Back in the USA

Andy is  back!  We picked him up from the airport Saturday afternoon.  He did say that at one point during the trip, he was sitting in a restaurant with the food on a turntable in front of him when he glanced up at a small TV and noticed that Bakugan was on the TV. He was living Wyatt's dream!!!  -food and Bakugan in one place!

Andy came bearing gifts.  For Zach, he found Bruce Lee t-shirt.

Savannah received a pretty bracelet.

Wyatt received the 2009 Cosmos Superman, an Ultra man action figure.  He also got an Ultra man toy phone.

Julia requested a Chinese book, and she received the Disney version of Mulan in Chinese.  (The tatoo visible on her neck is from funny tatoo day at gymnastics.  Savannah and her friend Emily took care of decorating Julia, and I have no idea how they got one on her neck.  Julia is extremely ticklish on her neck, so we did not make her remove that one.)

 

Andy brought me an early birthday present, and there is a story behind this.  This tea set bears the Chinese dragon and Phoenix images.  The dragon represents the male in Chinese culture while the phoenix represents the female.  We learned all of this while at the jade factory in Beijing when we traveled to bring Wyatt home.

While at the jade factory, we learned the symbolism behind jade balls sold in China.  They come in various sizes, some with more detail than others, but all of them have four balls within each other.  The outside ball bears the phoenix and dragon images, and the balls represent the generations of a family with the older generations providing a layer of protection over the younger ones.  We loved the symbolism and decided that we would like to buy a jade ball.  This led to lots of discussion as we considered it an heirloom item. Who would inherit this since we could not afford one for each child?  It was early in the trip. How much should we be willing to spend at this point?  We settled on a medium sized ball and decided that as our oldest son, Zach would someday own the ball.  Upon our return to the states, the ball became the center piece of our mantle.  Unfortunately, while straightening up that room one day, Andy found a few broken pieces of jade on the floor. After much pulling we learned that Julia had decided to see if the ball would bounce.  We really hope to replace that piece someday and thought this trip might provide the opportunity, but Andy could not find one.  The symbolism on the tea set was as close as he could get.

The ball in the middle of this picture is the happy family jade ball.

I do love tea pots and have always wanted to collect them. I have three now with this new one.  In fact the store where I now work has one that I love on clearance for $12.00 right now, a strong temptation especially since it is decorated in butterflies (another favorite of min) and I get 25% off.  I have no place, however, to display tea pots, and buying them seems like a waste, so I usually do not indulge myself.

This side of the pot shows the dragon.

This side shows the phoenix.

Andy has lots of great pictures.  Hopefully, he will take some time to blog and tell the stories behind them.  I doubt that I will blog much this week but should return next week with lots of posts and pictures.