Tiffany's Wedding

My cousin Tiffany got married at the end of June. Just I went and got to see Bumpa and Gigi, Suzanne, Nicole and Dale. Nicole was huge but looking gorgeous.

The wedding was on the golf course in Vassar and was beautiful. Tiffany is such a nice girl and you can see how gorgeous she is. She and Justin make a nice couple. Although I don't think I have a picture of him.

We got to see Matthew and Jennifer, Chrissy, Beth, Jim, and Megan who we haven't seen in so long. It was great to reconnect. You can see Uncle Joe Farkas standing next to Nicole and there is also a picture of Uncle Joe and Aunt Phyllis together.

Back in the USA

We went back to the USA for the summer at the end of June. We landed at Kevin and Chrystal's house and went through our jet lag there. Alex was so excited to see Ethan. Rachel and Ryan came over to visit. Everyone had fun playing together. Lots of sleepovers in Aunt Chrystal's bed.

Late Spring/Early Summer Activities

Spring in Shanghai is always nice once the rain goes away. Grammy visited at the end of April and early May. Here are some pictures of the kids and their activities.

My favorite picture is of Alex washing his police car. I walked out in the hallway and saw him with his bucket and his water washing it down. I asked him what he was doing and he said he was washing his car just like Liu does.

Elizabeth played soccer this spring with her buddy Claire. She played in the field in Century Park and we would picnic afterwards. I love that park.

Kim Young and Family Leaving Shanghai

From Drop Box

Okay, catching up on the blog now that I'm back in Shanghai. This picture is from June. My first friend in Shanghai, Kim Young, and her family moved back to the Detroit area. You've seen their pictures scattered all throughout this blog. Now that I'm back in Shanghai and she is not, I really miss her. She is such a good, easy going, laid back person and was always good at helping me put things into perspective. Also, she was my only friend here who would run at night with me and then end the run at the pub and share stories over some Jameson's. Good thing is that she is in Detroit area so we'll get to see each other again!

Meet Liu's New Daughter Sunny

We were invited to our driver Liu's baby daughter's 100th day lunch celebration. Her English name is Sunny.

New Apartment

Well it's official. We will be in Shanghai for 2 more years. This summer would have been the summer that we would be moving back, but we have the opportunity to stay a bit longer and it's probably a good move since there are not a lot of jobs to be had in our companies back in the US.

Since we are going to be here a couple more years, it made sense for us to make the move into Jin Qiao. Jin Qiao is the area of Pudong where all the expatriates live. The schools, shopping, restaurants, churches.....Westernized ones.....are all here. We love living in our high rise that looks over the park and the city. We love our local Chinese/Japanese/Korean/European neighborhood. However, the kids have a 20 minute commute to school each way and all of our good friends have moved out of our apartment complex so their friends are in Jin Qiao now too.

We were able to find a nice townhouse that has a little more space than our current apartment and also has a small garden. The complex has a garage that runs underneath the property so there are no vehicles that drive in the neighborhood which makes this really nice for the kids to be able to ride their bikes, scooters and play without worrying about the crazy drivers.

We will be a 10 minute walk from school. The kids won't need to ride the bus anymore although I think that will seriously bum Alex out. We will be in walking distance to many of our favorite restaurants, church, and shopping. As well, we will be in walking distance to many of the kids playmates homes.

Tough decision to move into the bubble but much better for the kids.

Cronley Visits Shanghai Again

From Drop Box

Only a guy like Cronley can figure out a way to break from his Corporate Jet group to have dinner with us for the night. Can't wait til he comes into Asia again!

Elizabeth Field Trip to Fuxing Park

One of my favorite parks in Shanghai and one of the oldest is Fuxing Park. This is in the heart of the French Concession and has so much charm. The kindergarteners took their last field trip here. The funniest was when the kids were exercising with this guy. He was like the pied piper.

Alex's Music Program

The preschool put on their spring music program. Alex did a good job standing up nicely and behaved for the most part.

The Great (Fire) Wall of China

China has blocked access to the Blogger website, Youtube and many other social networking sites. This is due to an unpleasant event that happened 20 years ago in Beijing. Due to this we have not been able to update the Blog. Kirk is working on a fix to this issue and we should have the Blog updated soon.

Donuts for Daddy

Kirk had a very busy week this week and had many work people in from out of town. He was able to rearrange his schedule to make it for "Donuts for Daddy" in Elizabeth's classroom. Only Dads were allowed (No Moms) so she would have had to share someone elses Dad if Kirk couldn't make it. Elizabeth showed Kirk around the classroom and many of the projects she has been working on. Kirk's favorite was the portrait that Elizabeth made of him. You can see it in the pictures.