditary) to see if she knew of anyone on Jonathan's side of the family with any eye crossing problems. She mentioned a cousin of hers, and while we were video chatting, she saw Peter's eye cross...so it wasn't just me. Also, I caught it on the camera...so this is what Peter looks like from time to time everyday. 

Cross-eyed boy.

The next day I called my mom and she reminded me that my Dad had eye surgery when he was 3 years old because he was cross-eyed...only his stayed and didn't go back like Peter's did. So...now we know who to blame for Peter's wonky eye. That day I also set up appointments, called insurance and tried to figure out as many things as I could. Everything I read said, it was correctable if caught early and treated and that glasses were usually the first option and if it didn't help then they can do surgery.  

We went to see the eye doctor and Peter did quite well. The eye doctor and assistants were great with Peter. They were really patient and let him take the needed time to adjust to things. Peter had to have his eyes dilated so they could figure out his prescription (turns out, they don't trust a 2 year old's accuracy with the letter chart). He didn't love getting drops in his eyes, but the assistant let him watch tv and be in the hall while he looked at the fish and let him play in between getting the drops. She was the best. Also, they had Planet Earth playing on the tv, and since Peter loves animals so much, his attention was fantastically focused on the wildebeests and birds. They checked his eyes and then we had a chat. The plan is for me to watch him carefully and make a note (just in my head) of how frequently his eye crosses, how long it stays crossed and if it crosses when he is focusing near or far. The eye doctor said it will likely get worse within the next few months, and if it got really bad- like if Peter's eye is crossed over 50% of the time, then to bring him in earlier, but if it just gets a little worse, then we will come back in July and get glasses for Peter. He wanted to wait because he doesn't trust a 2 year old to keep glasses on enough to help, but hopefully at two and a half, he'll be able to do that better. Also, the doctor said, then we will have a better understanding of when, and how long his eye is crossing for which will help them help Peter. So, we are just in a holding and watching pattern until July.

Best Yard of the Year!

As before mentioned, Jonathan started a job in January working in Salt Lake City. He had about a 45 minute to an hour commute, depending on what time he left work. But, then construction started on the freeway to widen it and Jonathan's commute turned into about an hour and a half, no matter when he left work. It wasn't that much more time, but it was enough that I was done with this commute thing (I know I'm not the one driving, but when I look at the clock and know that he still has another 30 minutes of travel and if we lived somewhere else he would have been home 15 minutes ago, it drives me crazy.) 

So, we started looking for houses again to move to. I wasn't too serious about it, until we found it...the house to rule all houses (for the stage of life we are in right now). It's the basement of a duplex. The house itself isn't amazing, but it works for what we need and the house is built into a hill so even though it's a basement it still gets great sunshine, and there is tons of storage in the house. But the best part of this house is 3 fold: 1- it's a month to month contract...which eases all of our job limbo worry. 2- the location is ideal. With just one car I wanted to live somewhere that I could still get to fun/necessary places with Peter during the day. This house is a few blocks from the library, grocery store, and tons of shops. And it's about a 30 minute walk to the rec center! 3- the backyard. It is amazing. We had a creek! A garden! Play toys! Trees! Fences! It's perfect for me and Peter! Instead of trying to describe everything, here are some pictures I took when we started moving in last week.

Facing the back of the house

Standing on the big bridge! Yeah, we have 2 bridges! Please note cool slide on the right side.

Peter and the bridge, coming back from playing in the garden.

More dirt to play in...

Crossing the little bridge

We can play in this creek everyday! (The water is freezing!!)

Clearly not backyard, but Peter exploring the kitchen shelves.

Jonathan moved another load up today during lunch break. Our goal is to be moved in by the end of this weekend! I'm excited to move and have new adventures, but I will really miss Provo and all the cool things we know here. It's a bittersweet move, but the thought of having Jonathan home for an extra hour plus everyday makes it 100% worth it!

I'll get more pictures of the house up once we are moved in! It's pretty sweet!

Other updates: I got a new camera! So, photo quality is up! Peter is learning more words! So, communication is up! And I've read a ton the past bit! So, intellectual happiness is up! Overall, life is pretty good right now. We're off to the park to meet with friends, so I'll post more later!

