Golden Week

We've been glad to celebrate Mid-Autumn festival in Shanghai. Combined with Kara's birthday, we got out a fair amount, hung out with friends old and new, ate a lot of food, and did our typical wandering.  From barbecues to mahjong, ice skating and visiting a farm, we managed to do a variety of activities and we have greatly enjoyed the gorgeous weather. Lastly, we heard Elmo was in town, and since many of the girls' cousins love him we had to make a trip to see him.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

School life

Another school year has started and we are appreciating the little things that we had taken for granted.   Both girls have had some ups and downs, but seem to be happy and Nina was awarded star of the week. We're holding all children, schools, and staff in our thoughts right now and hoping for all the best this year.

 

While we are certainly busy with schoolwork and planning, we've tried to have some fun.  Pip has gotten into solving a rubik's cube and can get the first 5 of 8 steps figured out.  She and Nina have also invented their own card games that we've been playing.  Pip made "Big three" which is similar to War but much faster, while Nina made "Aces go" which combines aspects from Solitaire and Garbage.  We took a trip to Century Park after our flu shots and also got to go see Mulan in the theater with some friends. 

August, the Sunday of Summer

Summer is quickly ending and school will begin on September 1.  Overall, the girls are looking forward to starting a school routine and meeting new friends.  Ben is bracing for the madness of the first month in which he'll take on some extra duties while some teachers are not back in the country, or are stuck in quarantine for a while.  

We've been fortunate this month as the air quality has been excellent and the rain nearly disappeared.  Unfortunately it's been a heat index over 110 every day.  Therefore, we've spent a fair amount of the day inside playing cards, games, and reading books; the girls have been reading a lot of Roald Dahl.  We've had some fun play dates here and there with different families and it's nice to get to use some other pools!

Shanghai Bound

We're currently bound to Shanghai and trying to make the most of it.  It has been one of the rainiest summers in Shanghai history so we've had a lot of time to get to know our new house and neighborhood.  The girls have liked getting more room to play with their toys and exploring some new parks.  There are pros and cons to the new place as we have moved farther from the heart of the city, but now we don't need to take an elevator, don't share any walls with neighbors, and can see stars again.  The girls have had some playdates with friends and summer seems to be going quite quickly with random little events.

Since we can't really travel, we enjoyed a staycation with some friends at Disney.  We stayed a few nights at the hotel, went to the park twice, and ate plenty of food.  The rain stopped for these days, the air pollution was completely gone, and it was very hot.  We went on the water rides more than usual and Pip loved that she was tall enough to go on all the rides this time.  It was a fairly magical trip and we were sorry to see it end.

 

Cheers to 14 years!