What was the biggest event in Fall 2011?????

When we were home in October, Joe and I found out we would be grandparents again!  This time to a real, human baby, not a puppy!  

Kelli and Doug are expecting their first baby in May.  The whole family couldn't be more excited.  I'm so glad I'll be home to spend the remaining months of Kelli's pregnancy with her.    I can't wait to get home to spend some long needed, spoiling Kimi time with my sweet Talon and this new baby we'll get in the spring!  I have a lot of Gran Kimi time to make up for and a new little one will surely keep me busy.

In October we again went home for about ten days.  It's always nice to go home and spend some time with the family.  Although our trip was fast, it's so good to get away from Chengdu for a few days.  We even got to spend a few days at the lakehouse.  It so disappointing to see how the drought has affected the lake.  I sure hope the winter and spring bring rain so it can be back to the beautiful place it was when we bought it.

The highlight of the trip home was Joe's opportunity to attend a couple of Texas Ranger playoff games with the boys.  It's been hard to be here in China during the past two wonderful seasons the Rangers have had.  We're hoping the luck will continue in 2012 so we can take full advantage of it.

Before we knew it, November was here.  Joe had business in Beijing and I decided to go with him.  At the last minute one of my friends decided she wanted to do some shopping with me in Beijing.  By the time we got to the airport, we were buying a ticket for another friend and Joe was taking three women with him to Beijing.  

It was a fast trip.  We checked into the hotel and met another friend from Chengdu for dinner and drinks.  The next morning,  Joe was preparing for a noon business meeting and making plans to continue on to another city.  The girls and I headed out to the Silk Market.  We spent over 8 hours shopping that day!  We even had to buy an extra suitcase to get all our stuff back to Chengdu.  We literally were running to catch a cab, get to the hotel, pick up our bags and make a 9:00 pm flight back to Chengdu.   Thirty-six hours of FUN!  What a special memory to take home with me!

Taking a much needed break from shopping

Also in November, we spent the day with Joe's company at the Ya'an Panda Reserve Park.  It is about an hour and a half outside Chengdu.  It was a cold and misty day.  We arrived in time to have lunch.  After lunch we were taken on a "nature walk" before going to the Panda Park.  It was the most exhausting day of my life.  We road an elevator down over 90 meters and then hiked on very unstable steps for the next hour.  To say I was miserable would be an understatement.  I'm  one for observing nature, but I certainly do not enjoy being an active part of it and certainly do not like hiking.  We finally got to the Panda park and spent the rest of day seeing these amazing animals.

I played hostess to one of Joe's associates and his wife who was visiting Chengdu on vacation for a few days.  We saw the Shu Silk Brocade museum and shop.  It's a beautiful display of the silk artwork that is produced here in Chengdu.  We also went to the Chengdu Panda Park.  It had been a while since I was there  and I wanted to go again before we came home.  It's one of my favorite places to go.  I just love watching those wonderful creatures.  On this particular day they had the babies out in one of the yards.

On November 19 we attended the 236th Marine Birthday Ball here in Chengdu.  The Marine Ball will always be special because it was one of the first places that we met some of our closest friends here in Chengdu.  This was our fourth time to attend.  It's a special night to dress up and honor our men in service. On this special night we were honored to sit at the table with the oldest Marine present.  Tradition has it that the oldest Marine and youngest Marine will be served the first piece of cake during the opening ceremonies.  We had a fun filled night.  The Marines assigned here in Chengdu are an amazing group of young men.  During the key note address it was brought to our attention that our nation is served by its largest percentage of soldiers in the 20's age group.  It's amazing to know that our safety is in the hands of such highly trained and capable young men.  It makes me so proud.  The video message this year marked the 10th anniversary of 911 and it brought tears to my eyes to hear some of the testimonials from vets who went to serve that horrible day in search, rescue and recovery of the many victims.

We also met former Dallas mayor, Ron Kirk, who is now Ambassador of Trade for the Obama administration.  Amb. Kirk and others were present in Chengdu for government meetings and attended the ball briefly.

Before we knew it November was almost over and it was time for Thanksgiving.  Again, for the 4th year we spent Thanksgiving evening at Peter's Tex Mex having a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner with friends.  It's not spending the time with family but great friends can surely make up for it.  It was a great evening.