Things I Miss in Other Lands

(Written 5 April 2014)

What I miss about America
Breathing air everyday without a mask
Drinking water from the tap without worrying about how sick you might get
Going outside without first checking the AQI (Air Quality Index)
Having a car
Dairy
Having a clothes dryer
Not being the center of attention
Being able to go onto any site online without a VPN (Virtual Proxy Network)
Understanding what people say
Reading signs
Libraries
Bathtubs
Carpet

What I will miss about China
jian bing
fantastic public transportation
Nanjing LDS Branch
Walking to Ikea
Free delivery to your door (amazon, food places, etc)
The parks
My sun room/laundry room
Muslim noodle place
dragonfruit
Tile floors

(Written 14 March 2015)
I really do miss jian bing...a lot. I wish I could walk down the road to buy one. I sometimes called them Chinese burritos. It's basically a dough crepe type outside with egg, pickled green beans, green onions, cilantro, some sort of sauce, some kind of fried dough crunchy thing, and a little spicy kick. They are delicious, and cheap, and I want to eat one.

Jian Bing

I also think it's interesting that so many of the things I miss are contradictions. I missed having carpet, but now I miss having tile. Carpet is warmer and softer, and not so bad when the small people fall on it. But tile is so much easier to clean- especially when it is food or liquids. 

In China I missed having my car, but now I miss being able to take the bus anywhere, and only wait max ten minutes for the next one to come. Also, metros. I miss them. You could travel but Peter could still wiggle and walk around and people could entertain him. He hates his carseat lately, and having the bus or metro would be a nice option. 

I really miss the LDS branch in Nanjing. There was a sense of friendship because you needed each other, and everyone knew that we needed each other. I feel like we got together more and had more fun times together than our ward here. Here, I feel like people need each other but don't want to bother others or feel like they need support because then they think they will look weak, or they are "too busy" with everything else going on. People don't band together as much here. I miss that feeling of camaraderie at church. In Nanjing, we would get together to learn Chinese from Esther, go on birthday lunch excursions, have playdates with kids, travel to use someone's oven, or go shopping together to show where we found a place that sells tortillas. Our ward here is great, but it's just not the same feeling.

It is great to be "home" in America. I love being able to cook a huge range of things again. I love using the oven and dryer. I love being able to breathe and take Peter outside everyday without worrying about particles in the air. I love the marvelous kitchen I have. I love having a bath tub. The library is a place of refuge. I read so many books and love it. And cheese, I can buy it at any grocery store I go to, and frequently get it on sale. It is wonderful. I hope someday we go back to China though. I will eat a jian bing everyday and we will act like we are famous as strangers take our photos. Every place is amazing, you just have to learn to love it.

A Few Other Taiwan Things

(July 2014, Gaoxiong, Taiwan)

Our last Taiwan stop was a city called Gaoxiong. It is in the south western part of the island. We met up here with a couple of Jonathan's friends. The first day in the city, I stayed home with Peter while Jonathan and Beccah did some exploring. We have learned in life that sometimes it is better to let Peter take a break and miss something than have him keep going...because then you still miss something because you are trying to wrangle a screaming child in a public area and have no way to avoid judging eyes and the only thing you can think is, why for the love did I not just sit this one out? Anyway, so we stayed home, slept some, ate and just had some quiet time. Beccah and Jonathan went out with Jonathan's friends, Raphael, and Helen. They went out to a beach area and brought back these pictures.

Boardwalk?

Jonathan and Beccah

Helen, Raphael, Jonathan and Beccah

Lovely pier with city in the background

We stayed in a hostel named Millaa Millaa. The first night we got there, we learned we would be sharing a room with a guy, instead of having the private room with a full bed for Jonathan, Peter and I. There were 2 sets of bunk beds and one of the walls was a curtain. Remember in my last post when I said that Peter is just now sleeping though the night on a regular basis? I was really worried for this first night, I knew Peter would wake up a couple times at least, and I didn't know how this guy was going to react to that. Jonathan did a great job helping Peter sleep that night, and although he woke up a couple times and fussed, the guy either didn't mind, or was super polite. But, since the beds were bunks, and the guy had the bottom one already, Jonathan and I took the top ones, and Peter slept up top in a small little bed with Jonathan. Mmmmm snugly. Peter did have lots of fun exploring the bunks.

Jonathan and Peter up top

Bunk bed boys

Peter's face...haha. Not impressed.

