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Welcome About Us Photos Movies Blog Some things stink, some things don’t. Saturday, March 21, 2009 Today, being the lovely Saturday that it was, found our family heading to the plant/fish market in our city. Now please understand that when I say lovely day, I am only talking about the fact that it was 85º, and the fact that it was NOT raining. Otherwise it could be described as icky weather. You basically could only see about 5 feet in front of you. That’s how hazy/smoggy/foggy (whatever word you feel compelled to use), it was outside. But the warmth was very inviting so off we went. This may sound strange, but my motivation for dressing the kids in the clothes that I did, was completely for the reaction. I know this is still the month of March, and in China that means you have to wear AT LEAST 2 layers of clothes... usually more. It doesn’t matter what the outside temperature is. Here you are supposed to dress according to the calendar. So when my girls went outside in capris and short sleeve shirts, and Nate in (gasp) shorts... I got the reaction I was expecting. Every single person we passed, whether male or female, young or old, they all had the same comment. “Your children aren’t wearing enough clothes”. Because I knew this would be the case and because I was confident my kids would NOT be getting sick due to their lack of layers, I could with confidence reply “their clothes are just fine, thankyousomuch”. Anyway, the girls had a great time. Nate, being the sleep-a-holic that he is, struggled a bit as he was 30 minutes past his morning nap time. The market where we went sells everything... veggies, fruit, plants, animals, fish, big underwear...

Some things stink, some things don’t. I can just distract things and my kids don’t have to have a forced holding hands episode

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Welcome About Us Photos Movies Blog

Some things stink, some things don’t.Saturday, March 21, 2009

Today, being the lovely Saturday that it was, found our family heading to the plant/fish market in our city. Now please understand that when I say lovely day, I am only talking about the fact that it was 85º, and the fact that it was NOT raining. Otherwise it could be described as icky weather. You basically could only see about 5 feet in front of you. That’s how hazy/smoggy/foggy (whatever word you feel compelled to use), it was outside. But the warmth was very inviting so off we went. This may sound strange, but my motivation for dressing the kids in the clothes that I did, was completely for the reaction. I know this is still the month of March, and in China that means you have to wear AT LEAST 2 layers of clothes... usually more. It doesn’t matter what the outside temperature is. Here you are supposed to dress according to the calendar. So when my girls went outside in capris and short sleeve shirts, and Nate in (gasp) shorts... I got the reaction I was expecting. Every single person we passed, whether male or female, young or old, they all had the same comment. “Your children aren’t wearing enough clothes”. Because I knew this would be the case and because I was confident my kids would NOT be getting sick due to their lack of layers, I could with confidence reply “their clothes are just fine, thankyousomuch”.

Anyway, the girls had a great time. Nate, being the sleep-a-holic that he is, struggled a bit as he was 30 minutes past his morning nap time.

The market where we went sells everything... veggies, fruit, plants, animals, fish, big underwear...

For some reason (I don’t completely understand), when kids meet a new friend in China, they have to shake hands. The Chinese kids don’t always like it, and my kids never like it... but it is just how it is done. Thankfully I can just distract things and my kids don’t have to have a forced holding hands episode.What I wasn’t expecting was that Nate would have to do it too! When this little boy (pictured above & below) was told to hold hands with Nate, Nate looked at him like he was a bit crazy. I love the picture below of Nate just looking at his hand like “what ARE you doing?” haha

This lady above is feeling Nate’s hands to see how cold he was. She was very surprised that Nate wasn’t cold. I then asked her “seeing as how it is so warm outside, aren’t you hot with all your layers on?”. (You can ask that kind of question in China). She just shrugged it off which means YES.

Once we got to the fish store, where Steve has been shopping for the last 8 years, he was led to the secret upstairs room where the cool fish are. The girls got to go up and see, but I hung out downstairs with Nate and we walked around the nursery. Makes me wish I had a green thumb. I was almost tempted to buy a plant, but then i remembered that I could, single handedly, and in a very short time span, kill every plant in there without even trying.

