This weekend Alexa and I attended our family reunion. Alexa received a lot of attention. She had so many relatives to play with. We both had a great time.

We shared a cabin with Grandma and Grandpa. It was a fun time. The cabin only had a shower though so Alexa and I took a shower together. The first time she was happy standing next to me but the next day she wanted me to hold her. Any one know how challenging it is to wash one's hair while holding a toddler?




Once home she was up to her same old tricks. Only this time with larger things. She has discovered the cat door in the basement door. It is a great hole to throw things through or if they are too big - just try to shove them in.


We had a few more successes while we were at the reunion. When I asked "Where is Alexa's nose?" she pointed to her nose. She doesn't do it all the time but if she is in the mood she will point to her nose. She is now eating mashed banana without any pudding. This morning I tricked her and added a couple small pieces of pear in the banana. She made a strange face but she ate it. Pasta - even if mashed up - still gets spit out. But we are making progress.

This morning Alexa grabbed my hand and led me into the kitchen and made the sign for milk. She was thirsty and let me know it. That was so much better than throwing her head back and screaming and leaving me guessing.

I decided it was time for an update on Alexa. She is doing great. We had a good checkup with the dentist - all well and Tuesday we went back to the doctor. Alexa didn't cry for the doctor at all - she waited until the nurses came in to draw blood and give her shots. Then she screamed. And I mean screamed. And I can't blame her. The poor thing had to have about three vials of blood drawn for blood tests and a TB test in her left arm then four shots to get caught up in her immunizations. Two in each leg. No wonder she screamed. I wanted to too just thinking about it. The nurses - and there were three- all kept telling me she was doing great and they were suprised by how strong she is. I keep telling people she is tiny but all muscle!

Today we went to my store to say hello and have some photos developed. She showed me around the produce department. She thought it was great fun to lead me around - now if we could just get her to eat some of the

fruits and vegetables she showed me!

She is loving her Cherrios, little graham crackers, and hard cookies. I am working on adding things to her pudding which is the only other thing she will eat. Right now we can do 2/3 applesauce, 1/3 pudding and yesterday we added a little chopped up banana and that worked too. She refuses plain applesauce and chopped up banana though, and if a Cherrio is contaminated by touching a banana slice it is immediately thrown on the floor! She prefers to feed herself and when she is tired of the spoon she has found that fingers work well. Of couse she still must do the gesture while she eats so she ends up with pudding all over her face. Isn't she cute?

At the silk factory we saw this woman working with the double cocoons of the silk worms. Single cocoons are used for making cloth and the double cocoons are stretched out and made into quilts. She soaks them then stretches them out over the smaller frame. Then they are stretched out over the larger frame. Finally four people stretch it out to the size of a quilt. Layers and layers are added until there are about 150 layers (I think that is what they said. Then a cover is put on. These silk quilts are supposed to be wonderful. They should never be washed - just air them out outside.

The Li River Cruise was beautiful. The landscape is amazing. Three hundred million years ago the area was under the sea. Two hundred million years ago it re-emerged and the exposed limestone was sculpted by rain and wind. Over the last two million years the karst peaks were sliced apart and the result is scenery that looks like it was taken directly off a Chinese scroll painting. That is the scientific explanation.

The myth is a little different. Long ago when the South China Sea threatened to engulf Guilin the gods decided to act. They would move the northern hills as a floodgate. The gods transformed the hills into goats in order to herd them south, but a fierce wind scattered the goats willy-nilly down the river where they were changed back into the unruly peaks we now see along the river.

The local people still paddle up and down the river on bamboo rafts. The rafts don't look like very much but we saw several loaded down. Some even

had three people on them - some sitting on chairs.

There are groves of bamboo along the river banks. These trees in the lower right photo are bamboo. They are beautiful trees. I don't know how many photos I took of them. I was amazed that I was seeing real bamboo trees. They just look so different.

The river cruise alone was worth the trip to China. We had taken photo after photo and ooohhed and aahhed over the scenery when our guide Lily came up to us and told us to get our cameras ready because the beautiful part was coming up!

