Missed Flights, Toys, and the Return of Jaws

I spent Christmas with my family in Texas (as per my usual). My older sister Teri, decided that she wanted to be adventurous and stay cozy in Reston, VA rather than get on her scheduled flight December 21st. Thanks to nothing short of a Christmas miracle the airline granted her free passage on the same flight the next day. Note to self... cry A LOT the next time you need something. Apparently that works!

While Teri was dealing with her airline debacle and an extra day in D.C, Erin and I enjoyed a matinee showing of Breaking Dawn. We went with full intent of mocking it to no end. Only when we left the theater we found there was nothing to mock. Shockingly it was a pretty good movie.

Jack is really starting to talk, which has been fun to hear. He even says, "Aunt Kristi." Pretty sure I'm his favorite! He has turned out to be quite the helper. Santa's little elf himself. He helped Teri and me wrap presents and then put them all under the tree. Super cute. Although, I can't lie. There may in fact have been more than one time he was gently reprimanded for pulling WAY TOO MUCH tape from the dispenser.

Jason was given two nicknames this year. 1. "Swee Pea." Teri and Erin saw fit to bestow this name upon him seeing as he resembles the cute little cartoon character from Popeye the Sailor Man. I however, took a different view. 2 "Jaws." Now, I know that all babies like to put things in their mouths. But Jason takes the cake on this. He literally eats everything he can get his tiny hands on. EVERYTHING! Just like a little shark! Whenever I saw him coming I found myself humming the famous two notes that have caused fear to enter all ocean goers... "Duh Nuh." Erin continuously defended her son as innocent of all charges. Until one fateful night. The Taylors and Nelsons gathered for BBQ. All was calm. All was right. Then in one quick flash and without warning Jaws attacked. Erin didn't know what to do. Her sweater was being devoured. She looked at me, her eyes pleading for help. But it was too late. The damage had been done. All I could do was shrug my shoulders, and say, "I told you." She agreed with me after that night. Jason, cute as can be, lives up to both names. Also... Jason is a momma's boy. He cries as soon as she leaves the room. Please see documented photo below.

Dad had extensive shoulder surgery the day Teri and I, oh wait. No that's not right. The the day I arrived. Yes, that's correct. Merry Christmas! Right?! Thankfully he is doing pretty well all things considered, and he is falling in love with the new ipad 2 that Santa, aka Mom, bought for him.

As always our Christmas tree was full to the brim with presents and our stockings were stuffed to capacity. Mom did all the shopping, wrapping, cooking, decorating etc etc..... ALL for US. She always goes the extra mile and then some to make everything special. We all made out like bandits. Thank you Mom and Dad!

We all enjoyed each others company. The Nelsons beat the Taylors at charades. Paw? Crutch? What?? Just wait till next year! Jack actually caught on to the idea of opening presents this Christmas and was caught trying to sneak a peak at one of his gifts! No, no Jack! One of his favorite gifts was his remote control car and scooter. I enjoyed pushing him around the block. He cant quite do it without falling over just yet.

Merry Christmas and happy New Year to everyone!!!

God Bless America!

There are a million things I could say about my trip to China and Vietnam. However, the one thing that keeps ringing in my ears is "God Bless America!" Catherine and I had a great time and experienced once in a lifetime opportunities. One thing we came home with was a new found appreciation for the prosperity and freedoms we have in the USA. The gentleman in front of me chuckled as Catherine and I sang this song as we walked off the plane in NYC. We sang it for ten minutes straight. Please find listed below the top 8 reasons why we found China our least favorite vacation spot.
1. Communism blows (of course we already knew this, but it was reinforced quite nicely on our trip). There is no such thing as privacy. The government watches EVERYTHING you do. There are cameras EVERYWHERE (taxi cabs, hotel rooms, street posts etc), Police EVERYWHERE, you have to go through security to get ANYWHERE (even Tiananmen square... come on now. It's an empty square. What could you possibly blow up there???). In Vietnam I asked our tour operator what the general feeling was about the government there. He stated that he couldn't really discuss such things. Why? Because his coworker recently lost her job for speaking ill of the government when asked how she felt about it by one of the tourists in her group. This all took place in the "quite confines" of their tour van. She now works behind a desk where she can't influence the way others think. Crazy!!
2. Chinese food is gross. Even Catherine agrees, who loves Asian food as a general rule. I pretty much lived on the snickers bars I bought at cost-co before the trip. It's no wonder I gained five pounds.
3. Beijing air quality probably reduced my life by 5-10 years. Visibility was really poor because of pollution. Makes LA look like the cleanest city on earth. We would blow our noses at the end of the night and black would come out. No exaggeration.
4. Chinese people have NO concept of personal space. If you're in their way, don't worry, you won't be for long. People will literally push you out of the way.
5. Chinese people have NO concept of waiting in a line. It's every man for himself in this country. If you're waiting to go to the bathroom you'll wait forever. In other words, don't wait. Simply push in front of everyone else to the nearest stall and barge your way in. Otherwise you may as well pee your pants because you'll never get your turn. Literally. I learned this lesson at the Great Wall of China where I wanted to deck every single person in the bathroom. Don't worry, I didn't. No communist prisons for this American.
6. Chinese people have NO concept of germ control. It's no wonder I had a cold when I was there and when I was in Hong Kong. People cough on you, sneeze on you, spit in front of you, and are constantly hocking and clearing their throats in the most disgusting and obnoxious way possible. It's enough to make you want to puke.7. Not tourist friendly. No one speaks English, which is fine. I don't expect people to in foreign countries. It's just different than anywhere else I've traveled. Thank goodness Catherine knew Mandarin or we would have been SOL.
8. Toilets are generally in the form of squaters (a whole in the ground), and you have to bring your own toilet paper.

