New Member of The Family

This is Chunk the Chinchilla.  I like to call him Chico because his ancestors are from South America.  He is from the pet store though.  Isn't he just the cutest little thing?  When we first got him, he was scared of people.  Now he loves us.  When we scratch his little chin he raises his little arms up so we can scratch his belly.  He even lets us hold him.

Yes, we really are animal people!  All of us.  Sean and I were felt very lonely when all the animals were send to the kennel before our flight to Thailand.  We were only alone for four hours but we missed them already.

            
This winter has been the coldest in Shanghai in 30 years!  Casey doesn't like the snow.  It has snowed a hand full of times this year and it's a nice change.  Everyone loves building snowmen.  Snow ball fights are great also!
                                                                                                       

More Fun in Thailand

Our cool shark dive in the Bahamas

The diving wasn't fabulous in Thailand.  Last year they had lots of coral die because they haven't had enough tsunamis.  Go figure.  The tsunamis bring cold water up from the depths of the ocean.  But we still had some fun.

Please note the size of the man behind Sean.

We dove with a German dive company and they brought new emphasis to the term "German efficiency".  Everything ran on schedule to the second.  It was a little scary while on vacation to have to keep on a tight schedule.  But they had great food and the kids could come on the boat for free.  Ryan even got to drive!

We didn't see tons of fish, but we did see a Manta Ray.  We dove and swam for an hour looking for some Manta Rays but didn't find any before we started running out of air.  We had to surface is discouragement.  Everyone but me (Lisa) took off their masks.  I was just gonna keep it on so I didn't jab a Jelly Fish.  There was a two meter in diameter Manta Ray about two meters under Sean.  So we did get our Manta Ray viewing for the day!  He was really cool!

Thailand

Thailand was FABULOUS!  We just aren't lazy enough to fully appreciate the lifestyle.  It was rough.  Everyday we would get up late and stroll to the buffet.  Then swim at the pool and watch the kids on the water slide.  Around noon we would mosey across the street to the beach.  The kids would be screaming "We don't want to go to the beach, again".

Europeans as far as the eye can see!

At the beach things get really lazy.  You set your butt down on the chair and stick your hand up when you want a beer.  A little man runs and gets it and it only costs $2.  When you get hungry, you roll over to the restaurant ten meters away and order fabulous Thai food for $5.  The food is simply amazing, at every shack!  Next you roll over to the massage table where $10 buys you an hour of massage.  Then back to the chair to read.  We even got Ryan a massage!  He thought it was a little creepy.

                                                                                                           


Of course, Linds needed the island hair do!






My illegal pic from the camera I smuggled in!

                                                         
 We did stay up late one night to go to the Fantasea show.  We were just expecting a couple elephants to parade around on stage.  But the show was AMAZING!  The people who put on this production, dumped millions of dollars into this little elephant show!  It was like Elton John meets Michael Jackson's Neverland.  The show even had chickens, goats and doves that were trained to run in a certain direction in unison.

Dad always get hurt on vacation!

Yes, the white tigers have a hot tub!  We could even play with the baby elephants.  Lindsey and I want a baby elephant!  Do you think they would cost much to feed in Arizona?  We really want one!

This monkey was cool!  He kept grabbing my fingers to play with me but I was afraid he could bite.  I didn't want to get a rabies shot.  That could ruin a vacation.         

Our hotel was just up the hill from the show and we could hear the elephants trumpeting after the show.  We could also hear the crazy bird that the farmer next door has as a pet- all night long.  Every ten minutes.  The hotel has so many complaints about the bird that they want to buy it from the farmer.  But they are afraid that if they pay him a lot, he will but many more birds to keep the guests up all night.  It worked out for us because they had to upgrade us to a three bedroom apartment to keep Sean happy.

Another Day At The Lake

Many of you remember our boat that Tom Bugg is babysitting.  The beautiful Sea Ray that we have been buying Christmas presents for every year to improve.  Well, in China we can have a day on the lake also.  It's just not quite like on our boat in beautiful Arizona.

This is the kind of boat that you get to take to the lake here.  The great thing is that we don't have to wipe down the boat when it comes out of the water.  Look closely and you may notice that this boat has never been cleaned or waxed.  And those aren't pin stripes they are stripes from other boats hitting it at the slow electric speed that they cruise at.

Just like at Lake Pleasant, the traffic can get heavy at times!  But couldn't find a cove like Humbugg to tie to other boats and hangout.

Similar to the lakes at home, the boats come in all different shapes and sizes! 

Everyone always needs to take turns driving!

There is always fishing at the lake but this is different!

The Fish Market

The kids and I went on one of our crazy adventures to the Live Fish Market!  Ya hoo!  I have been dying to have some crab legs lately so we had check this out.  The Chinese have different way of treating their food.  At home we like to think that our food is virgin and untouched by dirty hands or floors.  Here we all know that is not the case and we try not to think about where our food was before we brought it home to our clean kitchen.

Yes, that is dinner on the sidewalk!  Where people walk and spit.  The shrimp are not actually touching the concrete but they are close enough for me!

 This isn't the greatest picture but it shows how most the the seafood for 20 million people is distributed to all the restaurants and stores.  Ryan and Lindsey were a little freaked out by being behind the scenes but I had to grab a couple pics. 

Now all the seafood is distributed with BIKES!  Each one of these boxes is filled with ice and the fish are snug as a bug in a rug in the ice.  At least there is ice!

There are hundreds of little shops like this.  It was REALLY cold in here and some of the shops have little ladders leading up to the sleeping area.  I was surprised that it didn't smell much.  Yippee!

This was pretty cool.  This guy got in my way so you can't see that there is a guy with a Skill Saw cutting up these fish.  Please notice the fish on the concrete.  Yummy!  The kids were ecstatic when I told them we could leave!
I now understand why the Chinese prefer to purchase their fish alive.