Florida

So as I said in the last post, the kids got left in Florida. Kirk met up with them there just a few days after I left. They had a ball swimming, going to the park, and going to splash parks. I think they slept good every night they were there.

Washington DC

I took the kids to see Grammy and PopPop in Florida. They like it when they can have the kids to themselves for a while. This was a nice break for me. I took the opportunity to fly up to Washington DC to see a couple friends.

Vineeta, Praveen, and their son Nehru Mooganur live in Virginia. I got to spend a couple days hanging out with them and Vineeta's parents, Mr and Mrs Dubey. They cooked some great Indian food for me! Vineeta and I were able to get out one night and go to the Mall to see the monuments lit up. It's been about 12 years since I've been there so I was again impressed. I didn't remember how small the city was. Maybe my perpective has changed since living in Shanghai. It was great to spend some time getting to know Nehru. He is such a sweet, smiley baby.

After a couple days, I met up with Jeri Ward. She just moved to DC the prior year. She lives in the heart of the city just down from all of the embassies. We were room mates in college so we had lots of catching up to do. We were able to do some good eating, shopping, and even got in a run. We laughed a lot over the couple days we had together and it was really nice.

Can't wait to take the kids back to show them our Capitol.

Dufon Farm

The kids had a great time hanging out on the farm. Tons of wide open space to run in, lots of cousins to play with, and rides on every vehicle imaginable. We even took a trip over to Aunt Hotch's to see her cows and Rusty's garden. Gigi's knee was starting to get better so she taught the kids how to make her yummy chocolate chip cookies.

Elizabeth at Tennis Camp

Elizabeth joined Anna at a tennis camp in Ludington. This was the first time she played tennis. The camp was one week long for a couple hours a day in the afternoons. She really enjoyed it and even got her picture in the Ludington Daily News.

Kirk Visits Beijing Olympic Green

Kirk had to go to Beijing for a meeting with Audi so he got a chance to take a tour of the Olympic Green area. This is the area where the Bird's Nest Stadium and Water Cube was located. He was able to take a tour of the Water Cube. It was nice to see all of the Olympic venues up close.

Dufon 4th of July Camping Weekend

My favorite....4th of July at the farm. The kids love it too. Alex especially loves sleeping in a tent. Elizabeth had a lot of fun hanging out with Anna and Alli and you can see that Alex and Olivia and Natalie became good pals around the kitchen table.

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.

Daisy Camping Trip

Elizabeth was a Daisy this year. This is the youngest group in Girl Scouts. This year they planned an overnight camping trip at a ranch just outside of the city limits. Da Qian Ranch was the name. We boarded buses at Concordia with other groups of girls from all of the participating Pudong area troops. There were 4 bus loads of girls and moms.

The Daisies had to bring a mom while the older girls (brownies, juniors) were assigned chaperones. The Daisies and moms got private cabins. You can see they were nice cabins that slept 3 people and had private bathrooms. More on the bathroom later.

ELizabeth met a lot of nice girls from another troop from YCIS (Yew Chung International School). They did lots of activities ranging from learning how to tie a knot in a rope, making an edible campfire, treasure hunt, singing songs, horseback riding, a boat ride, and a bonfire.

At night after the bonfire, we went back to our cabin. As Elizabeth was going to the bathroom, I heard a scream ...very loud one. I ran in to find her completely freaked out by the huge COCKROACHES on the floor. If you know me, you know that I don't care for bugs. However, since Kirk wasn't there to rescue us, I had to. I killed one and the other one scampered away. Where to, only God knows but we didn't see him for the rest of the night.

Great time!

Yu Yuan (Garden)

Yes, it is touristy, but Yu Yuan Garden (Yu Garden) is one of my favorite places in Shanghai. I love taking visitiors here.

Elizabeth's Music Program

They did the spring music programs for Elizabeth's class a little different this year. This year, each class did a performance during their normal morning class. Elizabeth's teacher, Mr. Nurre, is truly one of the most talented teachers I've ever seen. He really did a nice job teaching these kids about rhythm and sounds. Great program, made us proud of Elizabeth.