Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 135

Back to school! Easter Bunny visited last night since we were out of town on the holiday itself. Not sure she believes the bunny actually left it, but she didn't question it and I reckon that is due the number of Reese items in the basket!

"Thanks Easter Bunny!"

Daily Picture Grade 4 - Day 45

"You've been BOOED!"

Chinese New Year - Light Painting

Well, I took a lot of photos last night, but not many worth publishing. Keep an eye on my Flick Firework set for more. However, I was able to accidentally catch a good firework during my not-so-great light painting of CNY (Chinese New Year).And another one I liked...

And these two were a bit interesting...

Natalie's 8th Birthday

Sharing some pictures from Natalie's 8th Birthday parties. This year, only three parties! I am pretty late at getting this done. And we didn't get all of our thanks you cards done yet either. But anyway, thought I would get this out.


Party number one was in Rochester with my family. We ate at Dinosaur BBQ (I highly recommend the mac and cheese) and surprised her with a cake, cards, and some impromptu gifts.

The second party was at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Uncle Tim and Uncle Ted joined us too. 

When we got back, the Ayi also has a gift for Natalie. It was pretty cute!

The last party was here at our house in Shanghai. I actually baked a cake and Natalie helped decorate it. Tom took a picture as I am pretty sure this the only birthday I have ever baked her! Later, we took Natalie with some friends to Maya's, her favorite Mexican resteraunt in Puxi. 

Zhong Biao, our driver, also bought her a gift. A Haibao dancing doll. There is a picture of Natalie with her doll, but the video is much finnier! The doll sings 5 songs, one of which is Jingle Bells. The lyrics are different, but the refrain is recognizable. I love China!

Video

Christmas in Hong Kong

Instead of going back to the US this year for Christmas, we stayed in Asia. Neither Tom or I get the official "Christian" holidays here in China, so we were had to localize our Christmas plans. We decided to take a break from China and head to Hong Kong for some shopping and an English-speaking break! Little did I realize that in fact, many Chinese also took advantage of the shopping side of that quest and were also in HK during this holiday! Oh well! I put all of the pictures out on our updated (finally!) website. And there are a couple of YouTube videos as well, including some from her earlier 1st Grade Christmas show.

The night before we left, Dec 23, we let Natalie open a gift she had received from our driver, Zhong Biao. She got a neat game and some cut-out animals. It was very nice of him and his family to do that for her!

We arrived in Christmas eve, almost two hours late. Air traffic going to Hong Kong was cited as the reason we sat on the ground in Shanghai for so long! We arrived around noon and worked our way through the Hong Kong airport to the Airport Express station (fast train) which is right at the airport. From there we headed to Kowloon where we exited and grabbed a taxi. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Golden Mile which was close to the Star Ferry and had a MRT (subway) station right across the street. We checked in and then headed out to go to the island. We took the Star Ferry over to the island portion of Hong Kong. From there, we caught the subway and headed to Times Square. We grabbed some pizza for lunch and then went and hit the stores! We bought about $200 in books! Natalie spent ALL of her saved allowance on books. She ended up with about 15 new books she picked out. Plus Gammaw bought her a book too! After buying our books, we shopped for some new athletic shoes for Tom and Natalie and some dress shoes for Tom. Unfortunately we had to haul all this stuff back to the hotel on the subway. When we arrived at our stop, we found out that the exit by our hotel was closed due to Christmas events being held outside in the streets. Oh well! Finally made it back to the hotel around 7:30. Went and had our meal in the Executive lounge. Then to bed!

Christmas day got going with Natalie opening a couple of gifts from Mom & Dad, the book and Fairy craft that Gammaw and Pappaw had bought her. Breakfast in the lounge, and the off to Disney! We took the subway and made it there at 10.15, right at opening! Hong Kong Disney is soooooo much smaller than Orlando! It was really nice, at least from our perspective. You could easily get from one area to another with a 2-5 minute walk. Still long longs for a couple of the rides, but overall was pretty easy. Only thing we underestimated was the temperature. It was pretty warm, and our little Heat Miser was wearing long sleeves and jeans. She had pink cheeks all day. We called all of our Family once we got there. Sad to not be home this year, but that's another blog...