Now, having said all this... the things we saw and did in China were absolutely spectacular. The landscape is beautiful. The Great Wall of China is truly a wonder to behold and made my top ten list of best life experiences. That alone was worth the time and money spent. We ventured into several small villages where the locals make no more than $30 per year. Yes, I said per YEAR. They are totally self-sufficient. We also took a river boat cruise through the "finger mountains" and hiked through the Longji-Terraced Rice fields. Never seen anything like it. Stunning. We took a float down a small river on a bamboo raft. Surprisingly enough, we enjoyed our best Chinese meal at a local village. Quite tasty actually. Also, too our pleasant surprise we still had our appetite for this meal even though we had been to the worst smelling bathroom only minutes before. I swear a pig wandered through during the middle of our business. Turns out the incessant oinking I heard was indeed from a pig. His stall was right next door. The Terracotta Warriors blow your mind. To have survived over 2000 years is amazing. They were all hand carved and buried with the emperor who conceived of them... for the purpose of protecting him in the afterlife. Nothing like stone to protect you when you're dead. Don't worry. This kind emperor had all the sculptors buried alive for their hard work and service. Disturbing. Everything is fairly inexpensive there. Cabs are SUPER cheap as is food, water, and souvenires. That pretty much sums up China! Oh, also on a positive note, you still get served meals on flights in China. No matter what time of day. Ha! What a concept.

Vietnam was much more pleasant than China. The people were friendlier. Things were even less expensive (if that was even possible). The food was much tastier. And I didn't feel watched QUITE as much. Not as many cameras everywhere. My favorite Vietnamese meals were the Pho (famous soup) and the elephant ear fish. Yes, I actually ate that fish. Scary looking as he was. Tasted very good. I was tired enough of snickers to suck it up and try it. We stayed on a beach resort for a few days where I did some kayaking and got a nice tan. This particular beach (called China beach) is where US soldiers would go for R&R during the war. The water was perfect and the view amazing.

From there we headed to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). We toured the floating markets and some villages in the area. Again very impoverished people. They live on their boats in the market for days at a time selling the goods they raised on their farms. If you want some corn, or a pumpkin, or some tomatoes you simply get in your wooden boat and ride up to the other boats on the river and purchase what you need. You then go back to the business of selling your own goods.

Our final stop was at the Cu Chi Tunnels. Although very interesting and admittedly brilliant, this was unfortunately a death trap for thousands of American and south Vietnamese soldiers. The north Vietnamese built hundreds of miles of tunnels underground to avoid bombings during the war. They placed endless booby traps throughout the forest and had endless entry points in and out of the tunnels. The Americans didn't know what hit them. The Vietnamese lived in these tunnels for upwards of five years or more only coming out to fight or for a two hour reprieve in the middle of the night after the Americans had retreated. We crawled through one of the tunnels (made larger for tourists). No more than 3 feet tall and two feet wide. And that was larger! It was kind of miserable. We were sweating like pigs by the time we got out 5 minutes later. Can't imagine living underground for so long. Dark, cramped, stuffy, no space. Terrible experience for all involved in this horrible war. On that positive note... we began our travels home..... TO.... God Bless America!!!!!!!

My first meal was Mexican food. I had been dreaming about it from the moment I landed in China. It was just as amazing as I remembered it.

