Rachelle's Life Is GREAT

Miss Tuttle Is BACK!

2009-08-09T14:44:00.001-07:00

Watch out 2nd graders! Miss Tuttle is heading to West Jordan Elementary School. 2nd grade is a little different then Kindergarten, but I am excited for this new adventure.

The Joys Of Summer

2009-08-09T14:03:00.000-07:00

Camping 2009!

I can't believe it actully happened, but all 10 of us got together and went camping. We stayed at Mill Hollow Camp Ground in the Uinta Mountains. We had every one there expect Man, Matt and Heather... We missed you guys! We had a great time eating lots of food, going for rides on the lake, playing awesome games provided by Shandi, table dancing, sitting around the fire, and hiking. We even tie-dyed shirts :) Shandi and I are modeling them for you in this picture...

Here we are playing in the Provo Falls waterfall. What a great day of hiking to Lofty Lake and playing in the water. It's beautiful up here!
Just hanging out around the fire. Does life get any better? Great friends, beautiful surroundings, and a tin foil dinner in the fire.

Provo Falls

Me,Shandi, Erika, and Laura

Shandi and I spent the day up in Tony's Grove in Logan Canyon. Heaven! It was so beautiful. on the way up we were wondering how people stock fish in ponds. We came up with all kinds of crazy ideas. As we were eating our lunch on a rock guess what happened? A truck backed up to the water and fish plopped out! They were stocking the lake right in front of us! We laughed so hard. Isn't this a cool picture? My hair is awesome :)Needing to mark things off of our list, Mike and I headed up Timpanogos Canyon and took the "Caving Class". We got to wear cool helmets and climb where most people don't get to go. It was sweet! Mike and I can make it up the mountain in about 20 minutes, try keeping up with us... I dare you.

Tuttle Family Reunion

Mark and Kristen had us over to their house for a "Pool Party" We spent so much time in the water and had so much fun doing races, sliding down the slide, and splashing each other. One of my favorite moments was when the boys were all laying on tubes in the water and the girls were playing volleyball. All the girls jumped in and splashed the boys. Ha! We all left a little sunburned, but we had a great time together as we always do.

Glow stick power! We had a little bit of fun with the glow sticks. Even Heather and I joined in the fun. Yep, we are cool!

Spring Fun

2009-06-21T17:13:00.001-07:00

Hello Friends!! So, I know that it has been a super long time since I have posted. I find my life is not quite as exciting as it was when I lived in Taiwan! I have now worked at "The Window Box" floral Shop for the last two months. I have loved working with flowers again. Even though I love delivering and designing, I secretly miss being in a classroom. I have been interviewing over and over again without any luck... finding another teaching position has been so much harder then I ever dreamed it would be. However, I know things will work out and something will happen. Well, enough of that. Here are some pictures of things I have been up to the last few months :)

MOAB

Heritage Park Ward Camping Trip

Arches with my great friends, Erica and Vanessa. They are amazing girls and I am so sad that Erica is going back home to Japan next week.

DRIVE IN MOVIE.

I have never been to a drive in movie before and guess what? They show TWO moview! I was so excited. We were quite snug in the back of the truck, but it was so stinking fun! Oh, and CONGRATULATIONS to Trae and Jaci who are now engaged.

Just waiting for the movie to start. Mike moved home for the summer and I am so thankful! I'm in a rough place right now and don't know many people. If anyone really knows me they know that I hate being by myself and want to be doing something every second of the day. I was getting really sick of driving to Salt Lake all the time to hang out with people. Mike and I have been doing lots of hikes and have a great summer list of things we want to do. Thanks Mike!

This is a wedding that my floral shop did down in Springville. It was a long day and a lot of work. Just the flowers were $24,000! Yes it was amazing, but i can't imagine spending that much money. Wow.

Jaci's Birthday

For Jaci's birthday Trae and I planned a surprise party for her. It was really fun because she had no idea and was really surprised. I love birthdays because they are just another excuse to see my amazing friends. Seriously, I am so lucky to have you guys. I couldn't ask for better friends (even though most of you are all married now). I am so thankful we still see eachother often, you guys are so important to me. Love ya!