I am finally getting around to posting some more pictures from our trip. Of course the best part of the trip was getting Alexa but China is an amazing country. I wanted to share some pictures from our experiences there. These are Budda carvings in a cave wall at Fubo Hill in Guilin.

Here are some rice paddies in Guilin. We saw some people out working in some of them. Besides rice paddies we saw lotus fields, corn fields and other crops - some I didn't recognize and I have forgotten others already. Fields are much smaller than we are used to here and they use every available space for crops. Later I will post some pictures of fields up on hillsides. Here in the states we would never try to plant on those hills. They are very steep.

This is a photo from Reed Flute Cave. Pictures cannot really convey the beauty of the place. I liked this photo because of the reflection on the water. We also liked the cave because it was cool. Guilin was hot and humid - Guangzhou would be worse - but the cave provided a litte relief for an hour.

These are the gold and silver pavillions that we could see right across the street from our hotel in Guilin. They were beautiful lit up at night. They were impressive during the day also. Jane and I did not get out to explore as much as I would have liked. We kept busy though and I rested as much as possible. I was exhausted after the flight over and I was trying to get rested before I got Alexa. Beds in China are hard - and I mean hard. I slept on top of the comforter just to have that little bit extra of cushioning.

I have many more photos I would like to share. I will try to add some once in a while.

Some of you who have followed my journey since I started this may remember that quite some time ago I found this little Noah's Ark and extra animals to go into it. (It all started when I found the pandas that were an extra for the set - after I saw the pandas I knew Alexa had to have one!) I finally got it out for her today and she checked it out. I think she likes it.

I realized today that I don't have any pictures of Alexa in her crib so I went in while she was taking her nap this afternoon. She is so cute when she is sleeping.

I have been putting off using the vacuum cleaner because I thought it might scare Alexa. I shouldn't have worried. I finally couldn't stand it any longer and got it out this afternoon. My problem is not that she is scared of it - my problem is that she tries to check it out. She wants to inspect the wheels as I vacuum! I think she wants to ride on the thing. I finally had to pick her up and hold her as I vacuum. After I was done I let her inspect the thing. She pushed it up and down the hallway after taking off all the attachments. And I know - by the time she is a teenager I will not be able to get her anywhere near the thing!

Yesterday we tried out the little tricycle that we got from Deb's family. It was a great success! She absolutely loves it. Her feet don't quit reach the pedals so the pole comes in very handy for mom to push. Sometimes she will steer but she spends more time looking around. She is not very happy when I say it is time to quit.

Mmmmm! Cherrios and milk for breakfast. Can you believe this is the girl that would not put a Cherrio any where near her mouth two weeks ago? Other food she will still throw to the floor but Cherrios go directly into the mouth - sometimes one from each hand at the same time.

Naptime is not going well today. I had hoped to organize my China photos and post some more but she has other ideas. I have so many that I would love to share. Hopefully soon!

For those of you still wondering what ever happened to Jane's luggage we have an update. Since we had our guides in China call China Southern every single day we were there to check on our luggage and they finally told our guide at the end of the trip that they had never had possession of the bag I called United after we got home. United of course said that it was up to China Southern to take care of the problem but after explaining to the gentleman that China Southern was saying they never had the bag he looked it up on their computer system. It can trace every bag - and he told me it had been in lost luggage in Guangzhou China since June 20th! He gave me a tracer number and told me to call China Southern. I finally got through to them - no easy task with the time change and explained my problem to them. They gave me another number where I had to leave a message - again the time change and the hours they work caused some delay. Finally I was talking to a baggage claim worker for China Southern in LosAngeles. He checked the computer and said it looks like it could be our bag but he would have to email the baggage claim people in Guangzhou. Finally I got a call back and they had found the bag! On Friday the 13th - exactly one month after we checked in our bags at O'Hare - Jane had her suitcase delivered to her house. The last nine days we were in China her bag was sitting at the airport.

This afternoon before Alexa's nap we tried out the little pool I have for her on the deck. She loves it. She loved splashing mom and playing with a little turtle toy. She hasn't really wanted to sit down in the pool yet but she loves splashing around and climbing in and out. She will squat down and put her face in the water too. We tried out the shades outside too. They stayed on for a while before they were thrown in the water.

