Brandt kids in Tianjin

Monday, March 16, 2009

This is the Day

This is the Day the Lord has made - in Chinese.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Tianjin had a big snow the past few days (which thankfully I missed because I was down in southern China), but Daddy took the children out to build a snowman (which thankfully I got to see in person the day I got back in town).

I love the rocks for feet.

Who's cuter? Snowman or Hayden?

Outside

While we were in Taiwan/Hong Kong, it was lovely to be able to have the kids play outside without winter coats/gloves/scarves/hats.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Jesus Reigns

When I substitute taught Lizzy's class, I had them sing this song for me just because I love it so much!

Jesus reigns!
I will praise Him.
I'll join the thunder
and tell of the wonder
that Jesus reigns, oh,
Jesus REIGNS!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Hayden Transforming

Hayden's recent favorite activity is to transform.

"I'm going to transform into a robot."

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Movie Night!

The best part about staying at a nice hotel is spending time in the hotel room. Because we were all staying in one room, the kids got to stay up late and go to bed at the same time as Mom and Dad (very special for them!) One night, we stayed up watching Wall-E - so cute!

Blue Zoo

We took the children to the Blue Zoo in Beijing. It's an aquarium with a long underwater tunnel. They were very excited and we had a lot of fun.

Nemo!

The kids (and Daddy) were very excited about the neon light that made anything white glow...

Sea Turtles!

Sharks!

Activities

We had breakfast with our Beijing friends at Grandma's Kitchen (serving western food)

Lizzy had an order of Happy Face Pancake! She ate the whole thing (she's going through a growth spurt and has an appetite of a hippo)

The highlight of our trip was the viewing of an Acrobatics Show. I've wanted to go see one in China for the longest time, so it was fun to bring my kiddos to it. We got to see some pretty unbelievable stunts and see the human body bend in some very unnatural ways. There were also very cool visual effects with laser lights and music. Jason kept saying, "China really does deserve to win all the Gymnastics Olympics medals!"

Pool

Of course the first item of business as soon as we checked in to the hotel was to look at the pool. It did not disappoint! Beautiful pool surrounded by elegant futon chairs which I took full advantage of as the kids swam with Daddy.

Here's Hayden with his Nemo swim pants, yes, Mom did not put on swim trunks for him.

Hayden played at the edge of the pool for a LONG time before being willing to venture in.

But eventually, he went in and joined the fun!

Beijing Vacation

Right after Christmas, our family took a mini vacation to Beijing. I found a good deal for three nights stay at a nice hotel in the Financial District of Beijing - Westin.