Our Celebrity Lookalikes

Several years ago, one of D's old college roommates introduced us to this site that tells you what celebrity you look like based on a picture you upload.

Here's D's celeb profile:

So I guess they pull up anybody with glasses and say they're a match.

Here's C's:

Yao Ming! YES! Maybe C has the potential to be tall.

And mine:

This is interesting, because I did another picture and was told that I look like Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon.

Regardless, mindless fun for a mindless Thursday morning.

I Love the Kiddo

***WARNING: this is a gush post. If it makes you cringe, you have full permission to move on.***

Lately, I've been having a lot of those, "I love being a parent to my kid" days. Here's what C's been saying lately.

• The "When I Grow Up" stuff. "Mom, when I grow up, I want to be an astronaut and take you and daddy into space."
• The bedtime stalling stuff. "I can't go to sleep yet. I didn't get a chance to kiss Ozzie (our backyard neighbor's dog) goodnight."
• The not-so-innocent suggestions. "Mom, what are we going to do next? How about we bake some cupcakes?"
• The defensive argument. "But mom, I deserve a new train because I was a really really good boy."
  
• The "just being a silly kid" stuff. "byeloveyoubyeloveyoubye!" - his goodnight ritual. Or, "okie-dokie artichokey!"
  
• The "rat on mom" stuff. "Mom, you didn't stop at the red light!" - as we go through an IPass lane. My response: "C, we don't have to stop. We only have to slow down." "But you didn't even slow down, mom!"
• The "oh no, he did NOT just say that" stuff. "Behave or you WILL go to time out, mom." (hmm. I wonder where he got that.)
  

He's such a chatterbox... and three is such a fun age!

China Trip

So, D and I just got back from China and Hong Kong.

Here's a slideshow of some pictures.


Some noteworthy experiences...

Hong Kong:

• Seeing old friends and meeting their spouses/fiances/kids.
• Victoria Peak and Stanley. Seeing the richie rich of the Hong Kong elite and their seaside mansions.
  
• TST and the entire market scene. Haggling. Our Cantonese-speaking friend doing the wheeling and dealing for us.

Crossing the border:

• The Great and Spacious Building in Shenzhen. I thought we weren't ever going to make it out of there alive. But D got two suits for $200. What a deal!
• Having no clue whatsoever what we were doing once we got into China. What? Take a bus? Where? How far is it to the airport? An hour? And it only costs $3? or $30? or $300?

Shanghai:

• Seeing a million bikes in Shanghai. Literally. A million. And thus, the widest bike lanes we've ever seen in our lives.
  
• Trying to find church. "It's by a Starbucks," we tell the cabbie. He stares back and then spews out something in Chinese. D and I look at each other, then proceed to laugh and pray that we'll make it somewhere, anywhere, alive.
• A charter bus ride to nearby Suzhou. The driver decided that tailing new middle-class drivers and honking at them ferociously was appropriate. And passing on the right at what felt like 80 mph.
  
• Pointing. Charades. Gestures. "We want to go here. Do you speak English?" The reply: something in reallyreallyreallyfast Chinese.
• Seeing a million silkworms. And watching how silk is made. And being yelled at for taking a picture of it.
  
• Seeing pedicab pedalers hauling a family of four and all their luggage uphill to the bus station.
• Witnessing some of the most grave poverty we've ever seen. Chinese men selling towels and hair accessories outside of their shanties for pennies, hoping to earn a living.
• Shopping in Shanghai. Ribbons. Lace. Eyelets. Embellishment heaven! Fake purses. "Jade." Dollar stores that were really 2 RMB stores (about $0.30). Haggling. Walking away. Aggressive salespeople. Desperate for business.
• A cruise on the Huangpu River at dusk. There's a light show in Pudong. Kind of Disneyland-ish, but also, we couldn't believe how much building was going on over there. Insane.
• Taking the Maglev at 400km/hour from Shanghai to the airport. I think it took all of 10 minutes.

Beijing:

• The flight from Shanghai to Beijing, with a plane full of first-time Chinese fliers. Buckle seat belts, tray tables up, seats in the upright position? No way. Volume down when talking to your friend? No, just holler at them from across the entire airplane. "Ohhhhhhhh...." when the plane descends. And a burst of applause when the pilot successfuly lands. Once we're on the ground - no need to wait to taxi to the gate. Half the plane is up. Hilarious.
  
• Tiananmen Square. The Forbidden City. Instructing cabbies strictly by pointing at pictures and grunting. Finding the best cab driver in the entire country of China - the death cabbie who took driving lessons from Jason Bourne.
• The Paralympics. Cheering on USA's Men's Paralympic Wheelchair Basketball team right when we needed a dose of good ol' America. Watching the USA beat those Aussies.
• Waiting for what felt like hours for a cab. And being bypassed for other Chinese people. Because, well, that's how it is.
• Great Wall and Ming Tombs. Finding Five Star bathroom facilities, and discovering those that were NOT. Ewwww.
  
