Well, Lydia’s case of Hand Foot Mouth coupled with Drew telling us his “brain hurt” at church which led to him running a temperature as well did not lend itself to good vacation preparations. But, we managed to get everything (almost everything. Mark says packing for a family vacation is more like moving) together and in the van. Not 20 minutes into the ride, Drew threw up (though me, super mom, saved the day by getting it all in a ziploc bag. Mark, happily driving, didn’t even know Drew threw up!). But, regardless, it actually turned out to be one of our better trips in the car. Drew does seem to have a very mild case of Hand Foot Mouth himself–but it isn’t stopping him one bit really. He had a temp still last night, but tylenol brings it right down and he’s eating and playing normally (well, normal for Drew!). Lydia is ions better than she was and is eating more and taking her bottles. AND, she slept through the night last night for 12 hours. Phew!

So, off to the beach we went this morning to show Lyds sand for the first time. She surprised us all by really enjoying the sand…perhaps a little more than we would have liked.

Right after I took this one on Mark’s Blackberry (no way I’m taking my good Canon out in the sand!), Lydia put a dead sand crab covered in sand in her mouth and started to chomp down. Perhaps it reminded her of Chinese cuisine like fried scorpions? Ick!

Though crab and sand eating she did without a second thought, she wasn’t so keen on the water. Perhaps the fact that it felt like ice water had something to do with it. But, she did seem a bit scared of the crashing waves. Maybe by the end of the week, she’ll be a regular beach bum.

Ash, Evan, and Drew loved showing her everything on the beach: “Look, Lyds, Look Lyds, this is a shovel. You do this with it.” Now, Lydia is sleeping and the other 3 are watching a movie in their bedroom. I’m finishing this post and looking forward to a nap while Mark starts Prodigal God. Bet he’ll be asleep within 30 minutes–no offense to Tim Keller. 

We were told that Lydia liked steamed eggs. Before we traveled to China, we weren’t even sure what that meant. Do they mean hard boiled eggs? Are they in the shell? We learned what it was in China when the petite little miss totally destroyed a family-size helping of the stuff. So, I made it my mission to find a recipe for it and perfect it at home. I tried on our first day home (not recommended to do that as I was nearly comatose with jet lag and emotionally spent). My attempt was a flop. But, since then, I have figured it out (I think…I hope my Chinese friends Tony and Lily don’t read this recipe and laugh at my vain attempt at it!). I’m ready to unveil my very complicated and difficult recipe so that other mothers of Chinese children can make their children smile with a taste from home and maybe some of you mothers of American children may enjoy giving it a try as well–I mean, if you can handle how complicated this recipe is.

Mix the egg and the water very well. This is the key to my technique. Don’t skimp on the whisking, ladies. Whisk it until your wrist hurts. Add a little salt and put in a small oven-safe dish. You can add some fixins if you want to now–bacon pieces, ham, spring onion, dried mushroom–I haven’t tried this though so do so at your own risk. Put the dish in the top steamer tray of a rice cooker–also key to my technique. My attempts on the stovetop got clumpy and, well, gross.

Push “steam” on the rice cooker and let cook for about 15 minutes. Remove when it is the consistency of a custard–it reminds me of a coconut cream pie filling (not in taste, just appearance). There will be a little bit of water on the surface you can pour off (be careful not to pour your entire masterpiece into the sink though. I almost made that mistake a couple times).

No complicated recipe is complete without some photos–this one includes even some after photos because, well, because I couldn’t resist.