The fish shop owner’s wife was thrilled that the girls came back. Apparently every time the girls go to her shop she tries to get a picture with her and this was the first time it was successful. She had taken out a turtle to show the girls and then returned it to the tank before the picture. Elizabeth was okay with the looking, but had no interest in touching the turtle. When the lady went to take the picture with the girls, Elizabeth thought she was still holding the turtle and flipped out a bit when she thought it was still in the ladies hand. She does indeed get her jumpiness from me.

Anna watching the fish man A local pet store. These really are pets. Really.

They were really cute.

And these puppy dogs were completely adorable. Oh wow, SO cute!

The kids loved watching all the bunnies, dogs, birds, hamsters...Oh, and the older lady who has sqeezed Nate’s hand in the picture above came back over to us while Nate was standing there looking at the dogs. She pointed to the boy standing next to Nate and said “this is how you should be dressing your son... this boy has enough clothes on.” I smiled and left it at that! But deep down I knew that boy was HOT! haha

Once we got home the kids were all very eager to see daddy let the fish go free. I should have gotten some video on Elizabeth’s comentary to the ‘freeing of the fish”. She was very excited for them.

And the highlights... freeing fish, feeding the fish, and feeling the fish kiss their fingers. All that really makes it feel like fish are real pets too!

All morning long I was reminded again and again what a sensitive nose Elizabeth has. It wasn’t just the fact that she walked around half the morning with her fingers plugging her nose. It was the frequently heard comment “mommy, what smells now”, that clued me in how extra sensitive she is. Anna, Steve & I are able to almost tune out some of the smells that come along with a market type area, but Elizabeth is very in tune with unpleasant smells. It is hard to tell an almost 4 year old, “just try not to think about it”, because that is exactly what they will do! But just as she did not appreciate the less than appealing smells, she did have appreciation for the thinks that were nice. We smelled some flowers at the nursery and she said “this doesn’t smell bad”, and when we finally got home with our fish, she walked in the door and announced “I like the way home smells”. Whew - glad my house meets up to her noses standards.

Today, being the lovely Saturday that it was, found our family heading to the plant/fish market in our city. Now please understand that when I say lovely day, I am only talking about the fact that it was 85º, and the fact that it was NOT raining. Otherwise it could be described as icky weather. You basically could only see about 5 feet in front of you. That’s how hazy/smoggy/foggy (whatever word you feel compelled to use), it was outside. But the warmth was very inviting so off we went. This may sound strange, but my motivation for dressing the kids in the clothes that I did, was completely for the reaction. I know this is still the month of March, and in China that means you have to wear AT LEAST 2 layers of clothes... usually more. It doesn’t matter what the outside temperature is. Here you are supposed to dress according to the calendar. So when my girls went outside in capris and short sleeve shirts, and Nate in (gasp) shorts... I got the reaction I was expecting. Every single person we passed, whether male or female, young or old, they all had the same comment. “Your children aren’t wearing enough clothes”. Because I knew this would be the case and because I was confident my kids would NOT be getting sick due to their lack of layers, I could with confidence reply “their clothes are just fine, thankyousomuch”.

Anyway, the girls had a great time. Nate, being the sleep-a-holic that he is, struggled a bit as he was 30 minutes past his morning nap time.

The market where we went sells everything... veggies, fruit, plants, animals, fish, big underwear...

For some reason (I don’t completely understand), when kids meet a new friend in China, they have to shake hands. The Chinese kids don’t always like it, and my kids never like it... but it is just how it is done. Thankfully I can just distract things and my kids don’t have to have a forced holding hands episode.What I wasn’t expecting was that Nate would have to do it too! When this little boy (pictured above & below) was told to hold hands with Nate, Nate looked at him like he was a bit crazy. I love the picture below of Nate just looking at his hand like “what ARE you doing?” haha

This lady above is feeling Nate’s hands to see how cold he was. She was very surprised that Nate wasn’t cold. I then asked her “seeing as how it is so warm outside, aren’t you hot with all your layers on?”. (You can ask that kind of question in China). She just shrugged it off which means YES.

Once we got to the fish store, where Steve has been shopping for the last 8 years, he was led to the secret upstairs room where the cool fish are. The girls got to go up and see, but I hung out downstairs with Nate and we walked around the nursery. Makes me wish I had a green thumb. I was almost tempted to buy a plant, but then i remembered that I could, single handedly, and in a very short time span, kill every plant in there without even trying.

