Jin An & Jade Budha Temple

We had a day off of work while the kids still had school, so we took some time to explore places we had not yet seen. We took Martin and Charu Hayes with us since they just moved here. We started at breakfast at a place that was written up in City Weekend about for it's great pancakes. It was pretty good. Then we went to the JingAn temple and the Jade Buddha temple. I really liked the Jade Buddha temple, there was such a sense of calm. You can't see photos of her because we couldn't take photographs.

After, we walked across the way to the Marks and Spencer to pick up a birthday present and ended our day at the Krispy Kreme, yum.

Alex Learning to Ride a Two-Wheeler

Alex is officially riding a two wheeler on his own now. In true Alex form, he did not want to learn how to ride it, complained about having to go out and try the whole time, but quickly became a pro. He was bribed a bit by Kirk who told him that if he rode around our neighborhood four times by himself, he could get Battling Bugs. Now we have to find them!! He is confident enough now that he rides to school!

Pot-Luck Luck with Alex's Class

Pot luck day with Alex's class. He asked both Kirk and I to come. He asked me to make Cheese Quesadillas. He was so proud to show us around his classroom. His class's name is the Angel Bunnies.

Day at Century Park

A field trip to Century Park is always fun. This day, the kids didn't have school but the teachers did so Joe, Missy, and I and our ayi's took the kids and had a picnic and played a little football. Great fun.

Alex in school

I need to get back to blogging the way I originally meant it to be.....to share short stories about our adventures in China. Lately, it's just been catching up on posting pictures, which I'm not so good about.

But I have a good Alex story that needs to be documented.....

Keri Taverna is the teacher in the room next to Alex's and she has frequent interaction with him. She is my running partner (and a few other things) and she told me a story about him during one of our morning runs.

Alex was pushed by another student in class and this upset Alex. He got his feelings hurt. He was pushed by another boy because Alex was leaning over the boy to try and kiss a girl. Mrs Taverna talked to both boys and made them apologize to each other. Nice..... Keri wouldn't divulge names, she keeps school at school and home at home.

I asked Alex how his day was and if he got in any trouble. Of course, he told me. I told him that I heard he was trying to kiss a girl. He gave me his sweet little smile and said, "yesssss....". I asked him who the girl was and he told me it was Danah. Danah is a pretty little girl that was in his preschool class last year. Turns out he wants to marry her. But also Roshan (another boy in class) wants to marry her. But Alex thinks she is going to marry Lucas (another one of Alex's friends.

Really? 5 year olds?

But then I remembered Elizabeth's friend Ben Pigott and how he wanted to marry her. Must be a phase.

So now every morning, I give Alex a special kiss and tell him that he's not allowed to kiss girls "in school". :)