Christy's Graduation and Chase's Eagle Award

Oh my heck... Christy is graduating from High School! That makes me feel old. Brittney and I were laughing because it is such a weird feeling. You know... writing this is making me remember how blessed I am. Not only do I have amazing friends, but such a loving and supportive family. My family is so close and I am so thankful that I have so many cousins that are my best friends. How could I be so lucky?

Jaci and I went to Addison's wedding reception... I don't think I have ever been so excited to see a wedding anouncement. Congratulations Addison! ( by the way, Jaci and I are trying to make smoothie faces.. weird, I know)

Caitlyn's Home Coming

As the usual cousin tradition, we met Caitlyn at the Airport as she flew home from Argentina. I am so excited to have her back, I have missed her!

Not having much going on with my life, I bought a ticket to Ohio one day and went out to visit Heather. Heather is living out there right now and I hadn't seen her since before I left for Taiwan. I had so much fun with her and we ate way too much food. Miss you Heather!

Babysitting my favorite family! We always have a "Princess Tea Party" every time I stay at their house. We made cake, cookies and a special drink. It was so much fun!

Taiwanese Dumplings

2009-04-04T15:04:00.000-07:00

Taiwanese Dumplings

Ginger

Cabbage

Green Onions

Shredded Pork

Dumpling Wrappers (found at Smiths)

Soy Sauce

Vinegar

Sesame Oil

Grate one clump of Ginger into a bowl. Place Pork in the bowl with the Ginger. Put about 1/4- 1/3 cups of Sesame Oil, some Salt, and some Pepper in with the Pork. Mix ingredients with hands for 10-15 minutes. Mince Cabbage and Onions and then add to Pork mixture. Keep mixing with hands. Place small spoonfuls of mixture into Dumpling Wrappers. Fold wrapper over and fold edges. Put in water until water boils, then add 1 cup of cold water and wait for it to boil again (do this 3 times).

Sauce:

Chopped Garlic

About 1/4 cup Soy sauce

1 Tbls. Vinegar

*Remember that they didn't really measure things... this was me watching and guessing. AND... this recipe makes TONS!!!! I halved it and still used 2 packages of dumpling wrappers!

A tatse of Thailand...

2009-03-05T09:14:00.000-08:00

Here is a taste of the wonderful things I saw in Thailand

On my trek I got to sleep in bamboo huts, play in waterfalls, ride elephants, and walk through many amazing things!

We took a Thai cooking class- wow, it was so good! I just need to practice a little more.

Ancient City

Floating Market- this was one of my FAVORITE things! It was so beautiful and so much fun. You just sit in your little boat and buy things as you float by.

Sadly I never posted any of Christmas or my trip around Taiwan the last week. They were both wonderful experiences and maybe some day I will get around to it. I also need to post more about my trip to Thailand, but here is a taste of the wonderful things i saw in Thailand :)

Rachelle is back and adjusting...

2009-03-05T08:41:00.000-08:00

Rachelle is back in America!

So, I think that my life is almost back to normal. Sometimes it is hard to believe that I even left the country. It just feels like I never left. However I have enough stuff to prove otherwise. I miss Taiwan more than words can say, I already wish I could go back. I had a slightly hard time adjusting to American food and stuff when I got back.... Never thought I would have culture shock when I got back to the states! It was quite funny, I totally felt like a missionary! Now that i am home I am living with my family and Subbing in Davis School District. It isn't my favorite thing in the world, but it is keeping my busy and paying the bills. This next month is going to be full of applications and interview- my favorite thing. Anyway, here are a few things I have been up to the last month...

Last Saturday my cousins came up to my house and we had a great time eating pizza and then playing Murder In The Dark for hours! It was creepy walking around in the dark and trying to not get killed, but it was so much fun!

I got to go to the Draper open house twice! Once with my college friends and then another time with Gayle and Tenille. Last spring Tenille, Gayle, and I had met in Draper to have a picnic on the temple grounds- we didn't realize that the temple wasn't finished yet! We laughed really hard when we saw all the dirt and construction workers everywhere.

My little brother, Connor, and I were jumping on the tramp to get all the snow off. All the snow kept making a heart shape in the middle of the trap- we thought it was perfect for Valentines day!

Mckay is 16!!!! Wow, my little brother it 16, it's so crazy! For his birthday we went to Olive Garden and ate cake- well, we were too full to eat cake so we just blew out candles :)

Yay for Ice Cream! After Ice Skating, we headed over to Macy's to get some giant ice cream. It was so fun to see my Provo friends again! I missed them :)

I am home!

