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Alex Reading a Book
You can see by the pictures and video that Alex is no longer a baby. He is growing up too fast.
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Both Alex and Elizabeth love to paint. Mom tapes up paper on the window and lets them get creative.
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We went out to dinner with Kirk's Sales Team to celebrate Chinese New Year. We also invited Shou Ju (her husband couldn't come due to work) and Liu and his family. We had dinner at the largest buffet that I have ever been to. We had a good time getting to meet everyone. Elizabeth and Alex got a little restless towards the end of the dinner, but overall were pretty good.
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After too many times of being asked whether Alex was a "nushi or nanhai" (girl or boy), we decided it was time to cut his hair. I'd cut his bangs one time in the past, but never had been ready to part with his baby curls.
We took him to Elizabeth and my hairdresser, Farhana. He was pretty cautious about the whole thing. Kirk held on to him and we gave him lots of different stuff to play with. He cried a little bit, but overall did a fairly decent job. Kirk did have to hold him in a headlock once, so that she could snip around his ears.
You can see his new cut. Fortunately, he still has the curls. After a shower last night, the afro came back and it is still very cute!
We had no snow in Michigan but we were able to go sledding in Shanghai! Elizabeth's preschool class took a field trip to an indoor ski hill in Puxi. The kids all had a lot of fun. It was like a bunny hill, but you could ski there. There was an escalator that took you to the top and you could ski or sled down. We chose just to sled and you can see Elizabeth loved it!
click above for picturesNow we begin our trek back to China. There is no direct flight from Florida to China, so we had to fly back to Detroit, stay the night and fly back the next day. We chose just to stay at the Westin right at the airport. This was a good choice. We stepped off the plane, had a baggage person handle our luggage right to the hotel, which was right inside the airport, and then they transferred it to our room. This made things much less hectic than if we had stayed with family or friends.
God Bless Pelton for packing the stuff we left at her house into boxes and bringing it to us. We had dinner (just P and Kath for the last half) so it was nice to visit.
The Westin at Detroit Metro is really nice. Although pricey, it made our trip more convenient.
Our plane trip back was uneventful, except I thought I lost my new Red Ipod. I found it in Alex's backpack.
Kirk put together the Thomas table when we got back and Alex and Elizabeth LOVE to play with it.
We were pretty jet lagged for a week after we got back. The kids were passing out at dinner!
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Disney pictures. I also forgot to mention the rides that Elizabeth and Alex went on. Elizabeth went on the Tea Cups and Dumbo and Alex got to drive the cars with Dad.
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The next leg of our trip was to the northern suburb of Chicago, Bloomindale. We met up with Kirk's parents, brother's family, and all of his aunts and uncles on his Mom's side. In total, there were 27 of us. On Friday night, we all went swimming and overtook the pool. The pool limit was 30! Not much room for anyone else. At one time, all of us were in the same hotel room eating dinner and exchanging gifts. It was a Residence Inn by Marriot, so there was space, but it was close quarters!
On Saturday, we went to the Shedd Aquarium. The kids had a lot of fun looking at the different fish, making crafts and watching the dolphin show underwater. It was very crowded, reminded me of China! We only stayed a couple hours since the kids were tired and ready to go swimming again.
On Sunday, we packed up again and left for Detroit. Elizabeth and Alex had a ball playing with their Wisconsin cousins.
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The kids and I had fun spending time a few days with Gigi and Bumpa and seeing Jake, Josh, Ally, and Anna. After their house, we drove back to the Roessler's on the 23rd. I wasn't feeling so hot, so we didn't do much celebrating for my 29th birthday :) We did, however, have to finish some Christmas shopping. So Kirk, Elizabeth, Grammy, and I went to Lakeside Mall to finish up. The reason we had to finish was that I ordered a Princess blanket from Disney.com and I put in the wrong zip code so it didn't make it to the Roessler's in time for Santa to bring it. We also bought a new camera which you will see new pictures being taken with.
Christmas Eve, we went to 4pm mass at ? Can't remember the name. Anyway, it was packed and the kids did a great job at mass. They were all really good since we had to be there at 3pm to get a seat! Alex, near the end, got ants in his pants as well as something else that really stunk!
Kevin, Chrystal, and Grammy stayed up to put together the train table and Kirk and PopPop passed out, snoring......gee imagine that!
Santa Claus came and he brought everything that was asked for, even the real pink lipstick that Elizabeth asked for! Alex and Ethan got a lot of Cars. Alex finally got McQueen. (We spent the better part of November and December going to every McDonalds in Shanghai since the "Cars" characters were the happy meal toys! We never got McQueen, we had to buy him on Ebay!)
The last gift to be opened was the train table. Alex did not want to leave playing with his cars. He threw a fit when we carried him into the room where the table was. As soon as the blanket was lifted, the tears stopped. Ethan and Alex played for the rest of our day there with the table, it was a hit. Alex has one waiting for him at the apartment in Shanghai.
Then it was time to head up to the Thompson's to celebrate Christmas with the Dufon side. Only Nicole called and said not to hurry, dinner was postponed a day....Suzanne got the flu!! :( Thank goodness it was only the 24 hour bug!
Our trip back to the US started in Michigan. We stayed with Ethan, Kevin, and Chrystal. Alex and Elizabeth had a lot of fun playing with their cousin.
We then spent a day at the Harris' with the Wasik's. Chesna and Beth showed up for dinner as well. Elizabeth had a ball playing with Katherine Wasik. You can see how big Rachel Harris is getting. Not a baby anymore!
The kids also had fun playing with Ashley and Emily, Aunt Chrystal's girls that she watches.
After that, the kids and I drove up to the farm and Kirk worked. Elizabeth and Alex had a ball playing with Anna and Ally.
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http://www.xintiandi.com/site/Default.aspx?tabid=101
Merry Christmas!!! This is our official Christmas picture taken at Xintiandi. Click on the link above to learn more about this area of Shanghai. Since we just took this last night, the picture didn't make the Christmas cards, sorry.
Elizabeth had a school Christmas program. The preschool classes sang the "Friendy Beasts" song. The ladybug class were the Doves. They were very cute. Afterwards, we went to Haagen Daz.
Kirk and Elizabeth went to the Superbrand Mall by the Oriental Pearl Tower to do some Christmas shopping. They were gone all day and they had a lot of fun together. She had a choice to eat lunch at Blue Frog or McDonalds. Surprisingly, she chose McDonalds.
There is a video of her dancing!
Okay, I have to tell the story about the cars. Alex is a little bit of a Cars fan (the Disney movie). We had Mater (the tow truck with the funny teeth) from the States out of a Happy Meal. I never got more of them because he wasn't that interested in cars then. But now he is.
Now China McDonalds has them in their happy meals. So Kirk goes to every McDonalds he can find so that he can get Alex Cars. We are missing McQueen. I think we'll have to find that one on Ebay.
Alex's favorite is Mater. He feeds Mater his french fries or what ever else he's eating. It's pretty cute.
Tonight was a pretty clear night so we set-up the tripod to take a photo. It turned out pretty good. Not all of the lights on the buildings are on, but this gives you a pretty good idea what our view is every night.
Elizabeth's school had a really nice Thanksgiving luncheon. They sang songs for us and we all ate Turkey!
If you can not see the above video click the link below:
If you can't view the above video click the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kRJ1Q9RX-4
Just when you thought you couldn't get enough of Halloween. Here is a short video of Elizabeth (with here friend Crystal) and Alex Trick or Treating.