The fish shop owner’s wife was thrilled that the girls came back. Apparently every time the girls go to her shop she tries to get a picture with her and this was the first time it was successful. She had taken out a turtle to show the girls and then returned it to the tank before the picture. Elizabeth was okay with the looking, but had no interest in touching the turtle. When the lady went to take the picture with the girls, Elizabeth thought she was still holding the turtle and flipped out a bit when she thought it was still in the ladies hand. She does indeed get her jumpiness from me.

Anna watching the fish man A local pet store. These really are pets. Really.

They were really cute.

And these puppy dogs were completely adorable. Oh wow, SO cute!

The kids loved watching all the bunnies, dogs, birds, hamsters...Oh, and the older lady who has sqeezed Nate’s hand in the picture above came back over to us while Nate was standing there looking at the dogs. She pointed to the boy standing next to Nate and said “this is how you should be dressing your son... this boy has enough clothes on.” I smiled and left it at that! But deep down I knew that boy was HOT! haha

Once we got home the kids were all very eager to see daddy let the fish go free. I should have gotten some video on Elizabeth’s comentary to the ‘freeing of the fish”. She was very excited for them.

And the highlights... freeing fish, feeding the fish, and feeling the fish kiss their fingers. All that really makes it feel like fish are real pets too!

All morning long I was reminded again and again what a sensitive nose Elizabeth has. It wasn’t just the fact that she walked around half the morning with her fingers plugging her nose. It was the frequently heard comment “mommy, what smells now”, that clued me in how extra sensitive she is. Anna, Steve & I are able to almost tune out some of the smells that come along with a market type area, but Elizabeth is very in tune with unpleasant smells. It is hard to tell an almost 4 year old, “just try not to think about it”, because that is exactly what they will do! But just as she did not appreciate the less than appealing smells, she did have appreciation for the thinks that were nice. We smelled some flowers at the nursery and she said “this doesn’t smell bad”, and when we finally got home with our fish, she walked in the door and announced “I like the way home smells”. Whew - glad my house meets up to her noses standards.

Today, being the lovely Saturday that it was, found our family heading to the plant/fish market in our city. Now please understand that when I say lovely day, I am only talking about the fact that it was 85º, and the fact that it was NOT raining. Otherwise it could be described as icky weather. You basically could only see about 5 feet in front of you. That’s how hazy/smoggy/foggy (whatever word you feel compelled to use), it was outside. But the warmth was very inviting so off we went. This may sound strange, but my motivation for dressing the kids in the clothes that I did, was completely for the reaction. I know this is still the month of March, and in China that means you have to wear AT LEAST 2 layers of clothes... usually more. It doesn’t matter what the outside temperature is. Here you are supposed to dress according to the calendar. So when my girls went outside in capris and short sleeve shirts, and Nate in (gasp) shorts... I got the reaction I was expecting. Every single person we passed, whether male or female, young or old, they all had the same comment. “Your children aren’t wearing enough clothes”. Because I knew this would be the case and because I was confident my kids would NOT be getting sick due to their lack of layers, I could with confidence reply “their clothes are just fine, thankyousomuch”.

Anyway, the girls had a great time. Nate, being the sleep-a-holic that he is, struggled a bit as he was 30 minutes past his morning nap time.

The market where we went sells everything... veggies, fruit, plants, animals, fish, big underwear...

For some reason (I don’t completely understand), when kids meet a new friend in China, they have to shake hands. The Chinese kids don’t always like it, and my kids never like it... but it is just how it is done. Thankfully I can just distract things and my kids don’t have to have a forced holding hands episode.What I wasn’t expecting was that Nate would have to do it too! When this little boy (pictured above & below) was told to hold hands with Nate, Nate looked at him like he was a bit crazy. I love the picture below of Nate just looking at his hand like “what ARE you doing?” haha

This lady above is feeling Nate’s hands to see how cold he was. She was very surprised that Nate wasn’t cold. I then asked her “seeing as how it is so warm outside, aren’t you hot with all your layers on?”. (You can ask that kind of question in China). She just shrugged it off which means YES.