After the first night, Jonathan, Peter and I moved into a private room, and slept much better. Beccah switched rooms and roomed with a group of girls and our bunk mate got new mates for the other nights. I bet he slept better too. We talked with him later, he was from Malaysia and was in Taiwan studying cooking. Neat.

Beccah, Jonathan, Peter and Robin at Millaa Millaa guesthouse

 The two people who ran Millaa Millaa were in love with Peter. They took pictures of him, and the above photo as well as the last 3 are on their facebook page. They also had a great camera, so I stole their pictures because they were clearer than mine were.

Peter on the bottom bunk...with Asian looking eyes

Cute Peter boy

Also, this guesthouse loved cat head pillows and lots of their guests had photos with the cat head in front of their face, so they had a cat head. So, naturally, our last picture there is our cat head picture. 

Cat head family

Good times in Taiwan.

Sleeping with Baby

(Pictures from June and July 2014 Traveling Asia)

As we traveled on our way home, we slept in lots of different places, with different sleeping arrangements. We never stayed in a place that had a crib to use, which we expected, but it would have been nice. He usually slept in a bed with Jonathan and I or a little blanket nest on the floor. He was tired from lots of busy days, so he had no trouble falling asleep when it was light or noisy, which was terrific. But we tried to stay silent whenever he did fall asleep, and we'd journal, read, sleep or send someone out to buy some food.

It was always interesting when we got to our next hotel/hostel/guesthouse while we were traveling to see what the beds were like. The worst (most cramped) was Hong Kong- but the beds were really soft, so it made up for that. Japan was nice because it didn't matter if Peter rolled since we slept on mats on the floor. Taiwan was tricky since all the floors are hard tile, and I was worried that he'd fall off the bed and get hurt. The temple housing was always nice. They had bunk beds, but we usually got a room with 3 bunks (6 beds) to ourselves, so we'd test out and find the softest beds. Haha, it was such a crazy adventure. But, since all children (especially ones that are terrible sleepers) look fantastically adorable when sleeping, we have a couple of sleeping Peter pictures and a couple that show how fun it was to try sleeping with him.

Asleep in Hong Kong

Little thief stole my pillow in Taiwan

Awake before Beccah...or maybe waking up Beccah

Puli, Taiwan- we had 3 beds here! Peter got to have his own bed, surrounded by a pillow fort so he wouldn't roll off the bed.

"I am the reason people don't sleep."

Sleep and Peter has always been interesting. At 2 years and 2 months old, he now sleeps through the night about 4-5 nights a week. I go crazy when people complain about the lack of sleep they get with younger babies when they say something like, "Yeah, he/she is only sleep about 4-5 hours at a time." Peter started sleeping for 5 hour chunks when he was about 9 or 10 months old. We went for 9 months only sleeping 3 hours at a time! I don't know how we are alive. His naps are usually an hour long, and he's starting to not take them every day. I tell him that it's a good thing he's cute. Also, it's a good thing I have an awesome husband who gets up most nights now with him and puts him back to sleep. Crazy baby/boy. We love that Peter boy.

Women's Conference in Shanghai

(May 3rd 2014, Shanghai China)

We had a Latter-Day Saints Women's Conference in Shanghai that I went to with a few women from the Nanjing Branch. I wrote down some notes, but when we were getting ready to move back to America, I didn't want to take the notes with me, so I typed them up quickly in a blog post. Now it's almost been a year, and I found the post saved in drafts, but I still like the notes I wrote, so I'm going to share them with you. The conference was about learning and being prepared. My original notes are in bold and than additional thoughts I had are in regular font.

Q: What will distinguish the bright people?
A: They know how to learn
I love this! You aren't bright because you have memorized x amount of facts or read so many books or have the highest degree. You are bright because you know how to learn. This way of learning if different for different people, but if you can research something than you won't get stuck. Or if you know how to learn from others or from past experiences and change and not repeat the same mistakes.

Learning
- we label ourselves far too often
- individualize learning
They stressed that we should find what works for us and for our families. The way one person learns may be different from the way you learn. Some people rely very much on facts and numbers while others use more feelings and past experiences. Also, I really connect with people labeling themselves. I saw that a lot in teaching. "I'm just not a good reader." "I don't understand math." "I can't pay attention that's why I have bad grades." Maybe you aren't a good reader now...but that doesn't mean you can't become one. Don't let labels freeze your progression.