• Getting an hour long massage by blind Chinese men in a pharmacy at 11 p.m. for $8.00, following dinner at what is possibly the biggest mall in the world.

Xian:

• Randomly happening upon the coolest street market in the world in Xian. Tons of food. Tons of knockoffs. Tons of handcrafted goodies. Nuts. Pomegranates. Sweets. Muslim Chinese women. A mosque in China.
• Getting my toenail almost ripped off by a mad dash of people in a bus. Hint: never wear flip flops in China. Ever. And ride the bus for experience only. Otherwise, you won't get a seat. There are just too many people.
• Stepping into a puddle of fish guts, loogies, and who-knows-what-else. In flip flops. See hint above.
  
• D getting beaten up by a local Chinese woman for refusing to pay for a picture that wasn't theirs to collect money for to begin with. At first, "10 RMB! You have to pay 10 RMB!" D: "No. We're walking away." "Fine, 2 RMB! Give me 2!" "No!" {whack. kick. punch. D and I running for our lives.}
• Terracotta Soldiers. Just, wow.
• Sesame buns for $0.25. Pork dumplings for $2.00. Some sort of bland, nasty bread for $0.10. You get what you pay for.

The trip home:

• Reading. Finishing entire books on the 17 hour journey back.
• Coming home to a happy and excited son who was even more thrilled to get a space shuttle for being a good boy while mom and dad were away.
• Getting sick 24 hours upon returning, and having a husband drive me to the ER at 10 at night for fear that I had contracted Bird Flu, SARS, parasites, or malaria. The diagnosis? E, none of the above.
  

What an experience! And we're so glad to be home. Thanks to all who made this a ridiculously fun, once-in-a-lifetime adventure for us.

Summer Recap

This is going to be the most boring post ever. We've done so much over the last few weeks that I just need to get it down so I don't forget!

Kirtland, OH and Palmyra, NY. We went to a France Paris Mission mini-reunion organized by the Forbes. Thanks for putting that all together. D got to reconnect with the Collins (C's new girlfriend Eowyn's parents) and the Coopers (our new travel heroes who are moving to Australia soon, but that won't stop them from making random trips to the states for small gatherings.) We made it by the Finger Lakes (in that book, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die.) It was nice, but... top 1,000 places? I'm not so sure.


Toronto, Ontario, Canada. After the New York thing, we went through Niagara Falls to Toronto to meet up with D's uncles (3 of them) and check out the city. It's a cosmopolitan place. It was too cloudy to head to the top of the CN tower, so we took the ferry across Lake Ontario instead and checked out the city views from there, then spent the rest of the day walking through Chinatown and driving around Yonge and Queen Streets.



Lake Geneva, IL. I went to Girls Camp overnight with the Young Women from our ward. This version of "camping" included air conditioned cabins, hot water, and a beautiful view of Lake Geneva. Regardless, camping always includes bugs and sweat and dirt, none of which I'm a fan of. So I slept in the car and escaped quickly the next morning.

Salt Lake City, UT. Immediately after getting back from Girls Camp, I headed out to SLC for Stampin' Up! convention. Thanks, Jerin and Wami, for letting me stay at your place even though you weren't there! I appreciate it. Also, thanks to Steph, Paul, and Chick and Yves for hosting me for a couple of days. And thanks, John and Melissa, for yummy yummy food. Good times.

Lots of trips into Chicago. Whether it's for school (D), dance classes (me), random trips for business, or just to hang out, we've loved every minute of this Chicago summer.

Joshua Radin. I love him. We went to see him, Alexa Wilkinson, and Vanessa Carlton last weekend at the House of Blues. He even came down into the pit where we were standing and belted out a Dylan song sans mic, literally inches away from me. Did I mention that I love him?
Friends in town from out of town. We've had our share of guests over the past weekend. The Hardies and Guillons came into town over the weekend. Another mini mission reunion. We took the Guillons to Nauvoo and Carthage on Monday and Tuesday. Their first time there, and they got the red carpet treatment. They come back through here next week, so we plan to do more fun stuff with them when they're back in town (i.e., jazz club, baseball game, shopping on the Mag Mile.)

Other things that have been going on:
C starts preschool this fall.
M's business is scheduled to open for catering end of October.
D's still going to school and doing an amazing job at it.
The tomatoes are harvesting!

Fourth of July Fun

It just so happened that Steph, Paul, and clan were in town for the 4th of July this year, so we got everyone together for a BBQ. This included my parents, Scott/Becky, Nan/Greg, Pam/Steve, and Lynne. Count 'em. That's 13 adults. And 13 kids. Talk about a 1:1 ratio.

To keep the kids happy, we set up a slip-n-slide in the backyard and let the kids go crazy on our play set. But unusually for July, the weather wasn't as warm or humid as it should have been, so instead of cooling off, they froze. I guess kids don't mind so much, though!

Despite the fact that I don't like to cook, I enjoyed preparing for this event. I actually made fresh sausages for the first time and made a bunch of desserts and salad. Everyone pitched in and brought something - so helpful! Thanks to all for coming and hanging out with us.