Peasant Farmer Painting Village

Last weekend was an adventure Saturday out to JinShan Peasant Painting Village!  It started with the road trip with Mr. Xu who has in recent months started to drive really fast.  You can't really say anything to him as he could 'lose face' so you just buckle up and pray!

The village was fun as the painters are all there in the shops (painting until you walk in to look around).  They pretty much only speak Chinese but they will just keep talking and pointing out different pictures.  And almost all of them have some time when they were published in a magazine or newspaper..and even if it was 10 years ago they will still have the newspaper there

to show you!

After the painting village we headed over to FenJing, a local water town...mainly in search of food.  Often times this is where our plan completely falls apart - it will be past lunch time and either everything is too crowded or we can't find any place to eat.  But not today!  We found a great local restaurant (it is always best not to think about health inspection standards in China!).  We ordered off what looked good from other tables and a piece of paper with favorite meals that Kelly got from her China Reign Ministries trip back in summer 2010!  Couldn't read a thing on their menu but we got some fabulous tomato&eggs, stir fried green beans, stir fried rice, eggplant, and kungpao chicken.  If you repress the memory of me getting peed on when I took a specific daughter (who will remain nameless!) to the squatty potty - it was all good!

Catching Up With Life

What happened to Spring and the rest of the school year??  So much activity I can't keep up with it...and certainly can't keep up with blogging it!  Here are some highlights from May and June....
Andy again hosted his loveliest young ladies to the Girl Scouts Daddy Daughter Dance.  Abigail wanted to wear the same dress as last year (and apparently she hasn't grown much taller as it still fit perfectly!).  Zoe had a dress made by Kitty - very fun to pick out the design and material!  Joseph...well he just wanted to go to the dance!

Due to some tax regulations the SH P&G Sales office moved from Huaihai Road in Puxi across the river to the Lujiazui Financial District in PuDong.  Amazing location of the office  - 40th floor looking out over the World Financial Center and the new SH Tower.  In traditional China style they also majorly celebrated the office opening...complete with a ribbon cutting and a serious lion dancing show.  Quite entertaining to say the least!

May was a beautiful month (if you don't pay too close attention to the air pollution index!).  Most weekends you would find Andy, Zoe, Abigail, Joseph and I out walking and often ending up outside the hospital to get some yummy street food and then up to Bubble Tea for slushies!  Family time (well a lot of the family), outside 'fresh' air, exercise and just watching the crazy pace of life in SH!

And when that crazy pace has just been too much what do you do...sneak off to Head to Toe for a foot massage!  This was a first for Zoe & Abigail!  We thought they would laugh/giggle/squirm through the whole thing...instead they thoroughly enjoyed themselves, soaking up the relaxing environment, talking to the ladies there in Chinese.  You really can't go wrong with a 1 HOUR foot massage (that starts with your back, neck, shoulders) for just $12.  Uh oh though...they're hooked!

In early June was the Dragon Boat holiday...a great reason to have 3 days holiday from work!  Lots of rain in June (the plum rains as they are called) making it quite dreary but some great decorations around Shimao to brighten it up!

Celebrating in Shanghai

In the end of April, our amazing Megan turned 17!  Birthday breakfast (that would be muffins with Megan's standard frosted wheat cereal) including Kelly via Skype(!!), dinner at a new Italian restaurant right in Shimao, 17 candles in a Shanghai skyline cupcake, a new iPhone and then a surprise dinner party with her friends later in the week!  Love celebrating this girl!

Last weekend then was PROM!  Planning ahead (of course what else would you expect!) we purchased a dress back in Colorado over Christmas holiday and boy did she look beautiful!  Her group of friends took pictures at Century Park, came back here (yeah!) for snacks before heading to Kathleen on 5 (a restaurant in the Shanghai Art Museum).  Our 'little people' also loved getting dressed up to host the teenagers and of course Zoe adored seeing the girls in their fancy dresses!  Great group of friends, lots of laughs and fun memories.

Fun birthday cupcakes!

Celebrating with the family

Just the girls

Megan and Nathan

Win or Lose...Having Fun!

As a parent, I think one of the most enjoyable things is watching your kid do what they love!  This is what soccer season is for us with Lindsey!  For her second season in high school, Lindsey was on the varsity team, played right midfield and was a starter for every game.  Now last year was a high as they won almost every game.  This year...well...a good character building year!  After a tough season, the team came in second in the Shanghai International School Athletic Conference (SISAC) after overtime and losing in a shoot out (such a cliff hanger).  The final tournament, APAC - Asia Pacific Activities Conference, was in Kobe, Japan at the Canadian Academy.  The teams were from Japan, Beijing, Manilla-Philippines, Shanghai and Guangzhou.  With help from Monique & family (Joseph's last foster family before us, his forever family!), we managed at home to do work, school and let Andy go to Kobe for the 5 days!  A great break for him and time to spend with other soccer parents - eating Kobe beef, sushi, Indian and of course being there to cheer on the team!  APAC was another character building event - however the girls had such a great team spirit and so much fun together that they were able to rise above losing several games and ultimately won the best sportsmanship award!  Once again, win or lose, a great experience, making friends, having fun and playing soccer!