After a full day of playing at Disney, we headed back to the hotel. Again at dinner in the lounge and then Natalie passed out around 7:40. So we all went to bed (we share a big king size!) reading our new books! Lovely Christmas!

Finally, Friday came and we just spent the day shopping at a big mall, Harbour City, that was close to our hotel. Natalie had a meltdown in Toys R Us when we first arrived. She wanted some toy and we told her she had already gotten lots of stuff and Santa had probably delivered gifts, but she totally started crying and saying we were mean. I was pretty frustrated with her, but I guess it is understandable. She had gone for 3 days getting everything she wanted, so why not continue that! Anyway, I got to shopping by myself for awhile. I got a new pair of shoes, new jeans, and a skirt and top. Nice to find western sizes. Tom and Natalie went and saw Bedtime Stories, which none of had heard about, but was the only non-dubbed movie to see.

Then we headed back to the hotel, checked out, and headed to the airport. We got back to Shanghai and our house around 10.30. A bit late, but not bad. Natalie got to see the gifts from Santa, but we waited until Saturday morning to open. She got lots of stuff from Santa, including a new Nintendo DS. She got lots of stuff from Santa and turns out that Santa had stopped at Grandma and Grandpa Bramer's and brought some stuff with him from them!

We wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Natalie's 1st Grade Christmas Program

This past Tuesday was Natalie's 1st Grade Christmas Program, Grandma Visits Santa. She was an elf! The program was actually very cute. The elves all wore their parents white shirts and striped or Christmas color socks. They held this year's in the Rittman Center which is a really nice auditorium that they built last year. I was so surprised at how bold Natalie was this year! She walked right out for her part, no real hesitation.

We had a hard time finding socks for her costume. Seriously, I think I looked in at least 20 stores and the fake market twice looking for knee-length socks in a Christmas color. We ended up borrowing Abi Spofford's fuzzy pink socks. Abi is the daughter of our friends, Deb and Tim Spofford. Abi is a Senior at Concordia, so wearing her socks was quite the cool think from Natalie's perspective. She was really cute about it. She put them on and said "Mom, I think I actually kind of pretty in these." Out of the mouths of babes!

I also uploaded some videos from the show to Youtube. I apologize for the bad video, I was taking pictures with my Nikon and video with the Sony! Thank goodness Tom got a better version off of the real video camera.

NiXīnnián Kuàilè! Gōngxǐ fācái...

Happy Chinese New Year! This holiday here makes the 4th of July look very small! I think there is a major difference in celebrating 230 years versus 3000 years. So first let me give you a bit of background on Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year is the first day of the lunar calendar, so it is also called the Lunar New Year. And it is also referred to as the Spring Festival since it is the beginning of the Spring term, which is the first term of the 24 terms on the lunar calendar. The lunar calendar is represented by twelve animals. Each year is represented by one animal. This year is the year of the Rat. The 12 animals in order are: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. Oh, and if this is your lunar year (you were born in the Year of the Rat) then last night you

should have worn red underwear and today you wear red socks. Red symbolizes good luck. Last night (Feb 6) was the Day Before New Year. Traditionally it is usually a day reserved for family and socializing and big feasts. The firecrackers are to scare away all of the evil spirits. Today is the first official day of the Chinese New Year, Nian Chu Yi. According to tradition, most Chinese will spend this day with family. The literal translation of this day is something like "welcoming of the gods of the heavens and earth". The 2nd day of CNY is typically spent visiting in-laws. The 3rd day is basically a stay at home day as it is considered unlucky to have visitors that day. The Chinese believe that on the 3rd day of the Chinese New Year it is not appropriate to visit family and friends, and call the day "chec hao", meaning "easy to get into arguments". On the 5th day, the god Cai Shen is welcomed as this is the day that businesses open back up and Cai Shen symbolizes prosperity. The seventh day traditionally is known as the common man's birthday, RenRi, the day when everyone grows one year older. The tradition calls for counting your age from this date. So, it is possible that you could be born in January and be two by the time February rolls through! The celebrations end on the important and colorful Lantern Festival, Yuan XiaoJie, on the evening of the 15th day of the month.

