When boy meets girl

Unlike in the past where we could avoid weekend crowds, the only free times for Rosabelle are the weekends since she has school (similarly when I start work). So on days when we don’t feel like jostling with the rest of China, we chose to catch up with our good friend who used to stay in our yard – Fei Fei Gege, who shifted to Daxing, about an hour’s drive from our place.

One weekend in April, we went to his house, late, making his mum tear her hair out in exasperation having to deal with her son’s umpteenth query of when we were arriving (already started the night before). When we reached, Rosabelle was not at all shy and started helping herself to his toys. Feifei, on the other hand, actually hid shyly behind his mum as he gleed, and later sweetly took some toys out for Rosabelle to play with (which she rejected as she had her eye on others…).
This is his 8-month-old brother – looks so much like his Dad!
Rosabelle at first did not want to go out, but changed her mind as we then brought them out to the playground and watch their Daddies playing tennis.
We even bought buns and fed the ducks at the lovely lake they had in their compounds.
After having lunch outside, we actually wanted to head home but seeing that we’d spent so much time getting there and the kids were having a whale with each other, we decided to let Rosabelle nap at their place. We put the kids on the same bed and they were very excited, naturally, kicking at each other under the covers, and even sweetly holding hands! However, I’m really glad she can now sleep independently, saying she did not need ‘milk, milk’ when I asked. Wayne had to go in and sleep in between the both of them after some time when it seemed like they were more intent on playing, and they finally slept, giving us adults peace and time to catch up for 1.5 hours – clap, clap!

After that, we went out again for a walk but it was getting windy, so we made plans to head back home. It sure is nice to catch up with them, especially seeing Feifei as he’s such a lovely, good-natured, smiley child….
After that successful visit, we made plans to get together again over the recent May Day holidays, to go for a BBQ by the lakes at Shidu, a scenic spot on the outskirts of Beijing, an hour’s-plus drive away. So we got out of the house by 8am that day, and ended up driving for more than 3 hours because all the roads to Shidu were grid-locked and we had to make U-turns – even the alternative routes were jammed. Poor Feifei, sitting in his father’s 4WD, got carsick and actually vomited, no thanks to the fact that he was eating non-stop…

In the end, where did we end up? Some nameless valley with just mountains and pebbled ground (no lakes/water), but at least there were no jams/people. Oh well. At least the two young lovers were happy to be reunited after a long car ride apart…
Lunch wasn’t ready as we needed to DIY, and boy, did they bring the whole slew of things! I only provided some fruits, but they brought meats, salads, yogurts (the kids ate the ready-to-eat foods first), wasabi and ketchup, and even a small portable stove to boil water for to brew Chinese tea! That’s the foods and the guys setting up the stoves…
Whilst the kids had fun experiencing their camping tent…
and having their starters first, heh!
The netting kept out the insects from the tent but it was quite humid inside – so even though the kids played away, they liked to fiddle with the zippers and peek out. Below as taken by our dummy camera…
And as taken by their power camera…
Here, they are eating their skewers of chicken… Feifei has such a voracious appetite his mum gets worried, but seeing him eat does make me go all hungry as he really seems to enjoy his foods…
They even brought a bubble gun the kids took turns playing with – I actually forgot to pack toys, sheesh…
Rosabelle was in a dance-y mood that day and started shaking her booty.
And Feifei followed suit, but he was more intent on eating, and when Rosabelle lost her balance, he was still more concerned about his food, haha!
There, that’s the mummy of two posing with her new cap, and her second son, who was happy to be playing with their Ayi who came along.
When lunch ended, we tried to make the kids sleep but it was too hot inside that I stripped Rosabelle down to a shirt and her diapers. The kids also kept complaining there were insects inside, and once, Rosabelle even took Feifei’s pillow as a bolster, refusing to return to him as he whined and whined, haha! Though Rosabelle looked quite tired and did cooperate by lying down quietly by herself, think she got distracted by Feifei who was sitting/standing around, and by us talking outside. Wayne going in did not help either, as the ground was too bumpy for a comfortable sleep…. And so… our captives had their way and were let out of the tent, hooray! They had their fruit and biscuit snacks… (we had to pee around the hills as there were obviously no public toilets…)
The two lovelies…
When we packed up to go, it was already 4+pm and our girl slept like immediately upon being put into the carseat!
We reached their place at around 8+pm and had dinner together, but not before Rosabelle woke up crying after about two hours of sleep and I carried her onto my lap as she was taking a pee in her diaper. A big pee that overflowed through her diaper, through her pants, onto my pants, and onto the carseat. Oh dear… luckily we had a spare change of clothing. Feifei again vomited on the way back as well, but that sure didn’t affect his appetite for dinner!

It was a lovely, albeit tiring and dirty day, and I’m sure we’ll be getting again together soon – can’t wait!