The Yue Hu Sculpture Park

Ah! Finally, a relaxing Sunday night! What a week!

So, Thursday night ended up being another night of "bombing", Shanghai style. Not as bad as Sunday night but still- bad, bad sleep! So glad the celebrations are over. Back to school and work tomorrow, back to routine. I'm glad because, as much fun as galavanting around the city is, the kids and I need to get back into routine!

Friday we had a great day of relaxing- swimming, naps, chicken parm for dinner (costs twice as much to make it here but still tastes great!).

Saturday was breakfast, playing with friends at the clubhouse (while the grownups discussed which white sandy beach to stay at over Spring Break), naps and then the Liz gang, Laura gang and us went to the Hungqiao Pearl Market (a 3-story building full of little shops where fake goods are sold). Momma got herself a new pair of black uggs and Soph got herself a Rupunzel Barbie. Daddy wanted to buy another helicopter (yes, he's busted his first already trying to fly it outside) but decided against it for now. After shopping we headed to this great restaurant called the Blue Frog. Ah, what a great little place! There was a fabulous kid's room and Happy Hour was until 10p. We had burgers and sweet potatoe fries and it was all so delicious! This was my first beef experience since moving here- I was nervous, I won't lie. But it was wonderful! Another great night out with great friends. We need to do this more often!

Our church still had no nursery for today so we had another day to explore the city. Regular nursery and services start up again next week and we are really looking forward to getting back into the swing of worship and study again.

Today it was sunny and a bit warmer so we decided to head south and check out the Yue Hu Sculpture Park (also known as Sheshan Mountain). Our friends, the Lawler's decided to come with us to explore. It was a bit of struggle to get there (our taxi driver was a bit lost) but it was so worth it! I imagine this place is really packed and amazing in the summer when it's hot. Today is was completely empty and most of the restaurants and such were closed, but we still had so much fun! Here are some pics of our day:

What a day! It got really cold and windy at the end but overall, a really fun day. We'll definitely be going back when it's hot out to enjoy the pools and other things. Fun fun!

Ok, time for bed.

Prayer Requests:
-Coop needs some prayers for sleeping. He's been going to bed ok every night but then wakes up screaming and scared every night for over and hour and then is so out of sorts during the day. This has been happening for several nights in a row now and I'm getting really tired of it so I'm sure he is! ;)
-Prayers are coveted for this coming week. Getting back into routine is great but can also be rough for a while. Pray the kids and Ben all adjust into their routines again and that I may help all of them as best as I can!
-We're still waiting to hear whether this family from Missouri wants to buy our house. Last we knew they still hadn't been able to pick so pray God's will be done and that we have peace with whatever happens (bc we know He has a plan for us!!)

We love you all and wish God's blessings on you in this new week.
One of my best buds, Christy Oosting, has a birthday on Friday, so be sure to wish her a happy one. :)

Talk to you all again soon!

So much to see!

Hello! Hope you all are doing great. We have been busy on our bonus week off and I have a lot of pics to show!
We have had 3 straight nights of quiet- yay!! People are still insisting tonight or tomorrow night will have the night lit up with fireworks again, but I'm not convinced. We shall see....  :)

Monday we rode our brand new bikes through the flurries (seriously, those are supposed to be in Michigan, right??) to McDonald's! Our first Chinese McD's experience and I was worried. Ben thought it tasted the same, I disagree, Coop ate it up, Soph refused... so, I guess we're split on that decision. The fountain Diet Coke, however, was heaven. I swear they put crack in it!!!

We have had a great week together exploring the city and seeing Shanghai put on a show for the New Year. On Tuesday we went to Xintiandi with the Winklers (Laura and gang) to have some lunch and catch the dragon dancers. We ate at a great place- Pizza Marzano's (dough balls- SO good!), then headed to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, grabbed a cuppa and waited. It was worth it, though. Here are some pics:

On Wednesday we decided to head over to the YuYuan Gardens bc we heard they had a pretty impressive lantern display going on. Wow- that place was nuts!! Ben and I decided that every person still in Shanghai thought the same as us.
We wanted to be there when it turned dark so we could see them all lit up. We were early and it was really cold and really busy so we camped out at a Starbucks and waited. Another reason we hid out- whenever we are out in a busy area we are quite the attraction. You would think that at some point they would get used to seeing white people but, nooooo. People nudge their friends and point at us, constantly try and take pics of the kids, bring their kids over to us and show us to them. It's weird and uncomfortable and gets old really fast. So, we hid in Starbucks. :)
Once it was dark, though, everything was turned on and it was a great show! Really busy with people but not crazy overwhelming. The kids were enjoying themselves and that helped a lot. I mostly get stressed when I can tell they are so I was glad they were happy. Here are some pics of what we saw:

We turned the tables for a sec- this baby was TOO cute!

A busy 2 days! So, why not one more? Today we headed out to the Shanghai Zoo bc it was sunny and warmer and we like to over-extend ourselves... :)
There were many things that you would see at any zoo and many things I've never seen before in my life.

There was a huge goldfish exhibit. Seriously. Probably 25 huge water tanks with all different kinds of goldfish. Mmm-hmm...

Dozens and dozens of exhibits with weird birds...

Pelican Island: look out! :)

Some beautiful black swans...

We attempted lunch at the zoo. Man, this was almost our downfall. I really should have packed a picnic!! I don't know what I was thinking- this was LOCAL and scary. :) We attempted the beef noodles hoping for something ramen-like (IT WAS NOT!). Then we tried the dumplings. I'd rather starve. Soph ate this weird sweet hot dog thing on a stick. It looked so scary but she seemed ok with it. We'll see... Ok, so, no one's really eatten, we haven't seen the pandas yet and we're running out of food options really fast. Our last attempt was this large cardboard bowl thing they added water to. At last! Real ramen noodles. Thank heaven- lunch was saved.

The poor pandas. Really, I feel bad for all animals in zoos. They always seem so sad, but this poor panda was stuck in a tiny cement room with a glass wondow that people were completely crowded around and pounding on.

These pandas had it better- a large enclosure but people are still weird. They throw food at them and yell at them. I don't get it.

This is a perfect example of how ridiculous people were acting. These people were feeding these animals right next to a sign that says "Don't feed the animals", "Danger- animals may bite". Hello!! No sense...

The giraffes were neat. Soph said they were her favorite. I was amazed how close they put all the animals to the people. People throw food and bamboo branches at the animals. It was sad...

Overall, a really fun day at the zoo and we didn't even see half of it. We'd definitely go back (bringing a picnic) to see the rest of it. We had promised Soph she could get one thing from the zoo and she picked a blowup panda stick for herself and a giraffe one for Coop.

Tomorrow plans to be a slower day- breakfast, swimming, the store. It's been a good week, though, and we may even try out the aquarium on Saturday... :)

Happy Birthday Wednesday to my Mom and on Sunday to Ben's Mom. We're bummed we can't be there in person to help you celebrate but we hope you know we love you and miss you!!

Prayer Requests:
-So, we had a family come through our house for a second look this week. They are deciding between our house and one other. Pray that God's will be done. It would be a huge weight lifted if it sold but we're trying to be realistic and we know that God has a plan.
-Praise God that my cold is almost gone already! Less than a week of feeling really bad and I'm already feeling better.
-Praise that I can't think of anything else right now! Seems as though God is carrying us right along with His angels protecting and guiding us each day.

We hope you are all well and do know we miss you A LOT! We Skyped with the Oostings again this morning and Sophie kept saying "I want to go to Michigan and play with my friends". She is doing better, though. Less sass, eatting a bit better...one day at a time! :)