For those of you looking for a vacation destination, take my advice... hit up somewhere in North America.... or maybe Europe... or how about Mexic? Oh wait, I mean don't go to Mexico. Until next time...

Climbing Carderock

Let me just say that climbing outdoors is VERY different than climbing indoors. The rocks are more slippery, the holds are harder to find (not to mention smaller), and you sweat. Just fyi, sweat running down your hands and arms makes the task of NOT falling off the side of the mountain even more daunting. This was my first outdoor climbing experience. I found it to be rather stressful for all of the above mentioned reasons. Having said that, it was a learning experience, and I'm excited to go again sometime soon. I only fell once. The ropes we were using had a lot of give which made it seem like I fell a solid ten feet before stopping. In reality it was probably more like 5. I made it to the top and felt like I had really accomplished something. It's kind of like a puzzle... figuring out where to put your hands and feet and maneuvering in such a way that you get from one spot to the next. It's not easy. The face (cliff) we were climbing was probably around 40-50 ft in height. I went with Catherine and two of her friends from work. We had a great time... minus the wet dogs that kept running around while splashing us with their muddy paws. Hello? Where were the owners? Sheesh. Next climb? Mount Everest.

Never Suppress...

A generous thought. I started out my day feeling like a rage machine. I was tired and cranky and wanted all the slow pokes who kept cutting me off to GET OUT OF MY WAY! Fortunately my day ended on a much humbler note. I left work at 6:20 and was headed down the road for a 630 visiting teaching appointment when an Indian woman in her mid 40s pulled up next to me and gestured for me to roll down my window. I did, figuring something was wrong with my car. Thankfully, my car was just fine. She proceeded to ask if I knew how to get to "Nelson St," and could I please help her because her "kids were hungry." She had a son and daughter, both under the age of 11 from the looks of it, in the car with her. She was clearly distressed. I had a hard time understanding her accent and asked her to repeat the name of the street a few times. It turned out that I didn't know where the street was. I said I was sorry and we rolled up our windows.

Here's where the generous thought came in... I thought to myself, "I could look that street up on my GPS, but by the time I get it out and turn it on the light in front of us will turn green. " I wrestled with that for a few seconds and almost drove away when I made the decision to pull over. I gestured for her to follow while calling my friend to let her know I would be late. I got out of the car, GPS in hand, and walked up to her window. She showed me the address and I typed it in. I figured the kids were late for a birthday/pizza party or something. Seeing as my GPS is new I couldn't figure out how to get the actual word by word directions (I'm no technological guru). She asked if she could follow me and I said, "Sure no problem." In our cars we got... and off we went. Three turns and about 2 minutes later we were at our destination. My eyes were instantly tear filled as I read the sign on the building of 7208 S Nelson St, "Arlington Food Assistance Center." Dozens of people stood outside waiting for their meal. This is where her two hungry children would eat dinner for the night. No pizza/birthday party for them. I got out of my car as did the woman. She thanked me several times and said that she had "only been here three times," indicating that this was why she couldn't remember how to find the center. I got back in my car and started to leave when another thought came to my mind, "Give her the cash in your wallet." I got back out of the car and handed her the cash. I could tell she didn't want to take it because she felt badly. I insisted and she accepted. She just kept thanking me so genuinely. She asked me what my name was and then said, "Kids this is Kristi." They smiled happily and said "hello." They seemed just as sweet as could be. As I drove away she waved and just kept saying "Thank you."

I felt so humbled by this experience. It completely changed the ending to my day. I went from rage machine to awe struck and speech less. What would have happened if I hadn't taken a few seconds to help this person out? Maybe she would have found the shelter, maybe she wouldn't have. Regardless, I'm sure God would have provided some other way to help this woman and her family. Either way I'm so grateful I was able to be that person today. It has taught me a number of important life lessons. It is SO easy to suppress a generous prompting. Life is busy and we all have places to be and things to do. We move on from one hectic moment to the next often whizzing by people in need without even realizing it. I share this experience because it touched me so deeply... not for the sake of "tooting my own horn." I only share this experience in the hope that whoever reads this (including myself) will try their best to never suppress a generous thought, because you never know who's prayer you'll be the answer to.

