Biking and more shopping

I am happy to say we averted a household crisis on Thursday. We were on the last 1/2 liter of Milan's chocolate soy milk and I was wavering all week about making the trip to Ningbo, about an hour away, to go to the fancy super-store to stock up. When we arrived here in China a month ago we tried four different brands of soy milk, none of which were up to Milan's standards. So far, the only one he will drink is the one from the Ningbo store, chocolate flavor. Or sometimes, if I don't tell him, the strawberry flavor will pass. We were also out of raisins, which means that leaving the house is a potential disaster when I don't have the box of raisins, Froodles, and dried cranberries in my purse (I tried some Chinese raisins that I found closer to home, but they are full of seeds and stems). Milan and I were both snotty with a little cold all week, but Thursday I actually felt normal again, so we made the plunge: a shopping trip to Ningbo.

Another factor that helped make the trip feasible was the taxi driver who we contacted last weekend, Mr. Wei. He speaks a little English and his car, as well as those of his friends and cousins who sometimes take the jobs, are all nice, new, and equipped with seat belts. We have a minimum standard of a seat belt in the backseat for Milan around town, and use of the car seat on the highway and for longer trips. So I called Mr. Wei Thursday morning and he came and picked us up. The drive was relatively traffic-free and Milan was in a good mood. The store wasn't busy when we arrived and we were able to compensate for the absence of chocolate soy milk with a bottle of Hershey's chocolate syrup (dairy-free, who knew?) and every box of vanilla soy that they had on the shelf.

Happy Milan with raisins and chocolate soy

The ride home only took 1/2 an hour! I had my head in a Dr. Seuss book reading to Milan, so maybe I didn't notice some crazy China driving, which is how I prefer it right now.

This morning we had a great bike ride with a group of teachers who go biking almost every weekend. Our leader really knows her way around the countryside around town and took us on a great 2-hour tour of the area. Milan did great in his new seat and even slept for the first 30 minutes or more.

A firefighting Tiger. Is this the Chinese "Smokey the Bear"?

We rode through some villages and eventually to a nearby dam.

Beautiful scenery

Bike gang. We sure did turn some heads!

No pictures of Tim and his awesome new bike because he was the camera man this morning, but he loves his new custom-built ride.

In other news, Tim had back-to-school night this week and met some of the parents. He looked extra smart with his new haircut for less than $2, which included having his hair washed and dried twice! This coming week he'll start teaching a twice weekly "After School Activity" for 2nd-5th graders on "Discovery Science".

You may notice I'm on full-access blog editor! Hooray for getting around the internet blocking! Facebook is open to us now too, so I can waste even more time during Milan's nap instead of studying Chinese!