Blue! And Green!

This is us. The one showing lots of shoulder (in her Chengdu, China Marine Ball ball gown!) is the EFM who writes this blog. The one wearing a tux (James) is the employee who moves her (and their two sons) around all over the world. The red link, below, is how you can get in touch with me...

The time in Chengdu, China

Chengdu: city of fabulous food and beautiful Buddhist monasteries!

In Our Same Boat (with State)

Beyond the Cornfields
Brand-new State Department family in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Love their two little girls (she just recently had a baby while being posted in Dhaka), horticulture, traveling and adventure!
Email From The Embassy
State Department family formerly in Beijing, China, and recently posted to Amman, Jordan. A trailing spouse, she's also a writer, and frequently publishes articles with major news sources. A very experienced State family, this new post is something like overseas post number six or seven for them.
Just US
A beautiful family of seven - they have arrived at their new post: Jerusalem! They just finished off an unaccompanied tour to Iraq and are very much looking forward to sightseeing around the middle east.
Our Life
State Department family on their second post...Tijuana, Mexico. It's their first overseas assignment and they have two little boys. They love Tijuana so far and post pictures frequently! They also get to enjoy the best of both worlds for they can sneak over the border into San Diego when they want to!
The Dinoia Family
State Department family formerly in California, now in DC for a DC tour. Next, the husband will do a one year unaccompanied tour. A very experienced State family (formerly in Iceland and Caracas) with a blog that has been around quite a while and has great archives. Jen has a sweet heart and a lot to give!
The Perlman Update
State Department family formerly in Chennai, India, who then did a year-long unaccompanied tour in Iraq. They are now on a DC tour and after that will do another unaccompanied tour (Afghanistan). She totally tells it like it is and doesn't sugar-coat what life is really like. Witty, snarky, funny and down-to-earth. Look elsewhere if you want fake. Read if you want REAL.
Where in the World Am I?
State Department family formerly in Bujumbura, Burundi and now in Hyderabad, India. They just had their first baby this summer - a beautiful little girl- (there's a separate blog about this) and she also eats gluten-free (with a separate blog, also).

One of the most intriguing things about Chengdu is that it is a seamless blend of ancient and modern... all together, side by side.

Can't Live Without (non-State)

Crass-Pollination: An ER blog
The best ER nurse blog EVER!
Doctor Grumpy in the House
The best doctor blog EVER!
In Which...
My IRL friend, a stay-at-home, homeschooling Mama of seven. Her darling daughters are, goshdarnit, probably too young to be hoped for as my future daughters-in-law.
The Crib Chick
My IRL friend, a stay-at-home, homeschooling Mama of five. Hopefully two (Any two! I'm not picky!) of which are my future daughters-in-law.
the underwear drawer
An anesthesiologist who is possibly the most talented & entertaining writer ever. I've read her blog ever since she started medical school. No, don't know her in real life. Wish I did.
The Bloggess
This blog is both hysterically funny and hilariously irreverent. I actually let my 17 year old son read it (who loves it as much as I do!), but wouldn't even CONSIDER letting my 12 year old son read it. Which is about all the description it needs!

The grounds of Chengdu monasteries can be very, very peaceful...even though they are smack dab in the heart of a city of millions of people.

Specifics

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« We're Outta Here! | Main | Last Day of R&R »

06/17/2012

First of all, Happy Father's Day to my Dad and to my husband!

My husband's Father's Day gift is where we are right now: HAWAII. Yes, we stopped in Hawaii on our way back to the U.S. on our R&R in order to split the 12 hour time difference into two 6 hour pieces.

And, of course, in order to, like, BE IN HAWAII.

We flew from Chengdu to Tokyo, where we had just enough of a layover to allow us to eat sushi in Japan. I will say that when we got off the plane, a certain member of our family was all "Look! McDonald's!" but I was all "NO WAY are we eating McDonald's our one meal ever (probably) in Japan!"

So we had sushi. DUH.

SO not McDonald's. Thank goodness.