2009-01-18T08:40:00.000-08:00

Well, after an amazing trip to Thailand, I finally made it back on US soil. I was touched with my family members and friends that took so much time out to come and visit me. Thank you guys! I feel so blessed to have such amazing friends and family that care so much about me and have been so supportive and encouraging through this adventure of mine.
More stories about my last days in Taiwan and my trip to Thailand to come.... I just have to wait for my computer to get fixed (I am having major technical difficulties with computers and cameras that is amounting to a lot of money that I didn't want to spend... such is life).

A Weekend At The Beach

2008-12-12T20:13:00.000-08:00

Beautiful Beaches of Kenting

For a little weedend trip Jake and I met Shannon, Jessica, and Megan down in Kenting. We had a lot of fun playing on the beach and being cold. We made some Asian friends that were hilarious and Megan may have gotten a date....

Yes, it's cold...

2008-12-12T20:06:00.000-08:00

So, yes it actually gets cold here- I never thought that it would happen. It is a very different kind of cold though. I will have on the two sweater I brought, pants, gloves, and a scarf and then find out that it really is 69 degrees outside! It's so funny. Driving to church on my scooter gets really cold- as you see with my lovely outfit.

Hiking

2008-12-12T19:53:00.000-08:00

Wow! This was one of the coolest hikes I have ever been on. I felt like I was climbing up to a tree house the whole time. It was like this the whole way, and there were other "paths" all around the mountain. It was incredible. Notice that I don't have any shoes on....

Yes- it was really quite a climb in some spots.

November Fun

2008-12-02T05:29:00.000-08:00

This is our hostel- I almost had to sleep with a man. But after the lady saw my face she said she would make him sleep somewhere else. Thank goodness!

Lindsey and I could not get kindergarten songs out of our head so we resorted to the ipod. It was our curse for missing Morning Kindergarten. "Daddy's taking us to the zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow.." Oh great, now it's in my head again :)

Around Taipei-at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial

I got to see lots and lots of monkeys.... and we were not even at the zoo.

Kitchen With The Kids!

2008-11-02T20:55:00.000-08:00

Right now in morning kindergarten I have the kitchen rotation. It is hilarious to see what they do with some of this food. This week was Halloween so we made a bunch of ghosts, witches, and bats...

These are our ghost people. They were hilarious!

This is an activity gone completely wrong... but hey, we made up our own thing and I think they ended up being quite cute pizza people. I was so excited to eat mozzerella cheese! It is SO expensive and hard to get here so I don't get it very often.

This is Rex. How we love him!

This is the very sick Miss Rachelle. I don't know what got me, but I have been so sick the past week and a half. I have been caughing my head off and been talking really funny. Here in Taiwan they wear masks when they are sick so I have been wearing one all week.

2008-10-25T04:28:00.000-07:00

Green Island

End of our trip: We finally made it to Green Island Saturday night. The Ferry ride over was HORRIBLE!!! I usually NEVER get sea sick, but I was really sick. Every one around me was throwing up. It was gross. We made it to the island, got our scooters and then checked in to our "hotel". We went to fill up our scooters with gas at 6:00 pm. and guess what? The one and only gas station was already closed! We spent our time on Green Island looking through the shops and driving around. It was so beautiful!

This is my favorite picture of the whole trip! We all look exactly like what we are thinking.
They gave us these leaves to rub on our goggles and we couldn't quite figure out what they were for. Most of us were slightly confused- especially me. Pay close attention to Shannon's hair, it is awesom. Love ya Shannon!

We really didn't want to get sick again on the way home so we took this great
"NO SICK"medicine and I really think it helped :)

Green Island

2008-10-16T21:37:00.000-07:00

My Hualian and Green Island Trip

We finally got a day off for 10-10 (October 10th). This is a National Holiday in Taiwan and to be truthfully honest, I don't really know what it is for because they are still part of the Republic Of China. I will research that one. Anyway, we had Friday off which means we had a long weekend and we wanted to travel. We planed to go to Green Island (an Island off the South East Coast of Taiwan) so we booked our hotels and got on a train. We left early Friday morning (getting up at 4:30 am to be exact) and rode the train up through Taipei and then aournd the east coast. I was so excited to actually see the ocean and remember that I live on an Island!

