We had some friends come visit from KY! It was a lot of fun to show them around, and they were both such great sports and a pleasure to host! All of these pictures were taken by them, but I thought they were great!

While Colt was on his class trip, we were invited to visit a friend’s place in the mountains about 2 hours away. It was a lot of fun. We did some hiking and exploring. We also did some rock climbing, and we even had an outdoor evening dinner by candlelight. It was so much fun! Of course, there is never a dull moment. Caden cut his head open playing with his friends (and we were 2 hours up in the mountains), but thankfully there was a doctor there who knew which herbs could stop bleeding and made an herbal compress. It all worked out just fine and healed up nicely.

This trip was to various destinations for a total of 5 night away! That’s kind of like camp, huh? They went to some museums and famous places in the southern part of the country, riding various forms of transportation on the way (high speed rail and metro). The kids were also responsible for buying food and making dinner together. They were put into teams of 2 and responsible for one dish. I was quite curious to see what Colt would make with his friend. They made an egg and tomato dish. It was either good or they were really hungry, because all of the dishes were empty after dinner. I think everything tastes better when you make it too Great memories, and he sure is growing up!

I think we made almost 300 cooks with friends this year! It was a lot of fun though My original sugar cookie recipe called for 3 cups of flour and 2 cups of sugar. . . but knowing the locals don’t like sweet sweet things, I cut it back to 1/4 cup of sugar! It was just right. Especially with the icing on top. The kids had a blast, and it always means a lot to the parents when you spend time loving on their kids!

I try to consistently have girl time with Kylie, but it usually only happens once a month. I just started a new book called Eight Great Mom and Daughter Dates by Dannah Gresh, founder of Secret Keeper Girl – now True Girl. I am far from perfect and am always trying to learn and be a better wife/mom, but I wanted to share this resource with other moms of daughters. It’s not easy growing up in this generation. They need us to teach them, model, and spend time with them. Kylie loved this little date so much she wants to frame these pics and put them by her bed haha
]

We ran (along with about 10,000 other people) our first family 5K in this city. . . it will definitely become a tradition. It was a lot of fun, and the kids did awesome! We couldn’t even keep up with Caden!

Colt got to go on an overnight field trip to the highest point in GX province. This is a cool story. . . actually, this place is a protected nature reserve that they don’t allow foreigners into without going through an approval process which we didn’t know about in time. “Guanxi” (relationship) is a powerful thing in this culture though. . . once the other parents heard Colt wasn’t able to go they pulled out all their “guanxi” cards and someone had some pretty good “guanxi” with someone in the govt. who wrote an approval letter for him. One of the parents came and got Colt’s passport and took it and the letter to several offices to get stamps and complete the process. I was pretty touched that they did that for us. Unforgettable trip for various reasons!

They never cease to amaze me. . . I love to see them working with their hands. Hopefully, they can use this talent to bless others!

Some type of fungus/mushroom family. . . I have eaten it and it’s pretty good, but I have no idea how to cook it (yet)!

Super excited about this shop that just opened and makes coconut milk and treats from the pure, whole coconut!

The best spicy noodles in town!

Snail soup noodles. . . . I haven’t eaten the snails (people dig it out with a toothpick and slurp it up – probably similar to clams?), but the noodles and veggies are delish!