Once we got to the fish store, where Steve has been shopping for the last 8 years, he was led to the secret upstairs room where the cool fish are. The girls got to go up and see, but I hung out downstairs with Nate and we walked around the nursery. Makes me wish I had a green thumb. I was almost tempted to buy a plant, but then i remembered that I could, single handedly, and in a very short time span, kill every plant in there without even trying.

The fish shop owner’s wife was thrilled that the girls came back. Apparently every time the girls go to her shop she tries to get a picture with her and this was the first time it was successful. She had taken out a turtle to show the girls and then returned it to the tank before the picture. Elizabeth was okay with the looking, but had no interest in touching the turtle. When the lady went to take the picture with the girls, Elizabeth thought she was still holding the turtle and flipped out a bit when she thought it was still in the ladies hand. She does indeed get her jumpiness from me.

Anna watching the fish man A local pet store. These really are pets. Really.

They were really cute.

And these puppy dogs were completely adorable. Oh wow, SO cute!

The kids loved watching all the bunnies, dogs, birds, hamsters...Oh, and the older lady who has sqeezed Nate’s hand in the picture above came back over to us while Nate was standing there looking at the dogs. She pointed to the boy standing next to Nate and said “this is how you should be dressing your son... this boy has enough clothes on.” I smiled and left it at that! But deep down I knew that boy was HOT! haha

Once we got home the kids were all very eager to see daddy let the fish go free. I should have gotten some video on Elizabeth’s comentary to the ‘freeing of the fish”. She was very excited for them.

And the highlights... freeing fish, feeding the fish, and feeling the fish kiss their fingers. All that really makes it feel like fish are real pets too!

All morning long I was reminded again and again what a sensitive nose Elizabeth has. It wasn’t just the fact that she walked around half the morning with her fingers plugging her nose. It was the frequently heard comment “mommy, what smells now”, that clued me in how extra sensitive she is. Anna, Steve & I are able to almost tune out some of the smells that come along with a market type area, but Elizabeth is very in tune with unpleasant smells. It is hard to tell an almost 4 year old, “just try not to think about it”, because that is exactly what they will do! But just as she did not appreciate the less than appealing smells, she did have appreciation for the thinks that were nice. We smelled some flowers at the nursery and she said “this doesn’t smell bad”, and when we finally got home with our fish, she walked in the door and announced “I like the way home smells”. Whew - glad my house meets up to her noses standards.

Today, being the lovely Saturday that it was, found our family heading to the plant/fish market in our city. Now please understand that when I say lovely day, I am only talking about the fact that it was 85º, and the fact that it was NOT raining. Otherwise it could be described as icky weather. You basically could only see about 5 feet in front of you. That’s how hazy/smoggy/foggy (whatever word you feel compelled to use), it was outside. But the warmth was very inviting so off we went. This may sound strange, but my motivation for dressing the kids in the clothes that I did, was completely for the reaction. I know this is still the month of March, and in China that means you have to wear AT LEAST 2 layers of clothes... usually more. It doesn’t matter what the outside temperature is. Here you are supposed to dress according to the calendar. So when my girls went outside in capris and short sleeve shirts, and Nate in (gasp) shorts... I got the reaction I was expecting. Every single person we passed, whether male or female, young or old, they all had the same comment. “Your children aren’t wearing enough clothes”. Because I knew this would be the case and because I was confident my kids would NOT be getting sick due to their lack of layers, I could with confidence reply “their clothes are just fine, thankyousomuch”.

Anyway, the girls had a great time. Nate, being the sleep-a-holic that he is, struggled a bit as he was 30 minutes past his morning nap time.

The market where we went sells everything... veggies, fruit, plants, animals, fish, big underwear...

For some reason (I don’t completely understand), when kids meet a new friend in China, they have to shake hands. The Chinese kids don’t always like it, and my kids never like it... but it is just how it is done. Thankfully I can just distract things and my kids don’t have to have a forced holding hands episode.What I wasn’t expecting was that Nate would have to do it too! When this little boy (pictured above & below) was told to hold hands with Nate, Nate looked at him like he was a bit crazy. I love the picture below of Nate just looking at his hand like “what ARE you doing?” haha

This lady above is feeling Nate’s hands to see how cold he was. She was very surprised that Nate wasn’t cold. I then asked her “seeing as how it is so warm outside, aren’t you hot with all your layers on?”. (You can ask that kind of question in China). She just shrugged it off which means YES.