We arrived in Hailien and got our own private taxi drivers that took us where ever we wanted to go all day. We had so much fun driving along the coast and playing on the beach and looking at the gorgeous scenery.

These are the lovely teachers that I work and live with... I love them all! Shannon, Emily, Fenny, Connie, Lindsey, Me and MeganI was so excited to actually see the ocean! I was SO pretty and warm!

After butting on our swimming suits and playing in the warm water for a good two hours, we hopped back into our taxis and went to a bat cave. And guess what? There were LOTS of big bats! It was kind of kreepy, but quite cool. I don't think I have ever seen such large bats before. It was a very interesting experience floating in a little boat into a very dark cave and then hearing all these screeches above you!

This is us going into the Bat Cave

That night we stayed in a hostle that was REALLY nice considering we are in Taiwan! We felt very lucky and crashed on the on the long bed because we were so exhausted from the day. We got up the next morning and went RIVER RAFTING! I think this one one of the most amusign experience I have ever had in the water. Just imagine 200 Asians and 10 White Americans charging to their rafts after watching a video ( that we couldn't understand) and with NO guides on the boat. The Asians were all wearing jeans and sweaters- what is this we are rafting, shouldn't one be wearing a swimming suit??? Well we jump in and head out and basically is is a 4hr long water fight. Seriously, the whole time people were throwing water at us- it was insane!! This made me laugh.. so you know how I said we didn't have a guide, well to send us in the write direction they had about 10 motor boats that would just come up and run into you to turn your raft around or the make you go the right way. It was so bazerre. THey didn't even care if they ran straight into a person ( I think my leg almost got taken off more then once) and they thought it was so funny! Weird. Unfortuantely I was not able to get a video of this :(. So we did really well the whole way down and then they made us hook up to 4 other boats to make a chain (we still don't know why) and we got swung into a wall and tipped over. The 10 Americans were sent frlying and it was a huge ordeal getting every one out of the water. My friends thought I was dead because I got put on a different boat with some very nice Asian friends that didn't speak any english- but they found me and I survived.Look forward to part two of my blog coming soon!

2008-10-01T21:13:00.000-07:00

Big Buddha, Big Buddha

On Sunday, September 20th Lindsey and I took a little trip to Chunghua after church. Our great friends are wonderful and showed us around their city. Here in Chunghua, they have a HUGE Buddha. This Buddha weighs 300 tons. You could actually go inside him, it was cool!

Behind Buddha is a Confucius Temple. It is one of Taiwan's oldest temples. It was BEAUTIFUL! Inside they have many different Buddhas and this huge sward that we could try and pick up.... I think I made it move a little bit, I swear!

After exploring Buddha and the Temple, we walked around the grounds. We saw a cute old man meditating and he welcomed us to Taiwan. So nice. We got a little crazy, but hey, we love these pictures. Can you just feel the action?

The Life of Morning Kindergarten

2008-09-07T01:44:00.000-07:00

8:30 a.m. The children come in, we play for a minute and attempt to have them each sit on their own mat. Wait, we are actually thinking that they are going to sit down? Yeah, funny thought. We get to sing lovely songs in which the children are either not singing, or singing so loudly that I can't hear my own thoughts or begin to understand what they are singing.

After 20 minutes we split the 26 (or more) children into four groups and go to our own rooms. This is where the we are SUPPOSED to teach them English.... We have a things BMC's ( I can't even remember what it stands for) but they are Target Language Needs and they are specific things that we have chosen to work on for the day. This is what a lesson might sound like...

Me- "This is pink pig. What is this?"

Child- "P.. Pig."
Me- "Yes, this is a pink pig"

As I do this for EVERY child in the group until they have all said what I wanted them to say. It often turns into...

Child- "I want. I want" Me- "What do you want?"

Child- "a;lsdkfjasl;kdjf" Me- "Are you speaking English?"

Me- "Who is sitting nicely?" Child- "I am sitting nicely" (which they are NOT!)

The last few weeks I have had the "Story and Drama" rotation so my children are now very good at saying, "Little pig, Little pig. Can I come in? NO! NO! NO! You can not come in!" I think they say that just about every time we see a door.

This is us acting out Cinderella. You would not believe the fun we had putting on and taking off a yellow dress!

