Spring Break 2018 day 5:

We said goodbye to my father and drove to see where an ancient Indian civilization used to live about 3,000 years ago up to about 1,000 years ago. They built mounds of dirt to keep track of the Winter and Summer solstice, and of the Spring and Autumn equinox. Next, we drove to Murfreesboro, Arkansas, to spend the next four nights in a Tipi. After settling in, we built a campfire, and Destiny made some new friends. They all went out at night with flashlights on a ‘treasure hunt’ the campground owner arranged for them.

One last Fall walk down to the river.

It was in the middle of the afternoon when we started our short walk down to the river and the light on the faux lighthouse was just right.

DJ and Spot both were getting apartment 'cooped-up-itis'.

Everybody took their jackets except Deb, but it really wasn't that cold. It was about 16 degrees C, but there was a moderate cool wind from the WNW.

DJ was really enjoying her stroller ride.

Spot loves going down to the river or the parks where he can roll around in the grass.

Willow Island trip: 2011

Come with us on our trip to Willow Island this year.

This is a short path we take from our housing area to the main road that leads down to the river. You can see the one story old housing that used to be everywhere in the city. Most of it has been torn down to build apartment buildings. There is still people that live here. They have not been forced out of their homes and made to purchase an apartment they can't afford. It must get very cold inside during the winter.

Just before we get to the main road, there is a church where you would normally find shops. This is on a friday morning. Not an empty seat to be found.

We walked along the river for a ways to get to the boat that goes across to the island. The parks are very nice and our favorite part of the city.

DJ stopped to play a little chess with some of the other kids. The pieces are too big and heavy to move.

We are finally on the boat and pulling away from the city side of the river. People are sitting down below and standing along the rail.

We stood inside the wheel house.

DJ enjoyed this trip on the boat across the river better than she did last year I think.

Once on the island, we took another ride. The boat was 12 RMB for both ways for all of us. The horse or camel rides wanted 10 RMB each. We finally talked one of the drivers into taking all of us for 20 RMB.

There are many carnival boardwalk type games on the island, as well as rides of all kinds and several haunted houses. There is also lots of places to buy food and drink and increased price. It is a great place to get away from the city if you don't bring a lot of money to waste on the games.

I think DJ liked the buggy ride the most.

It is a little different walking along the river on this side looking back at the city.

They were setting up a stage with lights for a concert down by the river along the beach on the city side. We did not go to the concert.

DJ made friends with this little girl and they played and had a good time at one of the little outdoor restaurants on the island.

New swimsuit for Suzanne and new haircut for Deb.

This is almost the finished product of my cutting Debs hair. I thinned it out a lot and then cut it away from her neck and ears. 

We are going to go swimming next week and Suzanne needed a new swimsuit. 

DJ got some bubbles to play with. 

If you check last months, you will see an update for the building they have started putting up near our apartment. This is the latest update. Next weekend, they are going to switch off the power to our area while they connect to this construction. 

Baby tired. 

Dog tired. 

This is what Deb's hair looked like before I got started. 

A boy down at the river gave DJ this fan. 

 

 

Walking the river walk. 

 

 

 

 

We have some pics of this monument on the blog already from last year. It is a monument to the local people defending the city along side the soldiers during WW2. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A group of people playing croquet. 

There are several people growing gardens along the river bank. 

 

 

Odd how a lady in America is facing charges for growing a garden in her own front yard while people in China can grow a garden on land that isn't even theirs. 

 

 

This is a passenger train crossing the river. 

 

 

We got a taxi at the main road near our apartment and had him take us across the river to the north for a drive in the country. The plan was to go see a lotus pond I found on Google Earth. It was a nice drive in the country but the lotus pond wasn't in use. 

 

 

Mix of pics.

The local convenience store has some small kiddie rides. They play music and move back and forth with a little up and down motion. DJ does not like it.

Suzanne gave DJ a pony tail.

These are DJ's new summer shoes.

We had some friends over for dinner. They brought DJ a new stuffed toy to add to her collection.

The boys name is Mike.

The two girls names are Cindy and Alice.

I went into KFC early one weekend and this was inside.

This is a picture from a forth floor window of the public school I was teaching at. The kids were practicing for something.

DJ found this friend to play with down by the river.

This little boy was a little shy.

This kid came along with his bike.

The kids loved the bike because it played music.

All the kids gathered around the bike.

That's a six pack of kids.

This building looked like it was new when we moved here but wasn't used by anyone. Now they have gutted it and are remodeling it.

A couple nice days this week.