Once we got to the fish store, where Steve has been shopping for the last 8 years, he was led to the secret upstairs room where the cool fish are. The girls got to go up and see, but I hung out downstairs with Nate and we walked around the nursery. Makes me wish I had a green thumb. I was almost tempted to buy a plant, but then i remembered that I could, single handedly, and in a very short time span, kill every plant in there without even trying.

The fish shop owner’s wife was thrilled that the girls came back. Apparently every time the girls go to her shop she tries to get a picture with her and this was the first time it was successful. She had taken out a turtle to show the girls and then returned it to the tank before the picture. Elizabeth was okay with the looking, but had no interest in touching the turtle. When the lady went to take the picture with the girls, Elizabeth thought she was still holding the turtle and flipped out a bit when she thought it was still in the ladies hand. She does indeed get her jumpiness from me.

Anna watching the fish man A local pet store. These really are pets. Really.

They were really cute.

And these puppy dogs were completely adorable. Oh wow, SO cute!

The kids loved watching all the bunnies, dogs, birds, hamsters...Oh, and the older lady who has sqeezed Nate’s hand in the picture above came back over to us while Nate was standing there looking at the dogs. She pointed to the boy standing next to Nate and said “this is how you should be dressing your son... this boy has enough clothes on.” I smiled and left it at that! But deep down I knew that boy was HOT! haha

Once we got home the kids were all very eager to see daddy let the fish go free. I should have gotten some video on Elizabeth’s comentary to the ‘freeing of the fish”. She was very excited for them.

And the highlights... freeing fish, feeding the fish, and feeling the fish kiss their fingers. All that really makes it feel like fish are real pets too!

All morning long I was reminded again and again what a sensitive nose Elizabeth has. It wasn’t just the fact that she walked around half the morning with her fingers plugging her nose. It was the frequently heard comment “mommy, what smells now”, that clued me in how extra sensitive she is. Anna, Steve & I are able to almost tune out some of the smells that come along with a market type area, but Elizabeth is very in tune with unpleasant smells. It is hard to tell an almost 4 year old, “just try not to think about it”, because that is exactly what they will do! But just as she did not appreciate the less than appealing smells, she did have appreciation for the thinks that were nice. We smelled some flowers at the nursery and she said “this doesn’t smell bad”, and when we finally got home with our fish, she walked in the door and announced “I like the way home smells”. Whew - glad my house meets up to her noses standards.

Today, being the lovely Saturday that it was, found our family heading to the plant/fish market in our city. Now please understand that when I say lovely day, I am only talking about the fact that it was 85º, and the fact that it was NOT raining. Otherwise it could be described as icky weather. You basically could only see about 5 feet in front of you. That’s how hazy/smoggy/foggy (whatever word you feel compelled to use), it was outside. But the warmth was very inviting so off we went. This may sound strange, but my motivation for dressing the kids in the clothes that I did, was completely for the reaction. I know this is still the month of March, and in China that means you have to wear AT LEAST 2 layers of clothes... usually more. It doesn’t matter what the outside temperature is. Here you are supposed to dress according to the calendar. So when my girls went outside in capris and short sleeve shirts, and Nate in (gasp) shorts... I got the reaction I was expecting. Every single person we passed, whether male or female, young or old, they all had the same comment. “Your children aren’t wearing enough clothes”. Because I knew this would be the case and because I was confident my kids would NOT be getting sick due to their lack of layers, I could with confidence reply “their clothes are just fine, thankyousomuch”.

Anyway, the girls had a great time. Nate, being the sleep-a-holic that he is, struggled a bit as he was 30 minutes past his morning nap time.

The market where we went sells everything... veggies, fruit, plants, animals, fish, big underwear...

