July 30-August 8, 2010

This is going to be a long post-I'll warn you know! It is time for the annual International Dance and Music Festival. We signed up to be a host family again and this year we got some boys from China. They were part of a high school band and they were amazing. They sounded college level or professional. We asked our boys how long they had been playing their instruments and most of them had played since 2nd-4th grade. Our boys were Shiyi (Sh Yeee) and ZiYue (Zi You). I felt like I got their names caught in my throat becuase you say them kind of abruptly. The boys were quite shy, but so polite. It was fun to show them the sites, support them in their performances, and let them enjoy our culture while they taught us of theirs. The last night that they were with us, they requested homemade hamburgers. So, we did that along with homemade french fries. It was an absolute hit. They could not say enough good about the meal. Another of their favorites was hash browns cooked in bacon grease. MMMMmmm MMMMmmm. I think I will do the rest of this post in pictures with descriptions underneath because there was so much.

Opening Ceremonies July 31, 2010

The teams came out holding ballons to represent their country and then let them all go in the air together. It was quite a site as the colors mixed and floated away.

The Chinese teams first performance.

August 2, 2010. When the boys had free-time, they were always up for a little b-ball

August 2, 2010. Grammy, Elena, and kids joined us for the street festival and parade. Liberty was pulled out by some of the dancers and she had a ball immitating their moves.

August 2, 2010. The Chinese team did a street performance as well as marched in the parade.

August 3, 2010

Three other families in our neighborhood also housed Chinese dancers so we got together often to share meals, rides, and entertainment. Today we took the boys to Warm Springs to feed the fish and then on up to Mesa Falls

August 3, 2010. Mesa Falls.

ShiYi, Kayson, Brylee, Liberty, Brancyn, ZiYue

August 4, 2010. Today we did A LOT of shopping. The boys said that name brand stuff is less expensive here, so they each had a long list of things they needed to find. After shopping , we headed to Ucon for the team B-B-Q.

August 4, 2010. This group was so fun. It just felt like you were at a family reunion. There was a group playing Basketball, a group playing soccer, a group playing footbal, and a group visiting and eating. Each group was a mix of dancers and host families and it was just such a fun night. By this point in the week, you start to realize that you really love these kids and the experiences they bring into your lives.

Augst 5, 2010. I hade given the boys sandwiches almost every day for lunch so far. They always were away at that time and it was the easiest thing to pack. Today I pulled out the Ramen Noodles since they were going to be home during the lunch hour. They were excited to see something they recognized. They asked for chopsticks to eat the noodles with and luckily I had some on hand that our Japanese dancers had given us last year. I just had to get a picture of them eating their Ramen with chopsticks. They, of course, were very proficient.

August 6, 2010.
The boys had heard of laser tag before, but had never played it. (I didn't realize so few country's had this game-but I guess that is the case according to the owners of the laser tag place.) The LOVED it. We went to the Craze Fun Zone and let them play a few games of laser tag as well as black light miniature golf. And then finished off with pizza for dinner.

August 7, 2010.

The boys told us that they are not allowed to have guns in China, but they showed interest in shooting a gun. Kade called my brother-in-law, Shaun, and he agreed to take them target shooting. I wasn't there for this event, but Kade said they enjoyed themselves. They even got to take home their target paper as a souvenir.

August 7, 2010

The boys perormances were on the 6th and 7th and they did amazing. We shared our tickets with Kade's parents and his aunt. We also took the kids to one night each (except Brancyn). Then it was time for one last group photo and the boys were off very, very, very early Sunday morning to start their journey home.

We love doing this. It is such a great experience for our whole family. I'm glad we had another opportunity to be a part of this program.