Lindsey & her kindergarten buddy from Japan Canada Academy

More HK Pics!

The amazing Resort Disney train to the park!

Having our lunch of peanut butter sandwiches

Joseph in Toy Story Land

Fireworks over Sleeping Beauty Castle - amazing!

Excited to eat at Bubba Gumps!

Happy Boys

Holidays in Hong Kong

For the balance of our Spring Break, we went to Hong Kong - a wonderful mix of city, mountains & islands.  Given it used to be a part of England, most people speak English so communicating with taxi drivers is significantly easier!  And while it is now a part of China (kind of I guess) there is no expectorating (or hawking as Andy calls it), no public urination, no squatty pottys - it is amazingly clean!!  Love it!





Instead of the normal hotel or resort stay we instead used VRBO and rented a flat!  Very fun and convenient to just stay in a local apartment!  Our primary destination in HK was not any cultural museum, historical site or educational experience...it was Hong Kong Disney!  I know, not real deep, but just look at our crew...and we absolutely loved it!  Zoe and Abigail were squealing and dancing the whole way into the park - it was fun just to watch them.  We were concerned that Joseph wouldn't like the loud noises but he did fabulous and we just stayed away from the shows which had long lines anyways.  We found out that Zoe and Abigail LOVE roller coasters - Abigail's favorite was the Grizzly Gulch and Zoe loved Space Mountain.  Joseph loved...the characters!  He wanted to hug them, kiss them, hold their hands and have his picture with them...and so we have A LOT of character pictures!  Only really needed to wait in a long line for Mickey & Minnie...the rest not too bad!  As for Andy, Megan and I (note that Lindsey was in Colorado then San Diego with her best friend for the break)...we enjoyed being kids again - riding rides, watching parades - and watching the little kids love it so much.  Our first day at the park we arrived when it opened (hoping to beat the crowds which really were not bad) and stayed until fireworks over Sleeping Beauty's castle...Joseph was a heavy load as he slept through the fireworks, two trains and a taxi back to the flat!  The park is relatively smaller than the Disney's back in the US - but it was great to do the whole park in a day and then hit our favorite spots again on day two!

A very happy Joseph hugging his fam on the train!

On our off Disney day despite the rain, we had a transportation fun day with ferry rides, taxis, buses and trams exploring the city and seeing the skyline.  We enjoyed some Western restaurants not in Shanghai...Outback Steakhouse and a very fun Bubba Gump Shrimp Company.  Saved a few days to just hang out in Shanghai as well.  Overall a much needed and well spent Spring Break!

Zoe's Favorite character pic - the princess of course!

Sleeping Beauty Castle

Sitting in the teacup!

Our spacious kitchen in the flat!

A Weekend in Chengdu

Chengdu China is famous for several things...spicy Sichuan food, tea houses, a large population of Buddhist Monks and pandas!  Megan and I got to experience all of them and more as spring break started!  Spicy bean curd, beef noodles, lamb kabobs, pineapple fried rice...excellent street food!  A great pedestrian neighborhood near our hotel to see local vendors, fruit markets, majhong game houses, people just sitting out having tea (a very popular activity) and interestingly a large elderly population.  We had tea & saw the famous Sichuan Face Change show...where the performers change masks within seconds such that the audience can't even see the change...a trade secret held close within the generations of performing families!   We visited the Wenshu Temple & Manjushri Monastery - the most active monastery in all of China.  Being the weekend before Tomb Sweeping holiday it was really crowded with very avid worshippers - bringing tons of flowers & fruit, lighting candles, rubbing the statues and burning incense.  A sad reality for all the lost people there and a bit overwhelming so we didn't stay for long.

The highlight was of course...the PANDAS!  We watched 3 cubs play endlessly...tackling each other, climbing trees, rolling around and then watched 7 sub-adults (I think they might be like teenagers!) eat bamboo!  You just can't help to stay there & watch & smile.  And then Megan had her 'Panda Experience'...getting a bit of panda education, washing bamboo and then holding one of the cubs.  Can't count the number of times she said "They're just so cute!"  God sure has made some amazing and adorable creatures in Panda Bears!!



Face Change Show



Just some random elderly people on the street





One of our favorite Starbucks in China!