Prep for Disaster
1. Have a plan- what do we need, how to contact people
2. Documents- have hard copies of passports, visas, people's phone numbers
3. Water- 1 gal/person for 72 hours
This part was interesting to me, because although we'd lived in China for about 8 month at this point, I'd never really considered being prepared in case of an emergency. I liked the idea of having hard copies of documents and numbers. Being the tech generation that we are, many numbers are just entered into phones and we rely on the phone keeping them. But, if there was some sort of disaster and we didn't have phone service, or the battery died or it got lost or broken, then how would be contact people? They told us to go home and write down numbers you would need and keep them in a safe place. Also, Jonathan just mentioned the other day that we need to work on our water storage here in Provo...so this conference is applicable both in America and overseas.

Money
1. Pay tithing
2. Avoid Debt
3. Get a Reserve
This class was all about managing money. The teacher gave really simple principles that are great to live by during any time of life. We are getting better at budgeting, and I really like having a plan and being able to manage our finances better.

Sacrifice = love, sacrifice must be willingly given
I remember there were good stories told by the speaker who said this part, but I don't remember exactly what they said. But, I agree with the idea. I think something I'd like to work on is sacrificing with a better heart- giving up time to help others without complaining internally, or sacrificing for my husband without expecting something in return. I think the sacrifice of our Savior when he prayed for us in Gethsemane and died for us was the greatest sacrifice of love and a good example to us. Like the line in a children's church song, "I'm trying to be like Jesus."

Evac checklist 
1. Passports
2. Documents- house, inventory, loans, medical, mortgage, taxes, personal
3. Clothes
4. Sentimental- things for kids, what will comfort them if you need to flee
5. Cash
Others: SSN cards, Driver's License, Credit Cards, check book, bath bag, glasses, sewing kit, flashlight, paper and pen, reading material, snacks and water, camera, tech things
This class section was one of the most interesting because it covered what we were to have/do in case of a need to evacuate the country. Again, this is something I'd never thought of. They said that if something happened that would call for evacuation, we needed to have all needed documents and enough cash for plane tickets out of the country. Once the planes couldn't run anymore, there would most likely be some boats, but it would be our job to get to the boats. Also, they told us that if you had kids to go though with them, "if we needed to flee, what would you want to have with you so you weren't scared?" So, then if the time did come, they would know exactly what to grab to help them cope. Luckily there was nothing that occurred that was bad while we lived there, but it was good to have this class so we could think about it and have a plan.

Women's Conference was fun. I went up with some friends and it was nice to get out and just be with other women. We had fun traveling together and doing a little shopping after the conference and before our train back to Nanjing. Also, we went out for dinner- there were 3 of us- Alauna Westover, Esther Trueman and myself- and Alauna took us to this little area with a few Western style food places. I had Mexican food. It was not the best I've ever had, but on that night, after living without Mexican food for eight months, it was delicious. Great food, great people, great messages, wonderful day.

Ha, I just remembered my adventure of getting to the train to leave for Shanghai. I had to catch the metro to go into the city- about a 40 minute ride- to the train station. I got to the metro station a little later than I wanted and learned that the metro was only coming every 15 minutes, because it was so early. So instead of a 2 minute wait, it was much longer. I finally got on the metro and got the the train station and ran to my train. I got on and sat down and the train pulled out a minute after getting to my seat...haha. I am awesome at running for trains.

Last Leg Home (from Cambodia to China)

(January 2014 Cambodia to China)

This entire post is written today...so sorry if the details are lacking. 

We rode our tuk tuk to the airport, gave our driver all of our small change and went through security. Everything went really smoothly and without a problem. We got through all the lines quickly and were at our gate in no time. The travel plan was: fly from Phnom Penh to Hong Kong: our flight left Phnom Penh at 11:50 am, which was lovely because we didn't have to rush and we could sleep in after our long late bus ride. The flight was about 4 hours long. Then, switch planes, fly from HK to Shanghai. We had a 2 hour layover in Hong Kong, so Peter would have time to stretch and play before we got on the second flight. Once in Shanghai we would have to get from the airport to the train station via metro, train from Shanghai to Nanjing, and then walk home from the train station (about a 20 min walk). Our flight was going to get into Shanghai around 7:30pm, so we would still have a couple of train options to catch. Excellent plan....but... twas only a plan. 

