Grandma and Grandpa come to town

What a wonderful week -- lots of laughs, good weather, yummy food and some sites.  Because it was their second trip, it allowed us to go at a bit slower pace and try to see new places at non-peak times.  Our first day we had a lovely walk through People's Square as we toured the Shanghai Museum and then wandered the Bund.  

Our second day we visited the outskirts of Shanghai when we toured the relics park and also the ancient watertown of Qibao.  

April 1st brought a prank, some soup, and some cards.  We started to master ordering various mochi and zongzi from the delivery guys so Grandpa could try all sorts of treats without leaving the apartment.

Another fun day had us visiting the chocolate factory and we tried outrageous amounts of chocolate in all forms.  Grandma could handle the 90% chocolate while the girls veered closer to the sweet 50% mix.  We're sure most the calories didn't count since we were learning a lot and you can't gain weight doing something educational.  Just in case, we went for a long walk along the river afterward.

Not Minnesota        ----        "Caution fall in water"

Highlights of the rest of the trip include supporting Team Bastyr in honor of Cheryl's fight against cancer, playing with the toy airplane & playing cards, attending a symphony orchestra concert, swimming at the hotel, and some intense foosball.  Thank you for such a fun visit, Grandma & Grandpa!

 

Spring!

We're very sorry to learn of all the flooding in Nebraska, the snow and rain damage in Minnesota, and general stinky weather back home.  The temperatures here have jumped to the 60s and the steady rain has finally let up.  The girls enjoyed getting to go outside on Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday for the first time in ages.  In addition to the nice weather, Ben and Kara had fun when they & some friends saw Jim Gaffigan when he was in Shanghai.

School has been busy with various events and activities.  Nina got to meet some members of the (Scottish) Rangers Football Club (apparently the team with more league titles than any other) and there have been various Olympic athletes visiting school as well.  Ben has had some trainings to attend as well as events like a fun run, the house music competition, and Pi Day.  

Rain, rain, go away

We've been fighting a lot of rain here, which is preferable to the snow being dumped on the midwest of the US.  Nonetheless, it has given us a bit of cabin fever as we can't go out much after school or during weekend.  We've had to turn to more indoor activities (also more umbrellas and rain-boots).

We finally made our way over to the Shanghai Legoland which somehow fits 3 amusement park rides into its space inside a mall.  The coolest area might have been the recreation of Shanghai landmarks.  The buildings are huge even in lego form. 

We asked the girls if they had anything to add to this blog and here are their contributions:

From Nina: "I have the most boring Chinese name in my whole class.  Moya's name translates to "Lolly", Hugo is "Jeff the Moose," Jasper is "Mickey Mouse" and I got stuck with Ni-Na. 

From Vivian: I still haven't finished the sucker that I bought in Harry Potter Land and that was a whole month ago!

Pip's toy's school     ----     Indoor swings at a Polish restaurant