It was neat to be able to watch all the Japanese sushi masters at work.

We'll take one of each, thank you.

The only drawback was that China has completely spoiled me with its prices. Things in Japan were scary expensive compared to what we've been paying in China. So, yes, it was totally awesome to eat sushi in Japan, but we each just had a little (we didn't eat to fullness) and it was $86!!! Holy COW!

Then we found some seriously awesome Japanese fudge (did you know that such a thing existed?) and my family chowed down at the terminal waiting for our plane.

Some of us ended up with chocolate all over our faces because we ate the fudge voraciously because there's no fudge in China.

Then we boarded the plane for Hawaii.

A hundred zillion hours after leaving Chengdu, we got to Honolulu. We were more exhausted than we've ever been in our lives. HOWEVER:

Blue skies! Blue water! Green plants! So many colors!

We immediately went and worshipped at Pineapple World (aka the Dole Plantation):

Fresh pineapple can't leap into our mouths fast enough, people.

Everyone was so freaking happy that the children VOLUNTEERED to have their pictures taken in the wooden pineapple cutout:

This is quite possibly the first time Matthew has smiled in nine months, give or take.

I am SO putting these pictures on Facebook and tagging the boys in them.

Even though there was no swimming at the Dole Pineapple Plantation, Zachary was still very happy.

The Dole Pineapple Plantation is where Dole Pineapples are born.

First they're little bitty...

...Then they're less little bitty. And more in danger of being eaten.

It is FABULOUSLY awesome to see (blue) skies and (green) trees and, actually, everything is so insanely colorful (it's sort of like when Dorothy leaves Kansas and gets to Oz and all of the sudden: COLOR!) that even the tree trunks are very colorful:

I have literally never seen anything like this.

James and I just kept staring at the colorful tree trunks at the Dole Plantation:

If this isn't Tree Trunk Epic Awesomeness, I sure don't know what it.

Meanwhile, the mountains are in the background, just being their amazing mountain-y selves:

Hello you gorgeous mountains, you.

So, anyway, we're going to put on our suits and go swimming. BECAUSE LIFE IS AWESOME, THAT'S WHY.

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there. Thank you for sacrificing your needs and desires on a daily basis in order to bless the lives of your families.

Posted on 06/17/2012 at 04:02 PM in Hawaii, Matthew, Photos of Flowers/Foliage, Photos of Which I am Proud, R&R #1 - Chengdu, Travel, Travel with State | Permalink

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That looks awesome! I want to go to Hawaii! Enjoy your time in e US of A!

Posted by: Emily | 06/17/2012 at 07:33 PM

Happy Father's Day James! Congrats to getting safely to your 1/2 point HAWAII so cool! So relieved the boys didnt try to see what would happen if they joked and said the forbidden airplane word (ie: "BOMB!") Oh poor James! Sorry, forget I said that! Parker still gets calls about situations like that all the time! Take care and take LOTS of pics. So happy for you all!

Posted by: Sam | 06/17/2012 at 09:09 PM

Funnily enough, the Ayala park near us here in Manila (yes, Manila!), has the exact same trees with pretty tree trunks! I love them just as much as you!

Posted by: Carla Runs The World | 06/18/2012 at 01:52 AM

I bet McDonald's in Japan has a McSushi. Just sayin'. And that skittles tree is so cool!! Hoping you are sucking down all the fresh air your Chengdu stained lungs can handle and enjoying sticky fruit juice faces and swimming pool bliss. Have a great and safe R&R!

Posted by: Nomads By Nature | 06/20/2012 at 08:22 AM

Near tears 'cause I'm so excited and happy that you get R&R!

Posted by: TulipGirl | 06/22/2012 at 07:55 AM

YEAH!!! Love that you "get" to hang out in Hawaii and are so loving the fabulous colors!!

Posted by: Melissa | 06/29/2012 at 02:21 AM

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James loves me. And our sons. And his job. But not having his picture taken. In 2011 he finished up over a year and half of training, and in the fall of 2011 we got to our first overseas post - Chengdu, China!