For some reason (I don’t completely understand), when kids meet a new friend in China, they have to shake hands. The Chinese kids don’t always like it, and my kids never like it... but it is just how it is done. Thankfully I can just distract things and my kids don’t have to have a forced holding hands episode.What I wasn’t expecting was that Nate would have to do it too! When this little boy (pictured above & below) was told to hold hands with Nate, Nate looked at him like he was a bit crazy. I love the picture below of Nate just looking at his hand like “what ARE you doing?” haha

This lady above is feeling Nate’s hands to see how cold he was. She was very surprised that Nate wasn’t cold. I then asked her “seeing as how it is so warm outside, aren’t you hot with all your layers on?”. (You can ask that kind of question in China). She just shrugged it off which means YES.

Once we got to the fish store, where Steve has been shopping for the last 8 years, he was led to the secret upstairs room where the cool fish are. The girls got to go up and see, but I hung out downstairs with Nate and we walked around the nursery. Makes me wish I had a green thumb. I was almost tempted to buy a plant, but then i remembered that I could, single handedly, and in a very short time span, kill every plant in there without even trying.

The fish shop owner’s wife was thrilled that the girls came back. Apparently every time the girls go to her shop she tries to get a picture with her and this was the first time it was successful. She had taken out a turtle to show the girls and then returned it to the tank before the picture. Elizabeth was okay with the looking, but had no interest in touching the turtle. When the lady went to take the picture with the girls, Elizabeth thought she was still holding the turtle and flipped out a bit when she thought it was still in the ladies hand. She does indeed get her jumpiness from me.

Anna watching the fish man A local pet store. These really are pets. Really.

They were really cute.

And these puppy dogs were completely adorable. Oh wow, SO cute!

The kids loved watching all the bunnies, dogs, birds, hamsters...Oh, and the older lady who has sqeezed Nate’s hand in the picture above came back over to us while Nate was standing there looking at the dogs. She pointed to the boy standing next to Nate and said “this is how you should be dressing your son... this boy has enough clothes on.” I smiled and left it at that! But deep down I knew that boy was HOT! haha

Once we got home the kids were all very eager to see daddy let the fish go free. I should have gotten some video on Elizabeth’s comentary to the ‘freeing of the fish”. She was very excited for them.

And the highlights... freeing fish, feeding the fish, and feeling the fish kiss their fingers. All that really makes it feel like fish are real pets too!

All morning long I was reminded again and again what a sensitive nose Elizabeth has. It wasn’t just the fact that she walked around half the morning with her fingers plugging her nose. It was the frequently heard comment “mommy, what smells now”, that clued me in how extra sensitive she is. Anna, Steve & I are able to almost tune out some of the smells that come along with a market type area, but Elizabeth is very in tune with unpleasant smells. It is hard to tell an almost 4 year old, “just try not to think about it”, because that is exactly what they will do! But just as she did not appreciate the less than appealing smells, she did have appreciation for the thinks that were nice. We smelled some flowers at the nursery and she said “this doesn’t smell bad”, and when we finally got home with our fish, she walked in the door and announced “I like the way home smells”. Whew - glad my house meets up to her noses standards.

Today, being the lovely Saturday that it was, found our family heading to the plant/fish market in our city. Now please understand that when I say lovely day, I am only talking about the fact that it was 85º, and the fact that it was NOT raining. Otherwise it could be described as icky weather. You basically could only see about 5 feet in front of you. That’s how hazy/smoggy/foggy (whatever word you feel compelled to use), it was outside. But the warmth was very inviting so off we went. This may sound strange, but my motivation for dressing the kids in the clothes that I did, was completely for the reaction. I know this is still the month of March, and in China that means you have to wear AT LEAST 2 layers of clothes... usually more. It doesn’t matter what the outside temperature is. Here you are supposed to dress according to the calendar. So when my girls went outside in capris and short sleeve shirts, and Nate in (gasp) shorts... I got the reaction I was expecting. Every single person we passed, whether male or female, young or old, they all had the same comment. “Your children aren’t wearing enough clothes”. Because I knew this would be the case and because I was confident my kids would NOT be getting sick due to their lack of layers, I could with confidence reply “their clothes are just fine, thankyousomuch”.