"Run a Muck"

A few friends and I ran a 5k this weekend in Rockville, MD. The name of the race was properly titled "Run a Muck." For an obvious explanation of the origination of this name please see the before and after pictures in this blog. I selflessly offered to drive to the event... as Catherine would have none of this mess in her sleek IS 250! Ha ha. Fair enough. The race started at 1:30 in the afternoon. The weather turned out to be sunny and cool which was perfect. The course involved many obstacles such as crawling under and through wires, climbing a rock wall, jumping over hurdles, clambering through tires and of course the MUD pits. There were several hundred participants in the race and we excitedly started out at the head of the pack, and it didn't take long to get dirty... or STUCK for that matter. Literally. At one point I thought I might become a permanent fixture of one of the mud pits. Thankfully, Peter (the friend in picture next to me) came to the rescue... while Catherine left for me dead! Just like she did in Mexico. But that's another story. :) The mud pits were between 50-100 yards long and there were three of them. My feet got stuck in the first one along with Catherine's and Kyle's. We were able to dig ourselves out and stayed to the outside of the pit where the mud was harder, the rest of the way. I got a little too excited on the second pit and went straight for the middle. I thought, "If I just go fast enough...." BAD idea. VERY bad idea. I was stuck in mud all the way up to my mid thighs and nothing I tried was successful in getting me loose. My shoes were so weighed down with mud I couldn't lift my feet up. They acted like giant anchors. I tried to dig myself out but as soon as I picked up a glob of mud more mud just seeped into the whole I had just created. Peter grabbed both my arms and tried his darndest to pull me out... to no avail. I think I moved about an inch. Finally I was able to lift my leg just high enough that Peter was able to pick my leg up out of the mud the rest of the way (with great effort I might add) He then took my shoe OFF and threw it to the end of the mud pit. We did the same routine with my other leg and then he helped pull me out. This took about ten minutes. Where were Catherine and Kyle during all of this? Laughing on the sidelines. Catherine had been stuck as well, however, once she got loose she said peace out... and off she went! My socks were left as a memorial to my bondage there. May they rest in peace. We all got stuck several times in the remaining pit... but not to the same extent. Just mid calf. Random runners would help dig me out and then I would help dig out random runners. We all worked together!

The final stretch was the best and most anticipated part. At the finish line there was a pool of muddy water. The water was about 12-18 inches deep. You had to swim through the water from end to end. There were wires over head to make sure you got wet. No standing or walking alowed. We made a pact to run and leap into the bath super man style all at the same time. We received a loud cheer of approval from the crowd of onlookers. Tons of people got booed for trying to avoid getting so dirty. But we got quite the round of applause. Peter, Catherine, and I jogged the last 20 yards and crossed the finish line "slip n slide" style. With a running start we slid across the line face first. The race was a blast. We had a really great time. I've never done anything quite like it. There were showers available of course. We all cleaned up as best we could and changed clothes and then grabbed a bite to eat afterward. I was pulling chunks of dirt out of my nose and ears all night long. Sorry, that was probably too much information! I think my shoes will be retired. I've run them through the washer twice and they still aren't looking so good. Oh well! Run a Muck was worth it... any one in for next years race??

Cast Your Vote

My roommate Catherine and I are planning a vacation for this fall but we need some help deciding where to go... So I'm putting our options out there for public opinion and a formal vote. Please cast a vote via the comment section of my blog. For those of you who don't know how to comment (aka mom and dad) you may send an email.

For Mom and Dad's sake we'll start from the most "scary" places to the least scary... so as to get the anxiety out of the way in the initial stages of this process.

1. Safari (in the safest possible place in Africa)... and I promise NOT to try to pet any of the wild animals... or at least not any of the ones that can run me over in a stampede or eat me.

2. China and it's Great Wall... all several hundred miles of it!

3. Thailand (I can hold a BABY tiger AND safely ride an elephant). Heck ya!

4. Turkey - I hear it's GORGEOUS!

5. Czech Republic (Prague) and Austria

6. Macchu Picchu Peru and it's ancient ruins.

7. OR insert your own vote here if you have a different idea/suggestion!!

Come one, call all... it's voting time!!!

Back in the Game

Thursday night marked my first soccer game in 12 years. I'm playing on a coed team and I was SO happy to find that I've still got skeels!! My reflexes aren't what they were when I was 18, but all things considered they're still pretty darn good. I scored two of my teams 7 goals. The only problem is that I was sucking wind like no other. I forgot how painful soccer is even when you're in shape! Unfortunately, ever muscle in body is screaming at me now. Literally. It takes tremendous effort to do daily activities such as getting in and out of a chair, putting on my shoes, squatting, undressing, etc. So sad... but so worth it. Also, let it be known that in my coed, church flag football game this weekend I had 2 of our 4 touchdowns, and two interceptions. Not too shaby if I do say so myself. Thats all.