Month of July started with our touring around Chengdu area. I finished my working from China and started my vacation. We made day trips here and there by looking things up on the travel website. After taking a break back in US, we finished the month by visiting Mexico.
Max went to get a hair cut in a shop where grandpa always goes.
This is a newly built place for visiting: wide street and narrow street. This is the wide street.
Renee and Max likes to pose at different places.
This is the narrow street
The place has interesting designs along the way, perfect for taking pictures.
Here is another cool picture.
In the several community parks that we visited, it is not uncommon to see rides like this. Probably because we arrived at off-hour, there were people at all. The attendances were very friendly though. They turned on any rides that we want to take. We had a blast without having to wait in line.
Here is an area with construction all made of bamboo. Here is a bamboo cart on rail.
It is quite relaxing to walk around these parks through the plants and constructions.
We visited a place known for Daoism. Max and I played around at this Taichi sign in the ground.
Here is a plate of Chinese zodiac. Max and Renee both found their sign.
We went to another bird park. Renee got over her fear and started feeding the birds.
Realizing that birds were afraid of him more, Max started chasing birds until I had to stop him.
Renee visited the infamous "Plaza Dance" places. She was shy at the first. With encouragement and accompany from her mom, Renee enjoyed it in the end.
We visited a digging site discovered recently. Max had some fun with this glass floor overlooking an old tree trunk.
Here is another place we visited. Renee and Max saw the shop set up on the street side where the fish will come to clean your feet.
This is a picture that reminds me a lot of my childhood. Renee and Max walked down the bank to enjoy the view. Unfortunately, they both got mosquito bites.
Max posing at the central plaza. We were on our way to see the Giant Buddha.
With their cousin, Renee and Max visited Giant Buddha. This is at the bottom of the mountain.
The way to get to the Buddha's feet is by climbing down from the side. It took a long time. Good thing that we brought the umbrellas and water.
The kids enjoyed the climb once the line starts moving.
This is a "Culture Park" at the bottom of a highway injunction close by. The statues are about scenes that were common in this past.
We posed for different kinds of pictures.
Here is another new place popped up in recent years. The buildings on the left are all kind of shops for local flavors. We sampled a bunch of them, and enjoyed them sitting at the tables set up on the other side.
The day trip with grandparents!
Here is another plaza dance place that Renee visited. She even made a friend with another little who also enjoys it.
We visited the Sea World in Chengdu. It was pretty long walk along the way.
Renee and Max were chasing the Sea Turtle in the Sea World.
We ended the month by leaving for Mexico. The first night at the beach, we saw the giant turtles coming on shore to lay eggs. It was a pretty impressive sight.
Cancun has great beaches. The best part was that it actually became shallow after walking in a bit. I was able to take the kids over there in turns. Soon I became the uncle/daddy who could "break through the waves and get me to a safe heaven."
We spent most of the time at the pool. The kids enjoyed the "human surf board" game the most. That was me under the water.
We of course took the parasailing ride. This was the fist time for the kids. They were a bit unsure but all enjoyed it immediately.
The most unique experience for this trip would be the turtles. This turned out to be the egg laying season for them. At night, they will come to the shore to lay eggs. We watched them quietly several times. In the morning, there will be people move the eggs to a protected area. Each site will be dated. Every morning, someone will come and dig out the little turtles that are hatched. It took us several tries to meet the person who is doing that. He was a very nice fellow and allowed us to help with the digging. Renee and Max got to play with the little turtles.
We also signed up for a snorkeling trip, a must-have for the vacation like this.
Max was very excited and ready to jump in. Unfortunately, this was as good a picture as it gets. Both Max and Renee got very scared once they are in the ocean water, such that they had to go back to the boat. In the hindsight, I should have just stayed with them around the boat even though there were nothing to see. At least it would give them some experience with sea water.
We went on a trip to a theme park on the last day. Due to the high price and limited time, we were told this was the possibly the most expensive relaxing spot. We agree.
A little raccoon dropped out behind us during lunch break, making all kinds of postures hoping for food.
We couldn't bear looking at the kids' faces and paid extra for them to swim with the dolphin. Looking at how happy they are in the picture, it was money and time well spent.
Both Renee and Max were still very afraid of deep water at this time. But they were able to get in the water by themselves with us watching far away. I'd say the dolphin had a lot to do with the courage.
Max posed on the beach in the last day. It is indeed a great place to relax and exercise.
I also took Max on his first kayak ride. It looks that I can do this again in the future.
After coming back from the Mexico trip, we are settling to the routine. Instead of jogging outside, I watched Max in kungfu class to get a sense of how much he has progressed.
I noticed that Max is learning meditation now. I like this Kungfu class more and more.
Renee went with mom for the volunteer work in San Francisco. She was taking the responsibility of chopping this time.