Yesterday, there were fireworks ALL day. Actually you can hear them several days before, but yesterday was unbelievable. We went to Deb & Tim Spofford's apartment at Shimao Riviera, which is down on the Hungpu river across from the Bund. What a great place to see the fireworks. None of the fireworks were "organized" like they are in the states. Basically people set them off outside on the sidewalk or just stop their car and light a box. And these are not little fireworks. These are huge boxes of great fireworks. Think of every neighbor you have letting of a 10 minute firework show right next to your house! And then multiply it by 100. In fact, you can not explain to anyone who has not been in China during this time what it really is like. Deb & Tim's son Tucker bought a few boxes and took them down to the street and set them off. Even though the boxes look big in the picture, the fireworks that came out were pretty small in comparison to the others around us. As Tom said, "It was like he felt when he took a shower with the Seniors in High School for the first time...". We had a good time last night watching the fireworks from above. Since we were on the 36th floor, some of the fireworks that were set off right below on the sidewalk actually cam up and exploded below us. What a great perspective. Also interesting to see all of the "strays" shooting off into the apartment complexes. We would be surprised to find out how many people are killed and injured during this holiday, but you don't really see anything about that side of it here! We didn't get in the taxi to come home until 1:20. Luckily there was little traffic and only a few fireworks to dodge! Natalie crashed 45 seconds after getting in the Taxi.

The pictures are from the party last night. I am using a new camera so I apologize that the night pictures are not great, but you can see how there are literally fireworks going off everywhere in the city. Amazing. I highly recommend experiencing this once in your lifetime!

Return to Reality OR Back in Shanghai

Natalie and I just returned from the U.S. What a LLLLOOOONNNNGGGG trip! We arrived in Chicago on Dec 17 and left Tampa on Jan 17. I have decided NOT to blog the entire trip. It would take forever and probably not that interesting. However, I am going to hit the highlights (which sometimes are actually low lights). Oh, and one of my New Year's resolutions was to be a bit more timely on this blog, so please check back and send me an email if I don't keep that!

Trip Highlights

• After arriving in Chicago, we had to drive south on U.S. 41 to my parent's house in Indiana. The rental car was packed with luggage and poor Natalie had to sit in the backseat squished next to the bags that wouldn't fit into the trunk. And it was really cold. About 45 minutes into the drive Natalie started to complain about having a tummy ache. I finally climbed in back and held her on my lap (yes, we didn't have a cars seat). About 10 minutes later, she said "Mommy, I think I am going to throw up" and then immediately she threw up! Trying to help, I held my hand over her mouth to catch it and just ended up getting it all over her face. When we finally pulled over, Natalie and I had it all over us. But, we stripped her and got some clean clothes on her, cleaned the coat in the snow on the side of the road, and climbed into the front seat. Luckily I had grabbed a cloth bag and emptied it in case of another emergency, which came about 15 minutes later! Poor thing! But, she survived. We got her to my parents and cleaned up!
• I slept in 9 different locations in with 16 location changes (some were back and forth).
• We had a wonderful time with all of our family. Lots of time with friends too!
• Taco Bell, which I had been craving since before I left from Shanghai, was the biggest disappointment. I guess that is a good thing.
• The real Mexican food and Skyline were NOT disappointments!
• We played Wii for the first time. What a trip! Natalie one time bowled a 177. Tom knocked me out in boxing in about 30 seconds. Diane Schrimpf and I boxed until we were both totally sweating!
• Met some friends in Indy for a great one-night sleepover. Julie shared some GREAT news (sorry, not for public consumption) and had a great steak at St. Elmo's.
• Ended up with a dent in my rental car bumper. Never noticed until a day before I dropped it off. We think it happened while parked at a restaurant. Will have to wait and see what that ends up costing me!
• Took a trip to Sanibel Island in Florida with my girlfriends. What happens on Girl's Trip NEVER GETS BLOGGED...
• Natalie made a couple of snowmen in Indiana. Nice to see the snow!
• Everyone saw their doctors. All is good with all of us. Tom's physician was very proud of him for losing 43 lbs!
• Observed that the U.S. has much better looking military dudes!
• Spent New Year's with Natalie, Tom, and my parents at Hooter's!
• Natalie had three Christmas': One in West Lafayette, on in Fowler, and a final one here in Shanghai after we returned home last night.
• Helped my friend Julie paint at her new house. She had me working for my room and board. I stayed at her place while I was in Dayton.
• Went and saw the World Famous Lippizzaner Stallions
• And finally, we ended the trip the way it started. Natalie threw up on the airplane on the way home. Just before we landed. She was complaining about a sore tummy. Went to the bathroom three times, but then the fasten seat belt came on for our landing. So, she had to use a big Ziploc that I had packed (luckily) into my carry on. Again, poor thing! She said afterwards "I don't look like I throwed up, do I?"