Other Alexa news - she will now sometimes walk across grass if someone is holding her hand and this morning she ate a Ritz cracker. It came in a pack with some cheese you can spread on. She stuck her finger in the cheese, examined her finger, then wiped it off on mom's leg. This morning I made some rice cereal for her and added a few tiny, tiny pieces of banana. She ate a few bites and the banana pieces stayed in her mouth but she didn't eat very much. It is all progress though. At least I got some fruit into her.

We have a dentist appointment coming up next Thursday so I decided we should introduce the toothbrush! She actually did pretty good. The second night she put the brush end in her mouth instead of the handle end. The brush even made contact with a tooth several times!

I was suprised that she liked the sunglasses. Of course she only wore them in the house but maybe she will let me put them on her when we are out side. She doesn't like the sun in her eyes.

A girl can never have too many shoes - no matter what her age! After I took the picture I realized that three pair were missing - actually the three pair that fit right now! These are all in assorted sizes that I got for later while we were in China. Some are the famous squeeky shoes. Alexa tried out a pair and they are cool. You can really hear her coming! I had to take them off after a few minutes. She was enjoying it but it got a little loud for me. I think they will be better as outside shoes!

I guess I can say she really likes pudding now. She loved feeding it to herself. A little even made it in the mouth! Actually she did very well. It was just a little hard for me to watch. I have enjoyed having a clean little girl and now I have to contend with the messy part of a toddler! She is so cute though. I admit I did try to trick her by putting a tiny piece of watermelon in the pudding. It went in the mouth very well - and came straight back out - minus the pudding. She is a smart little one!

Well hope you enjoyed the pictures for today. We will see what we can come up with for tomorrow!

No new pictures to show off today but I had to give you an update. Alexa is doing great!!! Today we walked (with the help of the stroller) to the park since it is a beautiful day. She insisted on staying in the swing for over half an hour! I finally told her we had to take a break. I had taken a treat of vanilla pudding and some Cherrios and Alexa ate about 3/4 the container of pudding and then ate a Cherrio! Now I have to tell you about how she ate the Cherrio. She took more nibbles out of that thing than I thought possible for a little Cherrio. Finally she popped the rest in her mouth and it stayed. I put some on her tray on the stroller for the walk home and I had to keep replenishing them as we walked home. Some ended up on the ground but I am sure more ended up in her mouth. She ate another one for me when we got home. Yesterday she tried a couple bites of a bisquit and seemed to enjoy that but the chicken, rice, and cooked carrotts ended up on the floor last night during supper. That is ok though. At least she is touching the food to throw it to the floor! In China she refused to even touch anything edible. And I am finding out it is much easier to keep a child clean when they don't eat! I was not aware that Cherrios could be so sticky.

Yesterday we made it over to the Gift of Love office and met the people there and Alexa checked out all the rooms! Then it was on to Hy-Vee. She has found the basket of suckers and actually tried one (or two). She preferred the orange one over the blue one but she didn't come close to finishing either before they made their way to the floor.

Nap time is about over and this afternoon we have an appointment with a daycare provider. I guess I must start thinking about going back to work ( I paid bills this afternoon too).

I will try to add some pictures next time.

Yes we are home. I will go into the details of the trip home over the weekend hopefully but I wanted to post something now. It is midnight and I need to get to sleep. I will have a very active toddler waking up in the morning. Today she tried some vanilla pudding with some success.

This evening I took her to the park for the first time. She loved the swing. It was at least twenty to twenty-five minutes before she let me take her out. We then tried a frog thing which really was not all that great and then the slide. She loved it but it was hard to manage her all by myself. She wants to be all over and doesn't think that mommy needs to hold her hand all the time.

Alexa is very scared of grass. If you try to set her down in it she will pull up her legs so her feet never hit it. It was the same with the sand at the playground. I am sure that will change as she sees more children playing. Tonight we went later after it cooled down so there were not too many there.

Well I need to go to bed. I will need my strength tomorrow.