Feb vacation with the fam.

Okay so these are backwards but we will be okay. In February we went to the States to go to a job fair. In IOWA...seriously who has a job fair in IOWA...well we got to hang out and eat food and enjoy the snow and get a job so that was fun.
Anyway while we were there we go to make a stop at home and a stop in Boston to see Meg and Tom. The above picture was taken at fire and ice in Boston...the best tons of fun and food that everyone could eat. And I think I had cosmos....those were good! Meg looks great huh? She looks happy and I made her buy clothes...and then we had our sibling fight and everyhting was better. It is hard to be away from you sibling for long periods of time, you miss each other so much and then when you get together you don't know what to say. Beside hi and I miss you.

Here we are eating bread bowls in Boston with clam chowder and whatever else you could imagine. So good can't wait to go back. I love Boston...would live there in a heart beat.

Meghan and Mom...we had a blast together. It was nice to have the six of us together. It feels good to have family around you.

Okay so we were in Maine Dad went to take pictures of a Ice fishing derby in the middle of nowhere. The whole family went and we had tons of fun. Jill, Dan and Hannah and Jack were there too. We caught fish I picked it up then screamed. I don't think Mom will ever let me live that down. But it was nice to be in cold weather even though there was no snow. Then on top of that is felt really cold because now we are tropical! It was hard to say good bye to Mom and Dad when we left but it was okay because they came out in April and we spent tons of time with them!!!!

This is my husband. I love this picture because we are outside loving what we do. We are lucky to be teachers and have time off where we can spend it with the fam. We got up to see Don and Anne and they came down and had brunch with my parents one day. Doug spent a night up there to hang out with the extended family. It was nice, I think everyone needed it. Jan was in Florida so we didn't get to see her but who wants to come to Maine when you are a little warmer in Florida. At least we got to talk to her in the same time zone. That was nice.

AMAZING RACE

Let me guess you have heard of the amazing race before but how about in Beilun, China run by three people who thought it would be a good bonding experience for the school that they work at? Yup that is right the amazing Chaney and Daniels families decided that it would be fun if they made an amazing race around Beilun. So one Saturday in March it didn't rain and the race began. Doug and I had the pleasure of being on a team with two students. Brother and sister, Theo and Margot. So the four of us when they said go the four of us ran.
There were about 17 to 20 teams that did this, from families to friends to teachers with students.

The deal was that you had to take three modes of transportation, pedicab, bus and taxi, you had to make sure that you got a picture of you using them. So there are a few pictures of us on the transportation. The rest of the time we ran, ran and ran, and those two wonderful students ran also. It was great, we had to calligraphy that Margot rocked at, we had to cut paper, we had to buy fruit of a certain weight, and we kicked butt at all of them, then we slowed down when we got to the riddles, all the riddles, man they got us there......BUT NO WORRIES

WE WON FIRST PLACE!!!!! AND WE GOT TROPHIES.

This is Theo and Margot on the bus. It was great they would always say they were doing fine and then ask me how I was doing because I was the slowest.

Margot doing calligraphy she looked at me and said you do it...I turned to her and I said you are the true artist.

We had a blast. Doug and I love doing these thing together. We love being able to cross the finish line together and cheer each other on. We make a great team...we had so much fun that we couldn't stop smiling the rest of the day...now the plan is to do something like this for our new school!

Great idea and great way to get to know a town better...we have the t-shirt to prove that we did it.

Never going to catch up so starting NEW

Okay since back tracking is going to take forever I am just going to do what I can for the rest of the year!
Now the Oscars came out????? Yeah I can't remember but I do know that we had a kick ass Oscar party.
Everyone had to dress up as they were going to the Oscars. Doug and I had decorated the apartment and then Doug had bought a red carpet that we laid down from the elevator all the way into the apartment ending in a red round circle where people got their pictures taken. It was awesome. The above picture is of the large and small Chaney's....missing Sarah....she was a little sick. Everyone that came had to bring a dish to share that was some how related to a Oscar nominated movie. Seriously it was a blast.

Trent came as a body guard for the famous people and bought tons of food.

This is the Crother's family, yup once again yummy food. We had a blast. We talked about our all time favorite movies, actors, actresses and other movie related topics.

This is Robbie with me in the background just pretending I spotted someone famous. We played charades, with that said we will never forget Olga reenacting Brokeback Mountain.

It is nice to have friends like this, people that willing to dress up, play silly games, make food and enjoy each others company. You never realize how lucky you are until you do something like this. Yes no pictures of Doug but he looked smart in his suit with vest. He helped make the party happen so that to me was tons of fun!

Keefe's Come to China!

We were fortunate enough to get some more visitors here in Ningbo! They included Ben and Alex Keefe, Doug is racing Ben around the school track here.








Here is Ben and Dad, Chris, getting around with a local Pedi-Cab in the heart of Beilun. It cost about $.60 to get from one end of town to the other at our apartment. As this photo shows, they enjoyed the ride (even the driver!)








Guess who likes this ride? This is Alex and mom, Beth, getting to race dad and ben keefe.
We are really lucky to have family that would come all the way over to see us. They got to see Beijing, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Ningbo, and Shanghai. Well done, and thanks for coming!

Plant Shopping

This is the huge greenhouse we went to to pick up new plants for our new apartment. The runner in the family is scoping things out!


This is the runner in the family trying to tricycle away. We all wanted to take this vehicle home to Mr. Palmer for his garage to garden commute!

This is Shirley holding up a plant that is full of "Venus Fly Trap-Like" bulbs. These bulbous portions hold water and also trap prey inside. They were amazing!

This is Tim and Kirst roaming around the nearly one square kilometer facility!

Chinese Chicken Hill

Howdy there sports fans. We're coming to you live from Beilun, China and we're bringing you a fun filled expedition that included great uphill biking and backcountry cycling! This is Ken Li, our great friend, personal guide (just kidding), and PE teacher at AIAN!




This is the bride taking a quick water break. It was pretty steamy even though there wasn't a digital thermometer stamp on the photos. These are the hills to the west of where our school is and after the long climb up the hill dubbed, "Chinese Chicken Hill" by Robbie which also has a tunnel at its pinnacle followed by a wicked long down hill! I remember my speedometer reading 35 mph!




These gentleman were some smiley guys we ran into in the bush. They got a good kick out of us while they were on their way back for lunch. Most people we know, don't get a to experience as many authentic encounters. Robbie and Ken both have been really good about getting us out and teaching us how important it is to explore.




This was a result of Doug trying to jump a concrete aquifer. The front tire made it fine, the rear got a snakebite. OOPS! Ken had never fixed a flat before and insisted he do it. So far, so good. I haven't lost the rear tire! You're the man Xiong Di!

Vball for AIAN

This fall, I got to coach the boys team at AIAN. It was a surprise when the original volunteer backed out after the first practice, but I think it worked out ok.











The boys I got to work with were hard working and willing to try anything, especially have fun and get better.













We hosted the tournament in Beilun, even though we don't have an in indoor facility. We borrowed a local Chinese HS gym and it worked well enough.

We didn't win any games, our experience was a little less than other teams. We had two high school students, and only one of them could reach the top of the net.

We were the only team that had MS students, but they carried themselves with class and character and fought for every point we got.
Overall, it was a huge success and we earned the respect of other teams. We also won the sportsmanship award, something I hope they take great pride in!


Check out the video below. It was taken from the local TV news channel. Press the arrow in the bottom left hand corner.