Cambodia Airport Entrance

Tuk Tuk entrance sign

The problem arose in Hong Kong, where our flight to Shanghai got delayed about an hour or two. Luckily, Peter had a great time playing in the kids area and we all got a good break. Everyone in the airport loved him. My favorite reaction though came from a man who was walking near Peter. Peter was only a year old at this point and although he could walk, he would still fall down sometimes. Well, Peter fell back on his bum as this man was walking behind him and the man lunged to try to catch him before he fell. Jonathan and I were nearby and didn't even flinch. Haha. Peter fell and then just got back up and started walking again. The man seemed confused and I just laughed inside. 

Anyway, our delayed flight meant that we got into Shanghai later in the night than we were expecting- I think around 9 pm instead of 7:30 pm. Then we had to get on the metro and take an hour ride to the train station. We got to the train station around 10pm only to learn that there were no seats open on any trains headed to Nanjing that night. What?!!! This was a problem.  A huge problem. If it was just me and Jonathan, we could sleep at the train station. It wouldn't be awesome, but it was possible, but add Peter in the mix. No way. He was already being crazy from traveling all day. Also, we didn't know Shanghai well enough to find a hotel for the night.

But, there are two train stations in Shanghai that train to Nanjing, so Leigh called the other station and they said they had a couple of slow trains headed to Nanjing at 11pm. So, we had about an hour to get from one station to the other, buy tickets and make it on the train. Let's just say, there was a decent amount of running like mad people while trying to navigate metro stops we'd never seen before and a metro line we weren't familiar with. We had to switch lines at least once...maybe twice. Whenever we were on the metro car, we'd try to come up with an alternative in case we didn't catch the last trains out of Shanghai. We figured, at least we were in a country where two people in our group were fluent with the language, so if we did get stranded, Jonathan and Leigh could work something out.

Anyway, we got to the train station in enough time and queried whether the train still had seats, and it did!  We bought tickets and raced to the train and made it in time. Now, we usually take the fast train between Shanghai and Nanjing. It takes between 1 hr 15 min-1 hr 45 min...depending on the train. But this was the slow train. It had many more stops and I think it drove slower too. So, it was going to be a lovely 3 hour train ride...on top of all our other traveling...and it was after 11pm when the train got moving. Also, since we bought the last tickets available for this train instead of having rows of nice padded seats, we had benches that could also be beds. When you walked through the car, the right hand side had open compartments with 2 long benches facing each other with a couple of feet in between and 2 more benches above them on each side- so 6 benches to each compartment. The bottom bench has enough head room to sit up on, but you can't sit up completely on the two above benches. The left hand side had tiny little seats that could be folded down to sit on, but were normally folded against the wall.

Also, since these cars were the cheap seats, our fellow travelers were a poorer class of Chinese. They were just as interested in Peter as any other Chinese we'd met. He did surprisingly well for the first bit of the train. People shared food with him, and everyone played with him. There were two younger girls- probably about 2 and 5 years old- who were super interested in Peter, but if we set him on the ground, the younger one would start screaming. She was terrified if he got close to her, but if we picked him up, then she'd stop crying and play with him at a distance. She eventually warmed up to him. Also, the younger girl and a little baby a few benches over had no diapers and only the cut out pants...on the train. Ugh. I don't miss that so much.

Peter (in Cambodian pants) and Jonathan hanging out in the middle bunk

Anyway, Peter played with the other kids for a bit, we made all the adults nervous because we let Peter walk around on the bumpy train and what if he fell?!!, the train workers tried to get us to buy snacks and an obnoxiously loud toy train, and Peter fought sleep like it might kill him. He screamed and threw his shows off, and tried to escape and wiggle for what felt like forever. He finally gave in about an hour from home. We slept as best we could and finally pulled in to our station at Nanjing between 2 or 3 am. We walked home from the train station, glad to be home and glad to be done with our Cambodia adventure. It was a crazy trip and a crazy day of traveling, but we'd survived and had so many fun stories and memories. We crawled into bed and slept. Our hard Chinese bed had never been that comfortable in all our life. The adventures of traveling!