So, that is it. I really missed Shanghai. I was glad to see everyone in the U.S., but we really have made this our home now. Oh, and sleeping in my own bed was a huge luxury last night!

Thanks in Shanghai

First of all, sorry this blog comes weeks after the event! But we are so busy here! Not enough time in the day... But we are getting ready to head home for the holidays and I thought I better get up to date if I could! So sit back and enjoy the story of a Little Shanghai Thanksgiving...

We celebrated Thanksgiving here in China, with Turkey, two different times. On Thanksgiving evening, we went up to the clubhouse and ate turkey. You can see in the picture that we had turkey and all of the trimmings. Yummy! The turkey was very moist and the sides were really faboulous. Very good! Though it seemed weird since Natalie went to school that day and Tom went to work. But it was good to have real American Thanksgiving Day food. Natalie had fun until she spilled Sprite onto the table and her lap! Then she cried and snoozed on my shoulder for awhile. You know the kind of parents we are, take a picture of the kid when she is at her worst! We chatted quite a bit with a couple who had gone to Purdue. She was from Fort Wayne and he was from Lebanon. Such a small world!

Saturday we went Ceyda's for a carry-in. Many of our good friends here made it so it really did seem like family. Of course we had lots of food and ate WAY too much. Ceyda's husband Haken made the turkey, which he marinated for 24 hours before cooking so it was marvelous!

You can see that we all had a great time and the men looked especially hungry before eating!!! We also had a lovely day and a few of them even took out the football and tossed it. Of course you can see that most of the kids enjoyed the day watching videos downstairs.

So what to be thankful for? Lots of things.

• Thanks to Tom for letting his wife de-stress and adding years to the end of her life
• Thanks to our family for understanding why we have to be so far away for so long
• Thanks to my friends in the U.S. for making me feel less lonely
• Thanks to my sisters for chatting at weird hours to accomodate us!
• Thanks to our daughter for making our lives complete (even with the tears!)
• Thanks to ASC for delivering wine to my house (don't worry, it is just a coping mechansism!)
• Thanks to the Fansets for the 3 seasons of House (isn't House just a wee bit HOT?)
• Thanks to my friends here in Shanghai for making this adventure much more than just an experience and for making the Holiday's wonderful!