There were a couple of days this week when it wasn't raining and I wasn't working that we got out and enjoyed the day.

One of those days we went down to the river.

DJ makes new friends every time she goes out.

This is not chocolate. There was a planter nearby that she kept trying to play in.

One of the times none of us were watching, she ran for the planter, not to play, but to eat.

Our zoo has on loan a Giant Panda. There are less than 2,000 in the whole world due to a history of man first hunting them and later clearing forest to make room for cities or more farm land. About 250 pandas live in zoos. They are mostly in the high mountains of central China. We thought this might be something special to see.

Panda's are meat eaters but do not hunt, so they mostly eat bamboo. The Giant Panda eats about 30kg of bamboo every day. There are over 200 kinds of bamboo but they only like about 20 of those. They also eat small animals like birds and mice. In the zoos, they also eat some fruit and special cookies.

Panda's live alone. The females are old enough to have babies at around 6 years old and can only get pregnant once a year. The males fight for the right to be the females mate and after they are forced to leave.

They give birth five months later and the babies are no bigger than an adult human hand. They will nurse from their mother for about eight months and after one year they are as big as a small 10 to 12 year old human child.

Panda's will only raise one cub at a time, so if they have more than one, they have to choose which will live and which will die. The cub is full grown after two years and the mother will make it leave. Pand's live about 20 years in the wild and 30 in zoos.

There are two kinds of panda, the Giant and the Qingling. The Qingling has a smaller head but larger molars. Unlike the familiar black and white for the Giant Panda, the Qingling is dark and light brown in color. There is another animal that lives in the same area as both kinds of panda that is called the Red Panda. The Red Panda is not a panda, but instead is related to the raccoon or skunk, and is much smaller than the panda.

Panda's are the only bears that do not hibernate during winter. They are usually very mild tempered but will fight to protect their young or if they are provoked. An adult panda standing on its back feet can stand about five feet tall and weigh around 160kg.

Dj was so tired after viewing the panda that she had to stop and take a nap sitting on a bench and leaning against her mother. She slept and snored for about an hour.

DJ's newest stuffed toy.

Beautiful afternoon.

Suzanne bought a new guitar for the equal amount of $15US. She plans on taking guitar lessons.

This little boy was just outside when we were leaving to go for a walk down by the river.

DJ ran right up to him.

He was very fascinated by her too.

The corner store put these in last month.

Down by the river looking East.

This is the biggest boat we have seen on the river here.

It came just by us and then started doing all kinds of fancy moves.

This is a newer section of the boardwalk.

These are the tall apartment buildings just behind ours.

It was a great afternoon along the river.

This area is so new that the grass hasn't even grown out yet.

This lot is on the way out of our apartment area going to the main street. There was an empty building here two weeks ago. They tore it down and seperated out the metal, brick, and concrete to recycle all of it into the new building they are starting. This time next year there will probably be a 30 story apartment building here.

DJ was playing with Suzanne on the couch when she ran out of energy and decided to take a nap instead.

Once around the block.

DJ, Deb and I took Spot for a walk around the block.

This is some construction down by the river that was started last year.

This is a faux light house that was put up during the winter.

If you go back to April 8th's post from last year, you will see these apartments under construction still. Now they are all finished and people are starting to move in.

This building wasn't even started last April and is almost finished.

This is the main building to a large factory. It was already here when we arrived last year. I like the clean marriage of modern and traditional architecture.

This walk around the block was 5.5Km and towards the end, Spot was a little tired.

Forth day of the forth month of the solar calendar and Spring is coming.

DJ had a great time taking her new stroller for a ride.

DJ liked going for a walk in the park. It was her first time to walk on grass.

We went to a favorite restaurant of ours for lunch and DJ loved the noodles.

We ordered five dishes: beef noodles, boiled peanuts, beef rice, slices beef and curry potatoes with rice.

We even took Spot in the restaurant. We can take Spot into our local corner store or even some restaurants. Either people like Spot or they don't. There are other dogs and dog lovers in the city but most people don't have pets at all for various reasons.

The river is starting to thaw.

This is the park along the river. We can take Spot into restaurants but we can't take him here, unless we carry him through the park and down to the river.

This is a picture taken just outside a tire shop called V-Kool. The tire shop is at the first major corner between our apartment and Ivy. We pass by it just about every time we go to the river.

We were all tired after our long walk, even Spot.

Debora and I took DJ out again the next day to the underground and bought some new shoes for DJ that she loves and a couple pair of pants. Debora also picked up a new pair of shoes. I couldn't find any shoes for me that I liked that were in my size. I will have to keep looking.