31/365

 Minnie & Mickey are popular around here... & finally the ice is almost melted off our street--it'd been covered for a few weeks!

30/365

Greyson experimenting with my phone camera, Ellie modeling her own ensemble, & Gav celebrating the 100th day of school today. Settling back into life at home... I missed these kids! 

29/365

My welcome back to Boise... shoveling the driveway before taking Gav to school. I'd been spoiled in China with temps in the 70's!

28/365

 It was a long flight back, but I slept quite a bit to try to start adjusting back to Boise time. Mom & Dad were at the airport to pick me up, & their flight was supposed to leave 4 1/2 hours later, so they insisted on having me leave them there because there was snow predicted all afternoon, & they didn't want me to have to go back out. There was no changing their minds. They were probably ready for some peace & relaxation too. I wish I'd gotten a farewell picture of them though! It was good to see the kids again. We had a good evening & were all in bed by 9:00.

Ellie in her new Chinese pajamas!

27/365

Today we squeezed in a quick trip to Hong Kong in the morning. It's about an hour & a half drive each way from our hotel, including stops for immigration, where they check everyone's passports & temperature (to make sure you're not sick!). Once we arrived, we rode a "Crystal Cabin" up to see the Tian Tan Buddha statue (aka "Big Buddha"). The ride was fun, & the statue was... big!

 Darin with Paul (our driver for the day & one of Darin's favorite drivers whenever he's here). There are some crazy drivers in China!

With a lucky cat

 After we rode back down, we had about an hour left to explore Hong Kong (not enough time--will have to come back someday!)

Paul dropped us off at one end of a street market & picked us up one hour later at the other end.

This little guy was playing with his mom's phone while she worked. Just like home!

We made it back to the hotel, & the guys had just enough time to change & leave for a meeting (pep rally) at the factory before the big year-end celebration (in conjunction with Chinese New Year). The girls had a couple hours more to relax & get ready.

This celebration was a big deal. Our group was at the head table along with Bill & Pandy, the factory owner, Peter, his wife & niece. They served a multi-course dinner with emcees & entertainment for us & about 800 Yih Teh employees. (Some of the entertainment was provided BY the employees too... skits, dances, songs...) Scentsy gave all employees a year-end bonus, & they had several lottery drawings throughout the night for cash gifts (some as much as 3-month's salary) to employees.
It's hard to believe the trip is over--I leave for the airport in the morning! (Darin has to stay until  Feb 1.)

 

26/365

I hadn't mentioned the hotel breakfast we've been enjoying every morning. Darin & I usually split an omelette, along with our fruit & pastries. It's been fun to be with this guy all day every day.

Today was a spa/golf day for our group at Mission Hills Resort courtesy of Yih Teh. Not too many pictures... the girls did the spa & the boys golfed. Pam & I were in the same room & enjoyed 4 hours of pampering... a facial, full body massage, manicure & pedicure. It was wonderful. Darin golfed the most difficult course he's ever played (the Faldo course) with Mark, Rod & Tabb.

We had Korean food for dinner at the resort (ordered by Orville who served a Korean mission years ago). I took this picture of the chrome ceiling/light fixture that was like a mirror over the whole table.

On the way back, about 8:00 pm, we visited the local Walmart. It was a little different...

Pandy

 They did have some recognizable things too.

25/365

Today we visited Ron's company, The Supply Hub, which in part, does handbags & jewelry for Scentsy's Grace Adele line. I took this picture of the directory at the office building since their company is practically the only thing readable to me. Ron, Leon & Kylie gave us a tour of their offices, then we went to lunch.

This place had the coolest lazy susan I'd seen... automated!

Next we went & saw where they get the raw materials in--huge bolts of material, then to Champ leather factory where they make the bags. This is Kylie in the drying room--where they air out before shipping.

We went to a jewelry factory next. I guess I'd never really thought about all this being done by hand... there's a lot of work involved!

 We had dinner at Grappas, a really nice Italian restaurant at a hotel. Didn't take any pictures... the light was low, but it was good! They ordered several different things--salads, pizzas, pastas, risotto, etc. & we ate family style. There were 14 of us at a long rectangular table--it was one of the only dinners we didn't have at a giant round table with a lazy susan. (I kind of want one now). After dinner, we went out for a late night foot massage & got a bonus ear cleaning! It was actually quite nice... when in China!

Ron

Leon

Darin

My guy kind of reminded me of Brett... a Chinese Brett. Can't explain it.