Another cold day for Flat Jordan.

Here are a few pictures of the city where Flat Jordan is visiting.  The temperature today in Shenyang was -13 to 13!  It was very cold.  You can see an office building with the Chinese flag flying outside.  There are lots of Chinese flags everywhere.  People in China really love their country.

There are lots of tall buildings and traffic!  People hardly ever stop at red lights.

Fireworks. It is almost Chinese New Year and people are stocking up on fireworks.  On Chinese New Years Eve, the fireworks will go off for many  hours!

Even though it almost February, there are still many Christmas decorations up.  Very few people in China celebrate Christmas but they like the decorations.  On Christmas day, everything is open, even schools for children!  It's not a holiday here.

This is a restaurant.  It is called "Hao Kou Wei Xiao Chi Cai"  Hao means good.  "Kou wei" means taste.  "Xiao chi cai" means small dishes.   You look at the second character that looks like a square. Doesn't it look kind of like a mouth?  That's because it is a mouth!  口 is pronounce "kou" and it means mouth.

This snow has been sitting there since about November!  It snows early and doesn't melt. It just piles up and gets dirty.

Since Chinese New Year is coming, there are pretty red lanterns up all over the place.

Many people put lanterns up in their windows.

Flat Jordan went out for a walk at night to see the lanterns all lit up.  This is the same one as in the day time picture.

Some more adventures in China

Well, Flat Jordan is now back in ShenYang where there is snow on the ground and the temperature is well below freezing.  He's been hanging out in the apartment of the family where he is visiting.  Most people in China live in apartments, unless they live in the countryside.  In the countryside there are many houses.
In China, there are many buildings that are six stories tall.  That is because if a building is seven stories, the builder must put in an elevator.  Many builders don't want to do that.  So many people (including the family that Flat Jordan is visiting) climb stairs a lot.

This morning, Flat Stanley had to go to the grocery store.  Many people in China ride bikes and buy small amounts of food each day.

On the way back from the store, the basket was pretty crowded!

Most food in China is about the same as in America.

Some food is similar but different.  Here is some dish soap, multi-grain cheerios, oatmeal and Skittles.  The oatmeal actually is sent in from Australia.

Milk comes in  boxes or small bags.  It does not taste like American milk.  Before you open it, it doesn't even need to go in the refrigerator!

The other thing in the picture is ginger root.  That is used a lot in Chinese cooking.  Americans usually use ginger powder.

Flat Jordan also tried to read some Chinese.  Chinese is written in "characters"  not letters.  After a while, he gave up!  Chinese is hard!

He tried reading a Chinese children's book.  Even that was hard!

After a while, he gave up and decided to play with a baby who lives in the house.  

He managed to not get ripped!

Off to Beijing!

Well, Flat Jordan arrived safe and sound in Shenyang, China.  Shenyang is in the North East of China and it is very, very cold there.
Flat Jordan's China family had to go to Beijing for a quick trip.  So they took Flat Jordan with them.
Early in the morning, he got in a taxi and went to the north side of the city to get on the train.  He went on the fast train to Beijing, which takes about 4 hours.  It is very, very fast.

He ate a pancake for breakfast.

When Flat Jordan got to Beijing, he got in a taxi.  On the highway, he went past a famous Beijing building that is known as "The Underpants."  If you look at the building, you can see why!

For lunch, he went to Papa John's.  Did you know you could get Papa John's Pizza in China? It's an American restaurant, but you can get it here.

He stayed in an 18th floor apartment.  Pretty high up!

On the subway, Flat Jordan had to hang on to a strap.  There were no seats available...and this isn't even a crowded subway!

Then he went to Tienanmen Square.  This is where all the imporatabt government buildings are.  The building in the background is "The Great Hall of the People."  It's kind of like the White House.

Here is Flat Jordan in front of the Forbidden City.  The Forbidden City is an old, old palace in Beijing. It is very important and very beautiful.

After his day in Beijing, Flat Jordan had to go back to  cold Shenyang.  We'll see what happens next to him!

Bye Flat Jordan

 We took these pictures before mom put Flat Jordan in the envelope to send away.

Bye flat Jordan. We are sending you to China now. Have fun!

Us

This is us today. Aiden, Olivia and then Owen.

Flat Jordan plays with Olivia's toys

 Olivia got a Barbie camper for Christmas and we found Flat Jordan playing in it.

More About Where We Live

This is Max the Moose. He is our town mascot. We drove by him today but it was too cold to stop and take pictures.

This is a real moose. Lots of them live near us.

They like living near Dryden because there are so many trees and lakes here.

All those blue patches are lakes. There are hundreds of them.

The City of Dryden is centrally located in Northwestern Ontario, along the Trans Canada Highway (17). Dryden is near the centre of Canada, half-way between Thunder Bay, Ontario and Winnipeg, Manitoba.

It takes us 4.5 hours to drive to Winnipeg, Manitoba and 4.5 hours to drive in the other direction to Thunder Bay. It is a very long drive. When mom flew on an airplane to Toronto for her business trip we had to drive all the way to Thunder Bay to get to the closest airport.

There is a place called Kakabeka Falls on the way to Thunder Bay. We stopped there for a break and mom took these pictures. It was fall then so there was no snow and the leaves were all turning colours.

This is what our street looks like today...

Everything is covered in hoar frost. It doesn't always look like that but it does lots of times.

This is what hoar frost looks like up close. Mom took these pictures in our yard.

 This is the frost on our swing set ropes...

Flat Jordan Goes Sledding

This is Owen...

This is Aiden going fast...

Aiden has a sled that has a Canadian flag on it...

This is Olivia. She has a princess sled...