With the fun of summer comes millions of annoying insects including mosquitoes. Mosquitoes not only bite and leave itching welts but they sometimes transmit serious diseases to their victims. Some diseases transmitted to people by mosquitoes are West Nile virus, malaria, and dengue fever. Your pets can get life-threatening heartworms from these nasty pests, as well. Here in the United States our risk of contracting diseases from mosquito bites are low. We can use insect repellents to help discourage their nasty bites and protect our pets with... more

part 2

It was finally time to get on the airplane and we were seated in the middle rows with Alyssa, Micheline and I in one row, and Jeff, Taylor, Ben and Caleb directly behind us. Thankfully, not every seat on the plane was full, so when it came time to sack out for some sleep, the other person in our row moved and Micheline and Alyssa were able to spread out a bit more.

Due to tail winds, the flight coming home is about 3 hours shorter than the... more

part 1

We had a 3 hour layover in Guangzhou before our plane left for the United States. That may sound like a long time to some, but as you can see, my family kept themselves occupied.

We bought a few snacks, and I had to laugh because we bought a few Haagen-Daz ice cream cups and Caleb instantly turned up his nose because they were chocolate. How I managed to find two Chinese boys in a country of over 1 billion people who... more

January 13,2007

When we left Wuhan for the first time with Ben back in October 2000, the tears started flowing and wouldn't stop as we went through security at the airport. All I could think of was that I was taking my son from everything he had ever known.

Seeing how he had no language opportunities in the orphanage being deaf, and obviously had no family, I knew he had a brighter future ahead, but a part of me still felt as if I was wrongfully taking him... more

part 1 part 2 part 3

By this point I was fretting that we would never get back, but our driver then pulled to the side of the road, studied the map and street names again, then hung a u-turn, came to the entrance of the alley type street our hotel was on and told us to get out.... more

part 1 part 2

We also hoped to purchase some inexpensive kites which we had done six years ago, but there were no kite vendors out today. Instead, there were people hawking fake Olympic souvenirs everywhere you turned. I went ahead and bought a ski cap with the Olympic logo for 10 yuan and no sooner did I buy it than we walked past a vendor who offered us... more

part 1

Since we knew the younger kids wouldn't be able to walk very fast, Jeff headed out with them and Alyssa while Taylor and I ran over to the other store. We also ducked into a music store to buy a few Chinese CD's and DVD's since it would be our last opportunity to find them inexpensively. Why we weren't thinking "taxi" by this point escapes me, but we just assumed it would be a short jaunt.

Taylor and I started walking... more

January 13, 2007

We woke up today to our last day in Beijing, as well as our last day in China. Part of my heart is sad, but part of me is also relieved to be heading home. Familiar foods and my own bed are starting to sound pretty good after two weeks here.

One of the reasons we decided to stay in this area of Beijing was because we would be within walking distance of the Forbidden City. At least that is what we thought.

Simon, our guide, wanted to pick us up by noon... more

The salespeople had a good time helping the boys skate and were curious, wondering about our family dynamics and how we ended up with two Chinese boys.

When we agreed to buy the shoes was when the bartering began. The prices they quoted were beyond ridiculously high, and I wondered how many people actually give in and pay a much higher amount than they should. I told them repeatedly that my friend had purchased Heelys just last month for 10 U.S. dollars and they told me no way.... more

January 12, 2007

Before we left Beijing, we wanted to do some bargain shopping, so Jeff, Caleb, Ben and I headed out this evening to a market that used to be an open air market but has converted to stalls inside a multilevel department store type building. Simon, our guide, wrote out the directions in Chinese for our taxi driver, and we left Micheline in the care of Taylor and Alyssa back at the hotel. Alyssa is still quite sick, and Taylor said he has had enough of being a tourist, so he consented to stay at... more