This is Shayla. She used to have really cute hair until she got hold of the scissors and decided to give herself a hair cut... whoops!

After the day is over, we count our tokens (yes, they get a token every time they say something correctly) and head back to the group for closing.

Closing is usually a time of utter chaos.... The children don't want to sit there, us teachers are tired and our voices hurt. We attempt at some more singing and language practice and then we do our beloved "Rain Song". For some reason the children love this song and will sit quietly on their mat doing a little dance and we have 3 minutes of peaceful singing.. It is really cute! Often times Oscar will fall asleep while sitting there, Owen will be rubbing my leg (he loves the feel of smooth legs), and Cooper will be dancing like crazy.

Finally, Kindergarten has come to a close. I clock out, grab my stuff and leave the Old School with 27 children yelling "Good Bye" in English and Spanish. By this point I am exhausted and I have no voice. I hop on my bike and ride back over the the New School (where I live) in the blazing sun and cloudy skies to eat lunch and get ready for my next class :)

Taipei Temple Trip

2008-09-05T22:47:00.000-07:00

Taipei Temple Trip

Saturday August 30th, 2008

I had my fist experience with a Branch Temple Trip! We met at the Feng Yuen chapel and rode a bus up to Taipei with members from our branch. On way up we watched Johnny Lingo and watched the beautiful scenery pass by.

The temple was SO beautiful! We were just driving around and then, there it was.. right on a normal street. The grounds were beautiful and very well taken care of. I think it was the best looking block I have seen since being here. We walked inside the temple and I was shocked at the clean, white surroundings. I have only been in Taiwan just over two months, but I think I forgot how amazing it feels and how peaceful it is in the temple. The baptismal font was the smallest I have ever seen, but it was amazing to hear the baptisms in Chinese and yet still be able to feel the spirit and know that those words were so important, even if I couldn't understand them.

Taipei 101…

One of the World’s Tallest Buildings

After the temple, we went to Taipei 101. At the moment it is the Words tallest building. There is another building being built that is taller, but it is not finished yet. We went on this elevator that goes up 89 stories in just 44 seconds! From the top we had a great view of Taipei. You know, as impressive as it was, it was not my favorite view I have ever seen. For some reason it just wasn't as magical as other views I have seen. But, I am glad I got to see it, it is a HUGE city!

I looked very excited in this picture- someone told me I actually almost look Asian :) The other picture is us eathing at Subway... The first lunch meat I have had in 2 months!!! It was SO good! Well, this trip was a great adventure and i had so much fun. Taipei, I will be back soon!

I Love The Weekends!

2008-08-18T21:41:00.000-07:00

Shopping in Taiwan is so fun (until someone takes your money out of the ATM before you get it!) because clothes are SO cheap! I came home the other night with 3 bags and I had only spent about $20. It is so fun. This is a new outfit that I am wearing... I love their jackets that they have here!

-----WUIAI FALLS-----

This weekend we (Fenny, Lindsey, and Emily) headed up to the very northern tip of Taiwan to see Wilai Falls. I was 2 hour bus ride, 1/2 subway trip, and 1/2 bus trip to get there, but well worth it. We just hiked around and looked at the many beautiful water falls.We get a little goofy on these trips, don't worry. The water there was such a gorgeous blue/green color. AMAZING! After seeing the waterfalls we walked down around town, ate some delicious food, and got to play in the river. Poor Lindsey fell in :( But the water was SOOOO warm and there were a lot of little fish swimming around. I got a lot of awesome stair pictures (They make fun of me because I love taking pictures of cool stairs)and amazing scenes, it's just so beautiful here! On the way back to the bus we got got in the rain (you think we we be used to this by now) and got drenched! Lindsey didn't feel so bad now that we were all soaking wet. This is me "teaching" about the monkeys that can be found in the surrounding area :). I have TONS more pictures... if you would like to see them please go to
www.photobucket.com
user name= taiwan teachers
password= taiwan
Click on "Rachelle" and enjoy my many pictures :)

The City in the Clouds

2008-08-15T05:20:00.000-07:00

Wow, I had the best weekend ever! I seriously fullfilled my life dreams... see a place with trellaces growing along mountains and touch a cloud. As we drove and drove and drove up a beautiful mountain we were surrounded by tea fields all around. They grow in trellaces all along the mountain side. It was seriously one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.
We finnally arrived in Alishan National Park and it was seriously in the clouds. It was so foggy and mystical. It was incredible! We went on many hikes and soaked in the beauty. We just spent hours exploring and walking around. I felt like I was stepping out of a scene from Prinde and Prejudice or something.

