This morning we headed off of the 3 wheeler and Kevin's bike to meet a friend at what is affectionately referred to as "Trash Mountain". But before getting there, we had to retrieve the 3 wheeler, which really is an adventure in and of itself! I wish that I could film the whole thing for everyone to really get a good feel for it--but the closest description I can compare it to is that of a dungeon! We have to take about a 5 minute walk (or 10, depending on how many bugs the kids discover on the sidewalk on the way!) to a neighboring building. We then descend a staircase and enter the back door of this room that is tucked away in the back of the underground parking garage. When we walk in the room, once our eyes adjust to the very low, fluorescent lighting, the first thing we see is the dungeon master. (See photo.) Apparently there are two women--one maybe in her 50's and the other pushing 80 or so!--who live down here and guard the electric bikes that are parked there. Once you show them your id, or they catc
h a glimpse of the blonde hair that makes us stand out and usually pretty memorable, they take you further into the depths to your vehicle. Once I maneuver the thing around all the other bikes, we walk through the secret door and pass into the parking garage. And I'm not kidding about it being a secret door! My second time of trying to park the 3 wheeler I literally could not find it, and had to have a security guard at the front of the garage lead me there on his bicycle! Anyway, always an adventure--and a little different than parking my minivan in the driveway!Once we did get the 3 wheeler, we made it to Trash Mountain and
had a great time having a picnic lunch with a new friend who is a teacher at the International School here in town. After lunch at the play area, we explored some of the paths. There is a paved path that leads to the top of the mountain (where the family photo was taken), but of course the Joseph kids' favorite thing was to go "off roading" and explore the roads less traveled! We even found a huge patch of grass that we let the kids run and play in (even though I'm pretty sure there was a sign somewhere written in Chinese characters kindly advising that we do otherwise!). (As shown 
in photo.) It was a great afternoon of playing and exploring more of Tianjin!
