A lot of singing practice for the school recital was happening during the last couple months of May. The preschool and elementary school classes performed American Folk Songs. Elizabeth's class sang: I've Been Working on the Railroad, Shoo Fly, Knick Knack Paddywack, and Polly Wolly Doodle. Alex loves to sing Shoo Fly with Elizabeth. Kath loves the Polly Wolly Doodle song.
They all did a great job and it was a lot of fun watching the concert.
Oh yeah......more of Alex's antics on the last picture. He pulled one of Elizabeth's Easter Bonnets out and decided to wear it! Ha Ha
Alex's Ayi couldn't find Alex one day. She was very worried searching the house and the outside hallway (Alex has been known to sneak out when the door is open and ride the elevator down). Kirk was working from home that morning. Looks like Alex was playing schoolbus in Elizabeth's room and fell asleep on her bed! Shou Ju put pillows around him and let him take his nap there.
Orla and Ciara came over for dinner one night and we had a pretend sleepover. We had pizza for dinner and popcorn for dessert. We watched a movie and had a lot of fun. When it was time to go to sleep, Kim and the girls went home. A lot of fun for 4 and 2 yr olds.
The preschool and elementary classes had a field day. They had a lot of fun doing running races and other outdoor activities. The day was hot and humid and the kids were pretty tired at the end of the day.
Dance recital practice.......this was very painful for the Mommies!!!
For 4 Sundays, we had to take the girls to an all day recital practice where there were about 100 other girls ready to practice. The Chinese take their ballet very seriously!
They were very tired after practice and usually very cranky as they had to wait in between their performance practice for hours at a time.
We (the other moms and I) think that the other local girls are used to this. But we complained at the amount of time 4yr olds had to wait around to practice.
The girls who were in the recital from Elizabeth's ballet class were (see picture of girls standing by the wall) - Crystal Tan, Claire Wang, Elizabeth, Samantha Chow. Missing from these photos are Claire Yin and Shue En (not sure on spelling???)
Dottie is the Ladybug's classroom mascot. Each child in the Ladybug's preschool class got an opportunity to take Dottie home for a week or so and had to take pictures of where Dottie has been and what the child did with Dottie. The day Elizabeth brought Dottie home, she was literally jumping for joy!
There was a journal that came with Dottie. Dottie has been to the Great Wall in Beijing, to Thailand, and to Century Park as well as many other local places. Dottie can help make coffee, go to sleep with kids, and go to ballet classes.
Elizabeth took Dottie many places as you can see. Dottie watched the Goodyear Blimp from outside our apartment on our balcony. Dottie helped Elizabeth cook a grilled cheese sandwich and eat it. Dottie went to Church with Elizabeth. Dottie went to the Bund and overlooked the Pearl Tower, rode bikes, participated in Field Day, went to the little park, and hung out with Alex too.
Elizabeth was sad when Dottie had to go back to the classroom. However, at the end of the term, the teachers made "Dotties" and gave them to all the kids!
Yes, it has been a while since we've posted. We've had an eventful spring so far. Actually, they say that as of May 22, it is officially summer in Shanghai since the temperature has been so nice.
At the end of the May holiday, we went to Century Park for an International Music Festival. There were all sorts of different types of musicians and bands. The kids had a lot of fun dancing. We went with San, Sophia, Oia, Chloe, and Bella and Elvis, Kim, and Juna.
The next couple pictures were at Alex's friend, Chloe's birthday party. She turned 2 and had a princess party. Alex had fun playing with the tea set. The first princess is Oia and the next princess is Juna. The family picture is of the Eng Family - Sophia, San, Oia, Bella, and Chloe.
Alex made a crown at the party, see how great he looks as the handsome prince! He may be a prince, but he still wants to drive himself around. Olivia - look out, you will have no chance at riding your cozy couple while Alex is visiting you!
Mother's Day brought me a bike. I am now closer to being a native Chinese. The kids and I have had a lot of fun riding the bike to the Carrefour, Church, and School. We are very careful and always look out for the other guy!
The Goodyear Blimp was flying over the Park one day. We were able to snap a few pictures. It will be heading to Grand Blanc soon, I'm sure!
Finally, a picture of Alex, Pooh, and Daddy. Alex calls his milk - Nook A Nook. Not sure why????
It was time for the curls to go. The weather is getting too warm for him to have the mop haircut. Alex got his first "buzz" haircut today. He did not like it very much as he screamed and wouldn't sit still the entire time. The haircut is not exactly even, but it will keep him cool. The Chinese lady that cut his hair mentioned several times to Kirk that next time he should bring Alex in while he is sleeping. We are not sure that is going to work. Kirk took him to get an ice cream afterwards and he was in much better spirits. You will also see in the after picture that he has his pink wooee (fuzzy blanket). He had to hold this the entire hair cut.