We stayed at this old man's house. All six of us girls stayed in the same room, in the same bed(It was a rather large bed)! The man was so nice and helpful. We were so thankful for a warm place to come crash after our long day of walking. We were actually cold for the first time in Taiwan. We were not cold, we were freezing!

It was such a change. Well, as much as we loved our bed, we had to get up at 3:30 a.m. to go see the sun rise. We got up and rode a train up to a look out place. I seriously felt like I was ridding the Hogwarts Express, that is what it looked like! The sunset was amazing and worth every penny spent.

Weekend Fun

2008-08-04T06:12:00.000-07:00

This is my great friend, Fenny. Fenny is a secretary here at the school and teaches a grammar class. She just graduated from a school in Taipei and I don't know what I would do without her. She is so willing to help me any time I need it. Her and Gloria will often write me a note so I can take it with and order something to eat or I will just hand the note to the lady at the bakery store so I can figure out what white package is powdered sugar! I can just see the note now... "Please help my dumb American friend...." Just kidding, they are too nice to do that!

We got up early Saturday morning and went on a beautiful hike(It is much better now that I have a scooter and can drive up to the trail instead of being exhausted by the time I get to the trail). It was a lush and green and I got to see some HUMONGOUS spiders just feet away from my face. These things are as big as my hands, or bigger! It is so cool to watch them move on their web.

After our hike we found a new breakfast shop that was great and then headed out to a water park. It was SO nice to be wet from being in a pool (instead of rain or sweat). This water park is much like 7 Peaks so we enjoyed the slides and relaxing in the Lazy River. Unfortunately, I still didn't get any sun. I think this is the whitest I have EVER been in August. It is so funny because here in Taiwan the girls want to be as pail as possible. They wear jackets outside in the insane heat just to protect their arms. They even use skin bleaching lotions, weird ha! Some of my friends can't figure out why I want to be tan, so funny.

Miss Russia

2008-07-27T08:24:00.000-07:00

I love my students (most of the time:) You know, they are no different then the children at home. Full of surprises and bursting with engergy. As I have tried to teach my students my name they CAN NOT get it. I don't know what it is about Rachelle, but they can not say it! Instead of getting Rachelle, I get Miss Russia.

It is actually really cute and I like it a lot. All of the other teachers now call me Russia. It took me a while to get used to and actually respond, but now I feel like I am in trouble if I hear Rachelle. I have never really had a nicname that stuck before so this is really fun.

2008-07-21T02:55:00.000-07:00

This blog is dedicated to the copy machine. Ok, so I have been a kindergarten teacher which in it's description means using the copy machine ALOT! I know how to run that thing and I know how to fix the many jams that happened way too often. When it came to a copy machine, I thought I was a pro. However, here in Taiwan when the thing decides to beak down and gives me directions in CHINESE I feel hopeless! Yes, I can buy a train ticket to another city, I can go to the grocery store, I can even order a meal. But when the copy machine gives me directions I have no idea what to do!

The Rain....

2008-07-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday night we had a friend that was getting baptized and we wanted to go. We got directions to the LDS church here in town and headed out. Well. somehow we missed it and went WAY too far. Of course it started to rain really hard and we got soaked. We decided to pull over for a minute and see if it would get better, but it just kept getting worse. We had a fun game of "Down By The Banks"

2008-07-17T20:41:00.000-07:00

Oh, the stairs!!!

Our first hike...

2008-07-17T20:22:00.000-07:00

July 18th
Wow, these "mountains" are beautiful. It's so weird to be in the city with very few trees around and then all of a sudden be in surrounded with trees and creatures. One of the secretaries at our school, Gloria, took us on our first hike. Can I just say that it was SO hot! I am a pretty fast hiker, but man, it was so hot that we took it quite slow. This hike had tons of stairs and tons of spiders.

We hiked up to this place that the Taiwan people come to in the morning to exercise. They use these giant hula hoops to work out with. They are really heavy and wide and they really do work! They also have these wires hanging between trees that they do something like pull-ups. If you go in the morning you can see a bunch of people just hula-hooping away.