BOO! Halloween Time

We enjoyed our first Halloween in China last night. Vizcaya, our compound, had trick-or-treating for the kids. Then we headed to the Miller's for a Halloween party. So it was a full night of candy and fun. Believe it or not, it was actually pretty easy to get some basic Halloween decorations and a costume for me. Carrefour does have it's value. So you can see from the picture that

Lauren and Jamie Miller came to Vizcaya around 4:30 (they are the beautiful vampires in the picture). We headed to the clubhouse around 4:45. The Miller's arrived dressed as vampires, and I was a vampire as well. So, we were a scary vampire family with a cute princess daughter! Tom stayed and took the job of handing out the candy, tough life! By the way, for those of you who are familiar with Natalie's trick or treating experiences in the past, you are probably wondering how excited she really was. Well, having some friends go with her that were older helped a bunch. But I still caught a bit of hesitation on her face a few times. Overall though she did great! When the trick or treating started at 5pm, there were about 150-200 kids streaming from the clubhouse down to the first street of villas. Needless to say, that first house got quite a hit of kids all at once. In fact, the whole street was a steady stream of kids. After about 15 minutes though, things spread out a bit.

So you are probably wondering what kinds of candy we had here. The girls all raked in quite a bit, an interesting mix of Chinese crackers to a single Reese's cup. Some families had brought a lot of candy back from the states for just this reason. Makes you a bit homesick to see real Tootsie rolls and Twizzlers! But you know, kids are kids, and I think they were all pretty pleased with the "take". The gummy Eyeballs were the favorite treat of the night. I would show you a picture, but they ate them all! But, I think the picture of Jamie to the left shows what happens after about 5 of them! After hitting about half of the houses here in an hour, we headed up to the clubhouse for haunted houses and pumpkins. One funny thing that happened was that the bartenders were making drinks with sprite and dry ice. The kids thought they were great. Natalie finished her Sprite and then said "This ice is REALLY cold!". Geesh, I told them then not to swallow it. How dangerous!! I wonder how many kids drank some of that ice last night? Anyway, turned out that we did not have pumpkins to carve, so we went ahead and walked back to the house.




And headed to the real party. The Miller's celebrate big at Halloween as they were married close the holiday. It was a great evening with good friends, good food, and fun games. Lots of good things to eat, good friends, and many laughs.


In the picture to the left, you can see Cave woman (Kathy), Ms. Cell Phone (Ceyda), and Ms. Pirate (Angie) checking out the good food. Ceyda's kept coming up and telling us "hit 555-8888", it's hits all my favorite areas!". Ceyda! You can't take her anywhere... Everyone had really good costumes (except for Tom, see below). And that is quite the accomplishment in China!



We got a good picture of the men: Caveman (Brian), Viking (Heinrick), Tom (oh, he went as himself), Matador (Haken), and the "Best Dressed Man Here" (Michael). Wasn't Tom clever? Who knew his sense of humor went so deep?


The kids really had a good time. Lots of fun games and everyone won something (good job Kathy!). Grace the bunny looks like she is having a good time. Natalie and Jamie won the "Make a Mummy" contest (sorry, I probably helped her too much!). They also had a fun game with string, counting peanuts and candy corn, and a fun word game. Natalie was beat by the time the evening wore down. We had brought her pj's and so she ended up staying the night for her first sleep over with Jamie and Lauren. She did really great too! She said she got to have pancakes in the morning for breakfast. We are so proud of her for not being afraid. Now she is asking for sleepovers every night!

The Miller's had a copy of Rocky Horror Picture Show and so we stuck it in the DVD player, but the put sound down. Of course all the kids were drawn like flies to honey! The picture here is of the scene where Brad is floating in the glass fish tank. What we let our children do when we are entertaining ourselves!



At the end of the evening, I was gathering up our belongings, and I found Brian (see picture) in the entryway. I swear that there was no staging involved with this photo. Now, there might have been quite a few drinks before this particular shot, though I doubt that Brian would EVER drink more than 2 or 3 in an evening!
There are three choices for the real action behind this picture:

1. His caveman costume was not actually a costume, but his normal day-to-day GM uniform
2. His love of the Chinese toilet goes way beyond normal admiration
3. He is showing us how REAL Chinese wait on the corners with their bread