Elizabeth also got a new summer haircut. She went to the hair salon with Kath. She is very excited about her new haircut.
I think this video speaks for itself. This guy is really good with the soccer ball. Okay, I am a little partial, but for a 2 year old, I thought it was good. This was the first time Kirk saw him play, when he video taped it. He agreed. By the way, I taught him!
For the May Labour Day in China, we decided to visit Hong Kong. It is only a 2.5 hour flight from Shanghai and is in the same time zone so we went for a short 3 day stay. We stayed in Kowloon overlooking the Victoria Harbor. Wow! There are a lot of buildings here.
The transportation system in Hong Kong is top notch. We rode an immaculate subway from the airport into the city and caught a free shuttle bus to our hotel. It was very easy to use.
Right by our hotel was an Outback Steakhouse. Yes....we gorged on some really good US food. Blooming Onion, Steak, Potatoes, veggies, salad with good blue cheese dressing!!!! Of course, we did do the Australian beer, Fosters.
On Wednesday, we went to Hong Kong Disneyland. Everyone warned us that we might not like it because it is small and would be crowded during the holiday. We found the exact opposite. It was perfect for kids our age and there was no crowd. Perhaps it is overpriced for China, but we loved it. We had such a fun day. The kids got to ride all the rides they wanted to. They splashed around in a small water area, got soaked, but I had a spare set of clothes. It was a pretty hot day. Alex doesn't do well in hot weather! We watched the parade and then stayed for the fireworks.
Alex's favorite ride was the Buzz lightyear ride. Elizabeth's favorite was the Teacups. She got to talk to Belle and saw Ariel in the parade.
They both passed out on the way home.
On Thursday, we didn't have such a good experience. We went to Ocean Park which is similar to Sea World. Apparently it is not overpriced for China because that is where the crowds were. I'm very tolerant of crowds and a lot of people, and I couldn't handle it. We had to secure seats 1.5 hours before the dolphin show that lasted all of 20 minutes. We left right after that!
Then we took a taxi to Victoria Peak. It is a high spot with shopping and you can overlook all of Hong Kong. You can see some of the pictures that Elizabeth took. We took the Tram down, which started in use in the late 1800's. On the way, we met a nice lady teaching English in the Yanxi province near Mongolia. Her name was Jennifer and she was originally from Menominee Wisconsin. We all caught a cab to the Star Ferry and then took the ferry across from Central Hong Kong to Kowloon. Any Amazing Race fans out there??? They were just in Hong Kong and rode the Star Ferry.
We watched the laser light show that they have every night and then parted ways with Jennifer. We were all pretty tired after this. That's about the time I noticed that my work mobile phone was gone. It must have slipped out of my pocket during a taxi ride. Well, in Hong Kong, it must be finders keepers, because whoever found it, when we called it, shut the phone off. That made that day a bummer! We were able to catch 15 minutes in the top of the hotel outdoor pool and that really tired us out. So much so, that the kids and I passed out without dinner. Kirk went and had Mexican.
On Friday, we tried to swim again, but it was raining. So we packed up, left our luggage at the front desk, and headed out to shop. We wanted to find some shoes to fit me (although i really don't NEED any) and a new dress for Elizabeth, but ended up with a Wii for Kirk. If you don't know what this is....I didn't either.....and Kirk probably didn't.....until we heard about it from Cronley. Anyway, once Kirk's has his mind set on something, he has to follow through, so we searched up and down Nathan Road for the best deal. Since it was raining, the kids and I couldn't take it anymore and went to the bookstore by the hotel. We were able to pick up a few English books.
We flew back after getting the subway again and on the plane, Kirk realized that he left his Ipod in the hotel room charging. Now, we stayed at a 5 star Intercontinental Grand Stanford. Once again, finders keepers. Guess with kids, we need to keep our belongings to a minimum since we get so busy trying to keep them in line. By the way, I will NEVER stay at an Intercontinental again and am going to smear their name on Trip Advisor.
Overall, Hong Kong was nice. It was clean and easy to get around in. We may go back again, but I think we would stay right at Disney and just stay a couple days to hang out in their pool.
Not sure where our next adventure will take us. Perhaps Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, or Vietnam.
We would like to welcome Nolan to the world. Kirk's brother Kevin and his wife Chrystal had their second boy today. Ethan is proud to be a big brother. The whole family is doing well. We are looking forward to meeting him when we come back to Michigan this summer.
Alex's Ayi couldn't find Alex one day. She was very worried searching the house and the outside hallway (Alex has been known to sneak out when the door is open and ride the elevator down). Kirk was working from home that morning. Looks like Alex was playing schoolbus in Elizabeth's room and fell asleep on her bed! Shou Ju put pillows around him and let him take his nap there.
