Birthing Group

This past spring we took a birthing class at the hospital. 2 weeks ago the first member of our class gave birth to a lovely little girl. Michael and I were interested in hearing more, and the group was pretty fun, so we invited a few of the couples over to the apartment on Saturday for lunch. We are planning on posting some more about the food soon, but for now all we have is this picture. Cara and Travis with little Gabriella are in the middle. Michael and I are the next ones due. Then comes Anna and Justin who are next to us. And the last ones up to bat are Carolyn and Josh on the far left side.

We all have the same doc at the hospital too.

9 month belly pics

Apparently I have been negligent about pics again, so here are 2 just to temporarily stop the threatening emails, here are 2 pics taken today. Moose sure is growing these days!

TianTan (Temple of Heaven for you foreigners)

Things are getting a little out of order now, but of that bothers you that is just too bad because I am all the way over in China and you will just need to enjoy whatever information comes to you. (Though we do take requests.)

Last Friday Laura and I headed down to the Southern section of the city to check out the Temple of Heaven. The park officially opens at 6am which is when all the locals show up for exercise and hanging out. At 8am the temple areas open. We got there are 7:40ish so we were able to go through the temple areas with minimal crowd interference. We did manage to find a very nice Irish man to take our picture in front of the main temple building though.

And here is Laura in a very Chinese sort of pose in front of another of the temple. This visit was the first time I was able to look into the temple buildings without being pushed aside by some very tiny Chinese tourist with surprising strength. I really enjoy visiting tourist sights early in the day!

As for the locals exercising and hanging out in the park, their activities range from ballroom dancing, to tai chi, to (slowed down) hip hop, to hacky sack - Chinese style. I believe this particular group was learning to cha cha.

This last picture is actually from our way out at the much later time of about 9:45am. The walkway area has people packed onto the banister playing cards, knitting, singing Beijing opera, and just hanging out. We tried walking under the covered area at first, but it was just so crowded and loud (especially the karaoke machine with the Beijing opera) that we moved to the outside sidewalk to enjoy the view and (smoggy) air.

May is the Time For Guests and More Guests

We had no idea that May would be such a great month for coming to Beijing.

On Tuesday night we had dinner with some of Michael's relatives who are in town for about a week. We met his uncle Steve, aunt Nancy, their daughter Katie and her friend Amanda at a lovely private restaurant. They had just arrived in Beijing the day before and were great sports about staying out for dinner so we could spend time visiting.

And then as another great surprise we found out that two of my relatives, a brother and sister, were in town too. Jonathon is teaching down in Xian but came up to Beijing to see his sister Brianne who is taking a class in town. We were able to have dinner with them and Jonathon's friend Kelly tonight. We all came back to our apartment afterwards to talk and hang out and take the picture on the left.

Though she hasn't said anything, we know that Laura is secretly really impressed that we have brought so many family members in just to meet her.

Guests Meeting Guests

It turns out that this is prime time to visit Beijing. Maxine and Jill from my home town were in China staying with a Mary, also from my home town. Just before the two travelers headed home we all got together for lunch.

To the left is Maxine with the fish head from the special Mandarin fish they wanted to try as their last meal.

Below is our whole group: Back row - Cara, Maxine, Laura; Front row - Mary, Jill

Due to overwhelming viewer demand

Laura has forced me to put up the following picture which she took for just such a purpose. So for your viewing enjoyment: The BellyDweller: Moose, 7.5 months

ps. Point of interest, this picture was actually taken while blogging. Well actually, blogging was interrupted in order to take the pic, but you get the idea.

Baby Belly and Bikes

The picture in the last post was from a few weeks ago, so we thought a more recent one would be nice for our dedicated viewers.

Also wanted to let everyone know that I have given into peer pressure and stopped riding my bicycle. Apparently some people have gotten the impression that riding bikes in Beijing may not be the safest endevaour. Not sure why they have might think that… :)