The Friday night after Thanksgiving, we also attended a Thanksgiving Dinner Buffet at the Intercontinental Hotel.  One of our friends here in Chengdu has a son that works for Intercontinental and he coordinated the whole event and it was amazing.  This also happened to be one of the first nights that we began to have to say goodbye to friends before our departure from Chengdu.  It was a bittersweet night indeed.

We finished out November with a weekend trip to Hainan Island with good friends.  Hainan Island is said to be the Hawaii of China.  We were at the Hilton in the Sanya Resort area.  Joe and Ron played golf for two days while Renee and I relaxed by the pool and took advantage of the spa.  It was a very relaxing weekend and a great way to spend some time with great friends we will surely miss.  They upgraded us to a beach front villa - two bedrooms, two wonderful relaxing baths and a private pool!

 The golfers

 The beach

 Relaxing by the pool.  There was even a swim up bar!

Which brings us to December.  But that's another story!

After Mission Beach, Joe and I drove up the Queensland coastline to the Daintree Forest.  I found a lodge on the internet where you could stay in the rainforest.  Since it was something we had never done, we decided to stay one night there. 

The drive up the coast is beautiful and it was a perfect spring day.  We stopped in Port Douglas for lunch.  It was nice to be back in Port Douglas since it was one of our favorite stops in 2009 when we were  in Australia.  It's a beautiful little seaside town.  After lunch we continued up the coast, stopping to get some amazing shots of the coastline.

To get to our lodge, we had to cross the Daintree River on a ferry.  Not sure I've ever done something like that.  I just kept looking to the shores to see if I could spot a crocodile.

We arrived at the lodge late afternoon and got checked in.  I'm not sure what were expecting but it seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere.  There are only seven cabins and a main eating/patio area plus the kitchen/lodging for the caretakers.  There are raised walkways to get around the grounds. 

 Our cabin

 Main Dining hall and walkways

After checking in we drove up the coast in the area called Cape Tribulation and explored the beach areas along the way.  This area was also hit by Yazi in February of this year and was still recovering.  Some lodges had not yet reopened.  There were some interesting signs along the beach areas.  Some say there are crocodiles in the shores all the way down to Cairns.  Not sure I would want to swim the beaches here!

Cape Tribulation coastline

We had dinner at another lodge and sat outside enjoying the peace of the surrounding rainforest.  When it gets dark in this area, it is pitch black and the roads are not lighted.  The rainforest is like a canopy over the road.

Back at the lodge, there is no internet, no phones, only monitors and dvd players in the cabins (there's a video library in the main dining area), no ac/heat.  Our cabin had a sky light in the roof that gave you a view of trees above you.  Sitting in the cabin you could hear all the sounds of nature outside.  It was sometimes unnerving after you turned out the lights and were trying to get to sleep.    Everything at the lodge is  about protecting the surrounding environment, even the wildlife.  This little guy (see below) was in our bathroom.  We had to get the caretaker to remove him.  We were told that you have to have wet hands to touch him or his skin can become damaged.  Another incident was having a very large spider removed from the room.

Breakfast the next morning was an experience.  It was so beautiful to see the sun coming up through the dense forest.  We also got a very rare glimpse of a cassowary.  These birds are native to the area, endangered and quite elusive.  Some say that only a small percentage of visitors to the area ever get a sighting so we were quite lucky.

On this particular morning, we were privileged to see Freda, the resident Cassowary at the Daintree Wilderness Lodge.  They say she has been around the lodge about 4 years.   She doesn't often appear, sometimes you can maybe hear her in the forest.  We actually got to see her as well as what the caretakers believe is her offspring.  That in itself is also very rare because the male Cassowary takes care of the the babies and the females can be very territorial.  We watched for some time as she chased the younger one in and around the walkways before running him off.

Boatride to see the crocodiles

 

We spent one night in Cairns.  Had a great dinner and a little bit of luck with the casino and the next day we were headed back to Sydney.

Once back in Sydney, we had a day and a half to again relax and enjoy the city.  We took a bus out to Bondi Beach.  It was a beautiful spring day and lots of people were enjoying a day at the beach.  Bondi beach also features one of world's more scenic pools.  It sits right at the waters edge and the ocean comes crashing up against the side of the pool.