"LET IT OUT ON ME"

Matt video taped another Paul Yalen song while we were home; it's called "Let it Out on Me". ENJOY!  ( I know I did!)

Thanks and Prayers

Thank you to all of you who emailed Matthew and myself worrying about our where-abouts this past Monday after the horrendous earthquake in Chengdu. By a stroke of uncanny luck, before the quake, the cast and crew of "The Sound of Music" Asia we're given the option to fly home for a couple of weeks or take the cost of the flight in cash and stay in China after the Wuhan show was extended and the Beijing show was cancelled! (See what I mean about going with the flow!) Matthew and I decided to fly home and go to Florida for some much missed and desparately needed sunshine! We are scheduled to fly back to Shanghai in the beginning of June, but.... we'll see. So thank you again for your concern and please, please say a prayer or two for our new friends in Chengdu and Chongqing. We have heard from Candice and Belinda (in the pic with Matt) Yay!

Beijing

We flew to Beijing from Wuhan to catch a flight home with tim for a short hiatus.  We stayed in a beautiful Hilton ( I posted a variety of pictures for Kendra's viewing!)  They had a wonderful restaurant with a very entertaining tea "somolier".  In the morning, on the way to the airport, we had the driver take us to see the Olympic Stadium.  There seems to be a ton of construction left to do, but it was awesome to actually be there and see it as well as the aquatic center and other buildings.  The Beijing Airport is huge and beautiful.  The flight was uneventful (thank heavens!)

Wuhan

We flew Tuesday April 15 to Wuhan and got to our Hotel a little after 2 pm, with just enough time to wait for our room assignment, throw our suitcases in and be at a press conference by 4 pm!  Needless to say we we're pooped! The Wuhan Holiday Inn has a great Western restaurant so Matt was thrilled to have a ribeye and french fries!!! After dinner we thought it wise to run to a store to get snacks for the week! That ended up taking a while as we went exploring through a Chinese Wal-Mart!  The next day Matt had Classroom hours 12-5.  Afterward we went for a walk behind the hotel along the Yantze River! What an adventure that turned out to be!  We found a park with the story of Yu and how he conquered the floods of the Yantze.  We ended up reading (walking) the story from end (Gun's life, Yu's father) to beginning (all about Yu), but still the parks in China are sooo nice it didn't matter.

Thursday we walked across the Wuhan Changjiang Bridge over the Yangtze River and made it to the Yellow Crane Tower which had incredible views and other pavillions to visit. On the walk home evening came fast and beautiful.  Friday the kids went to the theatre after school for a sound check a quick rehearsal/meeting for opening night in a new theatre, the boys were thrilled to have their own dressing room.  After the show the presenter put on a fabulous dinner for the cast and crew.

Monday was a "Golden Day"...No school, no play, no travel...YAY!  Tiffany and Emily took us (along with Zachary and Uncle David) to East Lake which is a National Park of China and we got a peek at Moa's summer home.  When we got there we rented a bicycle built for two and rode around.  We went into an "ice house", Matt, Emily and Zach went on a roller coaster, drove go-carts, fed coy fish, tried to walk in a hamster-ball on the lake, saw some women rehearsing dance, and played in the park (which happened to be full of exercise equipment...little did they know!)  We also visited a museum about Qu Yaun one of the most famous Chinese poets. Tim came out the last weekend and enjoyed the show.