Anyway, the girls had a great time. Nate, being the sleep-a-holic that he is, struggled a bit as he was 30 minutes past his morning nap time.

The market where we went sells everything... veggies, fruit, plants, animals, fish, big underwear...

For some reason (I don’t completely understand), when kids meet a new friend in China, they have to shake hands. The Chinese kids don’t always like it, and my kids never like it... but it is just how it is done. Thankfully I can just distract things and my kids don’t have to have a forced holding hands episode.What I wasn’t expecting was that Nate would have to do it too! When this little boy (pictured above & below) was told to hold hands with Nate, Nate looked at him like he was a bit crazy. I love the picture below of Nate just looking at his hand like “what ARE you doing?” haha

This lady above is feeling Nate’s hands to see how cold he was. She was very surprised that Nate wasn’t cold. I then asked her “seeing as how it is so warm outside, aren’t you hot with all your layers on?”. (You can ask that kind of question in China). She just shrugged it off which means YES.

Once we got to the fish store, where Steve has been shopping for the last 8 years, he was led to the secret upstairs room where the cool fish are. The girls got to go up and see, but I hung out downstairs with Nate and we walked around the nursery. Makes me wish I had a green thumb. I was almost tempted to buy a plant, but then i remembered that I could, single handedly, and in a very short time span, kill every plant in there without even trying.

The fish shop owner’s wife was thrilled that the girls came back. Apparently every time the girls go to her shop she tries to get a picture with her and this was the first time it was successful. She had taken out a turtle to show the girls and then returned it to the tank before the picture. Elizabeth was okay with the looking, but had no interest in touching the turtle. When the lady went to take the picture with the girls, Elizabeth thought she was still holding the turtle and flipped out a bit when she thought it was still in the ladies hand. She does indeed get her jumpiness from me.

Anna watching the fish man A local pet store. These really are pets. Really.

They were really cute.

And these puppy dogs were completely adorable. Oh wow, SO cute!

The kids loved watching all the bunnies, dogs, birds, hamsters...Oh, and the older lady who has sqeezed Nate’s hand in the picture above came back over to us while Nate was standing there looking at the dogs. She pointed to the boy standing next to Nate and said “this is how you should be dressing your son... this boy has enough clothes on.” I smiled and left it at that! But deep down I knew that boy was HOT! haha

Once we got home the kids were all very eager to see daddy let the fish go free. I should have gotten some video on Elizabeth’s comentary to the ‘freeing of the fish”. She was very excited for them.

And the highlights... freeing fish, feeding the fish, and feeling the fish kiss their fingers. All that really makes it feel like fish are real pets too!

All morning long I was reminded again and again what a sensitive nose Elizabeth has. It wasn’t just the fact that she walked around half the morning with her fingers plugging her nose. It was the frequently heard comment “mommy, what smells now”, that clued me in how extra sensitive she is. Anna, Steve & I are able to almost tune out some of the smells that come along with a market type area, but Elizabeth is very in tune with unpleasant smells. It is hard to tell an almost 4 year old, “just try not to think about it”, because that is exactly what they will do! But just as she did not appreciate the less than appealing smells, she did have appreciation for the thinks that were nice. We smelled some flowers at the nursery and she said “this doesn’t smell bad”, and when we finally got home with our fish, she walked in the door and announced “I like the way home smells”. Whew - glad my house meets up to her noses standards.

3 Comments

Jennifer S

Fish are fun and probably the only kind of pet we will ever have. But even then I am not sosure...

Tuesday, March 24, 2009 - 11:07 AM

Nana Susan

What a fun day out together! Lots of adventure, sights, and smells! I love the photo of the threechildren standing on the stools looking at the fish tank! Adorable! Love you all!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009 - 09:51 AM

Virginia

What a fund day! I love that you purposly dressed the kids to get a reaction from people! :-)

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What a fund day! I love that you purposly dressed the kids to get a reaction from people! :-)How fun for them to get to see all those animlas. Those puppies were precious. The bunnieswere cute too but you would think they would have given them a bigger cage.I agree, I love the picture of all 3 of them on the stools feeding the fish. SO fun!

Friday, March 27, 2009 - 10:27 AM

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